Does T.U.P.E. cover Membership of gyms

Bill_Payer9002

Exodi said:

I mean surely you have to also consider the moral aspect OP.

The previous charity has been unable to stay afloat and folded, the new charity has openly admitted that they can not afford to continue memberships at the previous rate but are only making only a vew small increase to stay buoyant.

And your first reaction is try force them to abide by the terms that drove the first charity into liquidation?

Do you think the second charity is lying about the reason for the increase? Otherwise are you not concerned that if they honoured this price they would likely share exactly the same fate as the first charity?

Far from that, the gym was subsidising the 10 Libraries Theatre and museum etc......

"Gym usage drives the bulk of the income to support our range of services," Charity A said in a statement.

This was at the time of first lockdown, they lost all income streams (Prior to Furlough) asked Council for help, who refused as they were in the same boat.........

Bill_Payer9002

Ditzy_Mitzy said:

The answer to the OP's question is 'probably not'.  I assume that the gym membership will have been renewed at some point in the past two years; a new terms and conditions document is likely to have been issued at the very least.  Has any of that happened?  

I have experienced something similar from the other side, in that a company I have worked for acquired another that had gone bust and were forced to renege on the acquired party's 'lifetime offers'.  Much of the reason the acquired firm went bust was that the 'lifetime offers' were entirely uneconomical to operate.  

I signed my original contract with Charity A, (not council), at no point has new terms and conditions been issued by charity B.  Their comment after takeover was the only change you will notice is from Charity A to B on your bank statement.  And this was true until now, same staff etc etc etc

As I have said elsewhere the gym's where the only income generating arm, subsidising 10 librarys, a Theatre and a museum.  If there was the slightest concern about "Price for Life" offer (which worked for over 10 years with A)  Charity B have been charged with raising extra income and the easy targets are the gym............

The Council wrote off a seven figure sum, but Charity A did employ between 200-500 across all the range of services. Charity A worked alongside Council for 90 days, A was disolved and B was born......

Savvy_Sue

I'm sure if you ask, Company B will send you new T&C ...

I've seen it happen without any change of ownership: a club I belong to used to offer a price for life. Then it stopped, increased EVERYONE'S prices and continues to do so. 

If it occurred to anyone to make a legal challenge, I didn't hear it. Many longer term members voted with their feet. You too have that choice.

Grumpy_chap

Bill_Payer9002 said:

When I joined in 2015 I was promised a price for life membership as were all members of Charity A.

Eventually such an offer is forced to fail.
Say your 2015 membership was £80 monthly.
Every year there is some inflation so the costs to the operating business goes up but the income is static. 
Unless they can increase the number of members, but without the members leaving because it is too crowded.
The only possible outcome of such a pricing policy is commercial failure of the operating business - Charity A.  The only unknown was when that would happen.
It has now happened so the members are left with Hobson's Choice.  Leave or take the new membership at the new rate with the new operating business, Charity B.

DullGreyGuy

Grumpy_chap said:

Bill_Payer9002 said:

When I joined in 2015 I was promised a price for life membership as were all members of Charity A.

Eventually such an offer is forced to fail.
Say your 2015 membership was £80 monthly.
Every year there is some inflation so the costs to the operating business goes up but the income is static. 
Unless they can increase the number of members, but without the members leaving because it is too crowded.
The only possible outcome of such a pricing policy is commercial failure of the operating business - Charity A.  The only unknown was when that would happen.

In many cases this is true but there are exceptions from various angles depending on what "life" means and exact terms etc.

A former client used to do a "for life" subscription for £4.99 a month which they stopped and the replacement was reviewable annually with the price typically being at circa £25 for new customers. They still had a load of people paying the £4.99 but the reality was the majority of them weren't using the service at all but its such a low monthly amount many just didn't spot it on their bank statements.

Similarly known companies to expand the services/products they offer but T&Cs were crafted such that those on older plans weren't entitled to use them and so for the active users you encourage them to end their lifetime plan and move to the new rate to be able to use the new swimming pool or "free" classes etc. Again you'll move some of the active users across to the new and keep the revenue stream of the non-users. After all according to most stats only 10-20% of gym members visit regularly and some quote as much as 67% dont use their membership at all.

custardy

DullGreyGuy said:

Grumpy_chap said:

Bill_Payer9002 said:

When I joined in 2015 I was promised a price for life membership as were all members of Charity A.

Eventually such an offer is forced to fail.
Say your 2015 membership was £80 monthly.
Every year there is some inflation so the costs to the operating business goes up but the income is static. 
Unless they can increase the number of members, but without the members leaving because it is too crowded.
The only possible outcome of such a pricing policy is commercial failure of the operating business - Charity A.  The only unknown was when that would happen.

In many cases this is true but there are exceptions from various angles depending on what "life" means and exact terms etc.

A former client used to do a "for life" subscription for £4.99 a month which they stopped and the replacement was reviewable annually with the price typically being at circa £25 for new customers. They still had a load of people paying the £4.99 but the reality was the majority of them weren't using the service at all but its such a low monthly amount many just didn't spot it on their bank statements.

Similarly known companies to expand the services/products they offer but T&Cs were crafted such that those on older plans weren't entitled to use them and so for the active users you encourage them to end their lifetime plan and move to the new rate to be able to use the new swimming pool or "free" classes etc. Again you'll move some of the active users across to the new and keep the revenue stream of the non-users. After all according to most stats only 10-20% of gym members visit regularly and some quote as much as 67% dont use their membership at all.

Agreed. Price for life can work.
My gym membership is over a decade old on price for life.
I have access to over 200 gyms and pay 1/3 less than members of my nearest gym for just access to that single gym.
However it means I've had to pay even when not using the gym (had a couple of surgeries) to retain that price.