Lifetime Gym Membership

born_again

Manxman_in_exile said:

In the final analysis it's up to you what you value most.  (Personally there's no way I'd pay £4k for ten years membership of a gym.  Especially if I'd already paid a lot of money eight(?) years ago to buy what the contrcatual terms clearly said was lifetime - not ten years - membership) 

£33 a month is not a bad price.

But like you no way would I pay. 

saajan_12

Grumpy_chap said:

ozzw247 said:

Another area I have a bad taste with is that the discount is based upon the original 2014 investment, so valuing each of my remaining 2 years (extended owing to Covid to 2015) at £200. The new offer they have made clearly values a years membership at £450, so a discount of £900 should be the minimum, added to this is the loss of all the extras given with the original contract.

This could be the crux of the matter.
The gym is simply too cheap.

My wife and I go to just about the cheapest gym in our area at £135 per month for joint membership.  So £800 each per year.
Other local gyms are double that (Virgin / David Lloyd).

Rather than complex offers, maybe the gym should just charge every one more and be confident of their market value 

Depends on where you are I guess.. Where I grew up, gyms tended to be £30/month a few years ago. Add to that a (significant) discount for a long term membership, as the gym effectively gets interest free funding, plus pockets the money if you go less regularly or circumstances change. 
The latter is a significant factor, as lots of people buy 1yr memberships, go for Jan/Feb and peter out, losing 10-11 months worth.. imagine if that was losing years worth.. 

Exodi

ozzw247 said:

I have now spoken to the Gym management, they are adamant that the contract was for 10 years stating that in industry and manufacturing 10 years is standard.

Firstly, as someone that has attended many many different gyms, I've never heard of anything that suggests that a lifetime is 10 years, it doesn't even make sense.

As a director of a manufacturing business, there is no assumption that a consumers lifetime is 10 years, total nonsense. I'd imagine they are desperately trying to connect the 10 year average lifetime of their manufactured gym equipment, to their gym membership offers - despite them being totally unrelated.

Plus, even if it was 'industry knowledge' that 'lifetime=10 years', unless they exclusively market to people who work in fitness equipment manufacture, how on Earth would Joe Bloggs off the street know this? Especially as it doesn't feature in any of their literature or contract?

Manxman_in_exile said:

@ozzw247 -  If you feel strongly enough about this and you have the original T&Cs to back up your argument then you could (threaten to) sue them.  I wonder if they might be able to fall back on the "reasonable grounds" to cancel or terminate term though.

They are free to use whichever excuse they choose. If they think that putting the words 'reasonable grounds' in a contract provides an instant 'get out of jail free card' to unilaterally cancel anyones paid memberships at whim, I think they're in for a shock should it get tested in court.

ozzw247 said:

The idea of gambling by paying £4.5k for 10 years membership which could vanish in a year or two is a non-starter in my mind.

Considering the original investment was done when they needed the cash flow and it was a gamble they would be there long term, I would have expected a better deal for the members that stood by them in dark times.

The suggestion of a 10% discount, £4k payment and a new 'real' 10 year contract, whilst cancelling my last 2 years on my original contract is somewhat insulting.

Another area I have a bad taste with is that the discount is based upon the original 2014 investment, so valuing each of my remaining 2 years (extended owing to Covid to 2015) at £200. The new offer they have made clearly values a years membership at £450, so a discount of £900 should be the minimum, added to this is the loss of all the extras given with the original contract.

Personally I find their 'offer' incredibly insulting given the circumstances, I'd have thought they'd offer you a new 10 year membership for virtually nothing just to get you off your current 'lifetime membership' - to try and charge full whack for it is completely offensive.

Personally, while you're open to giving them £2-3k, I think given how they've handled all of this, I'd stick to my guns that I have a lifetime membership.

But to finish with Manxman_in_exile's line of thinking - to what end do you take this?

Let's say in two years they refuse you access, what then?

Do you sue them for the remaining years and find another gym (e.g. if you bought a lifetime membership when you were 50, you could reasonably expect to live till 80 (30 years) but they only allowed you access for 10 years, means you should be refunded 2/3rds of the cost)? 

Or do you like the gym enough to let it go and pay them another £4k or so.

Personally, given their response to this thus far, I'd personally consider the former (assuming you weren't able to sort this between yourselves).

Exodi

Manxman_in_exile said:

*Easy for me to say but it's partly because i've never understood why people join gyms.  I run five times a week between 20 to 25 miles, I do a minimum 20 mile bike ride on Sundays, my wife has a Concept 2 rowing m/c at home that I use a couple of times a week, and we also have a set of weights at home heavy enough for a fit couple in their mid-60s.  But I understand some people value the social benefits of being a member at a gym...

For me personally, it's for two main reasons (in my own experience, I don't think many people really socialise in the gym that weren't friends beforehand):

As someone in their thirties who's reasonably into fitness, the upfront cost for the appropriate equipment would be significant. For example, a squat rack with a decent amount of weight (100kg) can set you back north of £500. This is just one exercise. Deadlifts are also pretty much out of the question without reinforcing floors. It's not impossible to buy all of the different machines and weights, but it requires a lot of space and cash upfront. My annual contract with my gym costs £250 (special deal as I was one of the first members when they opened a few years ago).

Also there is the mental aspect. During lockdown I did invest in some weights at home and despite being a generally motivated person, the constant temptation of 'this workout is hard, you could just stop right now and workout tomorrow, the sofa and TV is right there', whereas I find it's much more difficult to fall victim to this mindset if you've got changed and driven all the way to the gym.

Though I do agree with you - there's a lot of people that only do cardio (at my gym at least, it's mainly women walking on the treadmill). I do wonder why they don't just save themselves hundreds of pounds... walking is free.

That said, it makes sense when it's absolutely freezing outside and they're watching a movie on the treadmill!

ozzw247

After due consideration I am going to let things roll for now, try to touch base with any other lifetime members and when approaching the 12 months marker push it again.

I did get an unexpected chance to speak to one of the legal team at work who deals with corporate and contractual issues and his advice was use the membership up and if they withdraw the service go legal, the contract (which he has seen) would be nigh on impossible to defend in court.

Thanks for all the input, I certainly feel the spirit of the original agreement and the way they sold it at the time was definitely a full lifetime agreement and the comments here have pretty much confirmed my feelings

My belief is the following
- The context being the agreement between an individual (me) and a business (them) - no machinery or sofas involved
- Lifetime is not defined or limited in the contract, as such it can be assumed it refers to one of the 2 parties
- A reasonable assumption would be it covers the individual.
- The expected lifetime of an adult male in the UK at the age of 60 is 84, so in theory only a third of the membership has been used.

Exodi said:

Personally I find their 'offer' incredibly insulting given the circumstances, I'd have thought they'd offer you a new 10 year membership for virtually nothing just to get you off your current 'lifetime membership' - to try and charge full whack for it is completely offensive.

My thoughts exactly, there are alternatives in the area that I can use, and while I like the facilities I have no real attachment or social circle there.

I will update in 12 months, hopefully!

perfume_waggon

I've just found this thread. What was the outcome?

Alderbank

In spite of their promise to update in 12 months, the original poster has not returned to this site since September 2023.

MeteredOut

ozzw247 in case he/she has email notifications turned on.