Paying membership fees for closed gyms?

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  • emmies_123
    emmies_123 Posts: 513 Member
    Mine is continuing to charge and has stated they will not be extending contract dates or anything. In the meantime they are releasing multiple home workout videos a day, continuing to post accountability and encouragement posts, and providing variety of recipes. They have essentially found electronic way to provide everything you would get in person, except for the equipment.

    Personally I'm ok with this as I have the ability to workout at home without the gym equipment, and i love the trainers and know they are continuing to pay them. They have done everything they can given the weird circumstances, but others are still complaining the accommodations don't exactly fit their lifestyle. Can't please them all...
  • midlomel1971
    midlomel1971 Posts: 1,283 Member
    I belong to Youfit and I was just thinking about this today. I pay $20 a month. I'd rather pay while they are closed than not pay and have them go out of business and leave that location. On the flipside, I can see if you have lost your job how that $20 would become important.
  • SnifterPug
    SnifterPug Posts: 746 Member
    I am a member of two. Both offered the same options - freeze payments until they reopen or continue paying and get extra time added on when they reopen by paying half price at that point (i.e. if closed for three months you get six free months, by means of paying 12 months at half price)
  • AsrarHussain
    AsrarHussain Posts: 1,424 Member
    Jax2120 wrote: »
    For those of you who belong to gyms that are currently closed are you still being charged your monthly fee or are they offering some sort of compensation? I belong to Youfit and on their FB page members are going crazy because they are upset the gym is closed and they are still being charged. Part of me emphasizes with them and part of me thinks the $10-$20 the membership costs isn’t a huge deal *if* they will only be closed a short time. Because it’s literally out of their control. They obviously would be open if they were allowed to be. But, I also understand so many people have lost their jobs and every penny counts. I don’t know how the gyms will handle the overwhelming amount of people who want to pause or cancel the memberships all together. I just wonder what the proper way to handle this is.

    I am going to keep my membership because my gym is a local gym.

    It would hurt the business if I stopped paying.

    I support my local gym. Pure gym, planet fitness, etc are big gym franchises and will cope but local gyms wont survive.

    So I told the owner to keep everything the same because I want to support him. It is the best gym in my area.
  • corinasue1143
    corinasue1143 Posts: 7,460 Member
    I belong to two gyms. One is a town community center and most people pay cash monthly, no contract. I have it taken from my checking account. They let me know they won’t take April.
    The other is Gold’s. I paid for a full year. For the few days they were closed in March, they are giving us a free session with a trainer when we go back. They will extend my membership for the time they were closed. I don’t know what they are doing about month to month customers. They also have a ton of online classes available.
  • mjbnj0001
    mjbnj0001 Posts: 1,272 Member
    Our gym is closed, and member fees are suspended for the duration. They are offering members some online group classes. A central NJ chain of about a dozen sites.
  • Chef_Barbell
    Chef_Barbell Posts: 6,644 Member
    The NYS attorney general is cracking down on NYSC and other gyms who are still charging their members a fee.
  • Katmary71
    Katmary71 Posts: 7,145 Member
    mom23mangos wrote: »
    I belong to 24hr fitness. I'm ok paying my small subsidized fee because I still have income coming in and I'd like to see it reopen. Our climbing gym is a national chain, but a very small one, like 6 locations. They paused everyone's memberships, but asked people to continue to pay as a donation if they could. We will. My son works at a small family owned aerial studio. The couple have a dance studio in addition. Both have had to close and they have no other income. They are still being asked to pay rent, insurance, etc. I don't think they will survive if this lasts much longer. They are asking for personal donations to float the expenses until they can reopen. We donated what we could and my son told them he wouldn't cash his last paycheck. It's these small mom and pop gyms that are going to go under from this. This could totally bankrupt them and it's heartbreaking.

    I'm a 24 Hour Fitness member too, they're suspending fees and adding the time to the membership. They're streaming classes on 24GO and You Tube.
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,966 Member
    edited April 2020
    My gym is not charging while they’re closed but honestly I would pay without complaint if they didn’t decide to do that. They still have expenses, and i don’t mind supporting them during this.
  • Anna022119
    Anna022119 Posts: 547 Member
    edited April 2020
    I had the choice of freezing my membership or keep paying and receive two months for one (up to three months) once they open again. I took the latter.
  • BreezyWerner
    BreezyWerner Posts: 24 Member
    I am a manager of a small gym. We are extending memberships to the end of contracts for free for however long we are forced to keep our doors closed. We have kept an active Facebook presence and also check emails and phone messages several times a day. Most of our members are ok with continuing to pay and have the free time added to the end of their contract. Some are having problems with that because they are out of work. We try to respond to those members within 24 hours of their contacting us to freeze their payments.

    Thankfully, not many have requested freezing their payments. If the tide turns, and a good percentage request that we freeze payments, we will go bankrupt. We still have to pay our rent. We have a couple of staff members who are full time and we are keeping them on the payroll.

    We are grateful for our members who can and do continue to pay and compassionate towards the ones who can’t afford the payment right now.

    Our little gym provides a sense of community for our members. It would be a shame to get swallowed up in this.

    Stay safe. Stay healthy.
  • pondee629
    pondee629 Posts: 2,469 Member
    pondee629 wrote: »
    pondee629 wrote: »
    Retro Fitness offered several options including free training sessions, when this is over, suspending payment until reopened, or continue to pay. Much to the shock of my family, I opted to continue to pay. It's $24.00 a month, I'm still working AND getting paid, hopefully they are using the money I'm paying to lessen the blow on their employees. At any rate, I'm pretty sure the gym is a franchise, so there is a local "owner" who would still have a family, and them self, to feed. I can still afford the $24.00. ( I've "wasted" $24 on lesser purposes). I'm also using take out from local restaurants hoping to keep them alive.

    I'm confused about the 3 disagrees. With what do you disagree? How I choose to spend my money? The fact that I care about my gym, and it's employees, going without and being able to continue? That I still patronize local establishments in an effort to keep them open and surviving? My employment has been determined to be essential, and I am still working and getting paid. I shouldn't care about my neighbors? I am confused by your objections.

    Now, the "disagrees" are just funny.
  • MelanieCN77
    MelanieCN77 Posts: 4,047 Member
    edited April 2020
    My gym (Anytime Fitness) automatically froze everyone's accounts starting April, and will do a manual credit for the two weeks of March they were closed if you get in touch to arrange it. I voluntarily didn't go for a good week or ten days while they were still open so I'll pass on the credit and hope it helps them keep existing when all this is over.
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