Paying membership fees for closed gyms?
Gaygirl2120
Posts: 541 Member
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.
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Replies
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I was pleasantly surprised when the Y reached out within a couple of days of being shut down saying they aren’t changing until they reopen. But my membership is quite a bit more and I’m sure there would be people that struggled making that payment especially with all of the job loss currently occurring.
Not sure what’s fair in such circumstances. We cannot use the services but as you mentioned, it is entirely out of their control. It’s a lose lose for everyone.1 -
I belong to Retro Fitness and my gym fees are frozen until they reopen. I wouldn't want to pay for a service I can't use. 🤷🏼♀️6
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It's a conundrum.....these gyms still have to pay rent while they're closed and some may be paying staff (I doubt too many of them) while they're off.
On the flip side many people right now have had their incomes interrupted / reduced and might not be able to absorb the additional cost at the moment.
The question is.....do you want your gym to be able to reopen when this is over?
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BrianSharpe wrote: »It's a conundrum.....these gyms still have to pay rent while they're closed and some may be paying staff (I doubt too many of them) while they're off.
On the flip side many people right now have had their incomes interrupted / reduced and might not be able to absorb the additional cost at the moment.
The question is.....do you want your gym to be able to reopen when this is over?
Absolutely I’ll be the first one in line 🙋🏽♀️3 -
I’m at Goodlife in Canada. They automatically put everyone’s membership fees on hold, and for people who have a 1 year contract it will automatically be extended for the amount of time the gyms are closed.4
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Our Y is putting memberships on hold while closed. Much appreciated. I don’t how closed gyms gonna survive. They still have space, equipment, and maintenance to pay for.2
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I have a yearly membership payed in full. When my gym closed they offered to extend our memberships equal to the closed period. It is a tiny co-op run gym, I would pay more if needed just to keep it running if they start getting tight on bill payments, etc. Not having any income atm, will be a struggle.1
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My gym will add whatever time they are closed to the end of the membership. If they are closed a month, each member will get a free month before they have to renew.
This keeps the money flowing in but also allows members to get the time they pay for.6 -
My gym decided to still charge and stream live home workouts a couple of times a day (except weekends). Of course, it's not the same as having access to the equipment, but personally, I'm OK with this decision.
My gym does give you the option to freeze membership for up to 3 months per year, and it's no-contract so very easy to cancel too, for those who wouldn't be OK with still paying.1 -
Chuze Fitness isn't charging until they can re-open.1
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My gym (privately owned) is simply extending my membership renewal date by the number of weeks that the gym needs to stay closed.1
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Planet Fitness froze it's fees, but, honestly, I'd rather have the choice and opt to pay the $19.99/month and maybe have them continue to pay their employees, at least.7
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My gym gave us members 3 options
Freeze DD
Pay half
Continue to pay as normal
Virtually everyone has said they will continue to pay their membership, it’s one of the best gyms in the country so nobody wants it to close3 -
Lifetime Fitness sent out an email saying that they will reimburse a prorated amount for March and we will not be charged again until they reopen.
I’m in Maryland & don’t see gyms opening til May the earliest.1 -
I belong to a small town, privately owned gym. I know they run on slim profit margins. The owner is a good man. I pay or 3 months at a time up front, I hate contracts. I do not plan on asking for a refund. He treats us all well. Unfortunately, this shutdown has accelerated me piecing together a home gym. Ahhh... nothing like deadlifting in your boxers if you want!
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I have Silver Sneakers paid4 by Blue Shield. Never see a bill but I'm sure Blue Shield has the economic leveragecto make the gyms covered to forego payments if they are not open for business.0
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I belong to a Y. They’ve offered members the ability to freeze or pay — and I’ve decided to keep paying.
My Y is putting a lot of programming online, offering child care for medical providers and first responders, continuing to house people at the urban locations, and quite literally feeding people. I’m happy to keep giving them my money if it means they can keep supporting the community.3 -
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.8
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My gym is a small, local owner gym. They sent out a survey asking if we wanted our memberships frozen or if we wanted to donate our memberships to help keep it open in the future. I voted to donate. It's in my best interest in the long run.7
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24 Hour Fitness is charging everyone, there's chaos on their Facebook page over it. I paid my fee the Friday before the weekend before it closed. They do have an app and are streaming some classes. The YMCA has been the best that I've seen streaming workouts and waiving fees, wish we had one! I've been a member of my gym for so long my fee is only $12 a month for access to all the gyms, if I was paying the current fees I'd be more upset about it but do feel bad for everyone else, I think at least a discount would be great or offer a wider variety of classes to stream.1
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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.1
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I belong to Club Fitness and they have frozen payments, which I am very happy about. As of now, my paycheck is still coming but I work at a non-profit and we've been told to prepare for the worst JIC. I also attend two pole dance studios which are privately owned and they are both doing online classes through Zoom and asking for donations. I would much prefer to donate my money to these smaller businesses than a chain gym. The aerial arts businesses have been hit extremely hard due to this and I am trying to spread my business as far as I can while taking care of myself.0
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My gym suspended membership dues for the time being.0
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Planet Fitness says they are not charging until they reopen.1
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I have four gym memberships. One I pay month to month so I was due about the time this happened so will pay when we start up again. They are offering Zoom and classes at the park but I've only participated in one session. If I were doing more I would feel like I need to contribute. Classpass has frozen the fees. My work gym I don't know if they are charging or not but it's only $12 a month. 24 Hour Fitness members I know are upset with how they are handling it. My membership there is only $12 a month as well but if I were paying current fees and could not get ahold of anyone to cancel or freeze it I would be pissed.
I think memberships should be frozen. Current circumstances are effecting everyone differently and paying for goods you're not receiving or can't afford does not seem fair.0 -
Assuming your income isn't impacted, continue to pay, especially if a local owner operated place.1
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My wife and I belong to a small CrossFit gym. It’s generally pretty expensive but worth it to us. They offered to suspend/cancel as needed but up until now only 2 people out of about 200 have taken advantage of it. Both are bartenders and out of work completely.
They lent us equipment, offer workouts with video instruction and do two zoom group workouts per day. This stuff is not worth the membership fees but as long as I’m able to support it- i will. It’s in my best interest that a month from now I have something to go back to. Also I respect that they are trying to keep us all in shape. They even had a “happy hour” on zoom last Saturday to keep spirits up.0 -
My yoga studio emailed the day they closed, offering pro rata refunds, or credit. In the SAME email, they generously announced an online schedule of free classes, and asked us to share the schedule. The first few online classes had thousands of views.
I told them I didn’t want either . I took 44 yoga and Pilates classes in February, and had already completed a “20 in 30 days” challenge, when they shut down on the 14th. I’ve more than gotten my money’s worth. My only prayer is that they will reopen when all this settles down. I miss the wonderful instructors and the tougher classes.
They started charging for online classes yesterday. I’m anxious to get back to my usual schedule, even if it has to be online, so I’ve already booked ahead.
I’m most worried about my local barbell gym. The woman that owns it is a superhero who does it for fun. She’s an unusual character, a crazy gorgeous and buff 70 year old former fitness model who tries to keep up with the lifting teams-usually successfully. And her husband is a multiple world champion power lifter, so this is their world. I know she won’t even consider asking us to pay, and there would be shockwaves if they shut down. I think (know!!!) members would pull together before they’d let that happen, we feel so strongly about the owners.
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