It's a gym and it's better than most
Written: Aug 09 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Consistent equipment between gyms, some are really nicely maintained.
Cons: Buyer beware. Don't rely on the salespeople. Some are moldy decrepit gyms.
The Bottom Line: It's a community gym you guys, you're not buying a spa membership. Don't take anyone's word for anything and you won't be disappointed.
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| patrickmcclell's Full Review: Bally Total Fitness |
I've been a Bally's member for about three and a half years now. I started at a club in Chicago with a "Premier Plus" membership and now I have a "Gorilla Passport" membership with their affiliate club in San Francisco.
I've read cover to cover the sob stories on the old ballysucks.com website that Ballys successfully sued to shut down for defamation and I will agree that there are some horror stories with people signing up for the gyms and having buyers remorse at best and outright being swindled at worst. If you understand just exactly what you're getting into, I think you'll better understand where most people go wrong with the clubs. Know that you're joining a health club for a fixed monthly fee BUT, you're also having to finance an initiation fee of anywhere from $700 to $2000 depending upon which club you join. This is the contract you're signing, it details, but is separate from your obligation to pay the monthly dues. Once you sign the contract you're pretty much stuck with paying off the initiation fee ... even if you decide the gym is smelly or the equipment is full or the steam room has soap scum. That's your obligation as an adult. Yes, Bally's will use some pretty hardball tactics to enforce its contract so always make sure you have your contract with you and understand what it does and does not guarantee you.
Know that the club you bought the membership at will be sold over and over and over during the life of your contract, know that the equipment will get older and older and older and Ballys has no incentive to improve it as long as other people are coming after you and buying in. Know that Ballys periodically updates their clubs but changes the membership class that can use these new clubs (unless you're grandfathered into the one club you joined) and you will not be allowed to go to these new and improved clubs. All of these things happened to me, but you know what, I knew it was going to happen and I'm fine with it. They updated my original club in Chicago but I was able to grandfather in. The place was a crowded germ infested pit up to the point of update. When I moved to San Francisco, the "Ballys" clubs are Pinnacle and Gorilla "Passport" clubs so my membership was no good there. I had to sign a whole new contract with Ballys and start over the three years of payments. But you know what, the clubs here are excellent. Not crowded, clean, the locker rooms are great, and I'm willing to pay for it.
Have I probably paid more than I had to changing memberships and starting out at a really slimy club? Yeah. Am I bitter and do I blame the nasty Ballys for it? No, not really. There's so much information out there letting everyone know that the salespeople are just college kids and low rung phys ed teachers working on commission that anyone who takes anything they say for gospel has only themselves to blame. Yes, get it in writing, get it signed. If in doubt, walk away. At the very least, assume you will be stuck at the club you sign up at for the rest of your time with Ballys and assume the equipment will never get better and assume it will just get more crowded. If you think it's an ok deal like that go for it ... Because, chances are all three of those won't happen and you will enjoy the benefits of the club and your deal.
It's a community gym you guys, you're not buying a spa membership. The way they make money is to continue to sell people memberships so they can get the initiation fee ... once they have your contract and you're locked in to pay the $700-$200 initiation, the monthly membership fee is a loss leader. They don't want you to continue to work out at their gym because it makes the gyms crowded and they can't sell more memberships to new people when the gym looks too busy. They definitely don't want you to stick around after your three year contract is up. They expect you to buy into the next membership level or to go elsewhere ... that's why each club looks at who's using their gyms and decides that if too many people with paid up contracts are still around then they'll implement "user fees" for the "popular" classes, etc. Is it legal? Absolutely. Is it slimy? Absolutely. Can you change it after you sign the contract? Probably not.
And with all of that involved, I'm pretty happy with my current club and current membership. I actually found myself yelling at the manager a couple months back because a lot of the lockers had busted locks and I was convinced he would blow me off and say something like ... "It'll get fixed soon." You know what, all the broken lockers had working locks the following evening when I went in. Would that have happened at the Chicago club when I first joined? Most likely not. The chain is very spotty in its quality and services.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
patrickmcclell
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Reviews written: 6
Trusted by: 0 members
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