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Gyms are notorious for this. I won’t sign up for a gym membership unless they accept checks or cash. Most accept checks, I’ve found. Could also try a virtual cr

Gyms are notorious for this. I won’t sign up for a gym membership unless they accept checks or cash. Most accept checks, I’ve found. Could also try a virtual credit card I suppose. Citi offers those with their Visa card.

xeromal 4y ago
A good local, powerlifting gym almost always is cash or credit card without a recurring subscription. The less flash, the better. The equipment will be old and the clientele mostly giant men, but they'll spot you and what is lifting weights but some metal? Does it need to be new?
- true_religion 4y ago
  What if I want to go got gym but not lift weights? For example running , swimming , climbing, and general indoor sports are all activities that some gyms offer.
  - xeromal 4y ago
    Guess you're getting a year contract. Haha. But in all seriousness, the Y is probably where I'd go if I needed that. They usually have favorable terms.
    - true_religion 4y ago
      That true. I’m just playing devils advocate. I use community services when I want to do anything gym like . The only reason for a gym membership is if your community provides nothing or the hours just don’t work for you (e.g. you like early morning or very late at night)
    - bombcar 4y ago
      And even if you don't have a Y nearby, check out community centers and other such things. The main thing is finding something that's not part of a massive chain, and they'll usually be pretty reasonable.
    - nonameiguess 4y ago
      Unfortunately, the Y is probably the only option for an indoor pool in most places, but I wouldn't recommend them in general if you're worried about scummy practices. They wanted me to come in-person to sign a form in order to unsubscribe, after I'd moved. I finally got them to relent, but still had to send a digitally-signed pdf to the manager. Of course, signing up was a simple web form. Climbing gyms kind of run the gamut. I was actually pretty delighted to find that the one I had been a member of, when I moved during Covid, actually never reactivated by subscription when they reopened, so when I nervously called to cancel, expecting them to have some ridiculous requirement, I didn't even have to cancel at all. They hadn't been billing me in the first place. If you want to run, go outside. Even in fairly unpleasant weather, I think that's generally a better experience than a treadmill. And if you want strict measurements and not to worry about being hit by cars, go find a local high school or college and they almost certainly have a track that is sitting unused often enough for community members to run at. That's how I used to do it when I still ran.
m463 4y ago
I belonged to a gym that couldn't be cancelled by phone. You had to send a certified letter to headquarters.
- brewdad 4y ago
  As much of a pain as that is, that would solve a lot of these nightmare gym stories. Try to cancel the convenient way. If that fails, cancel in writing in a way you can prove. After that, it's their problem.
JohnFen 4y ago
I would never sign up for anything that's a recurring charge (including utilities and such) without using a virtual credit card. It makes any shenanigans the company might pull impossible.
- googlryas 4y ago
  Just an FYI, but you're still legally liable for charges on your virtual credit card, regardless of whether or not the charges go through.
  - TedDoesntTalk 4y ago
    You are only legally liable if you sign a contract that says you are. They can send a collections agency after you, but if you have proof that you notified them before the X days required in the contract that you're ending it, you're not legally liable.
    - googlryas 4y ago
      Sure, of course. My point was you can't necessarily just turn off/delete a virtual card to "cancel" anything. It may end up working out that way, or as you say it may end up going to a collections agency.
      - UIUC_06 4y ago
        Maybe you can't. I do it all the time. Credit cards become invalid in the normal course of human activity, esp. because of their expiration date. Their software handles it routinely. I usually attempt to cancel the "legitimate" way as well. No collection agency has ever called me. But hey, do what makes you comfortable.
        lupire 4y ago
        Expiration dates do not stop recurring charges.
kelnos 4y ago
I always hear horror stories about gym memberships, but have never had a bad experience there. Many years ago I was a YMCA gym member, and I canceled without any fuss. More recently I was a member of the boxing gym around the corner, and I needed to cancel due to an injury (not sustained at the gym!), and they even waived their policy of requiring 30 days notice to cancel. (I also just realized I wasn't going often enough to justify the membership, and could save money by just paying the drop-in fee whenever I wanted to go.) I do wonder if COVID has made this a bit less bad; my partner was a member of a different gym for a while, and they were good about keeping her membership paused, even after they reopened for in-person classes, and then weren't sketchy about her eventually canceling.
- zhte415 4y ago
  Perhaps the local boxing gym derives significant social capital from being decent beyond a contract. I'd count YMCAs in this too, at least where I'm from. A brand name gym may offer a competitive and value added service at branch via equipment offered or rent bargaining, or financing of such, or network effects or being part of a larger organisationIt is simply a rent seeker that happens to be a gym. Some may seek to be this and the above, with varying degrees of flexibility in having both cakes and eating them.
Mattwmaster58 4y ago
I've gotten around the bank account requirements by simply filling in bogus numbers for the account number and routing info, then asking them to bill my credit card first.

xeromal 4y ago

A good local, powerlifting gym almost always is cash or credit card without a recurring subscription. The less flash, the better. The equipment will be old and the clientele mostly giant men, but they'll spot you and what is lifting weights but some metal? Does it need to be new?

true_religion 4y ago
What if I want to go got gym but not lift weights? For example running , swimming , climbing, and general indoor sports are all activities that some gyms offer.
- xeromal 4y ago
  Guess you're getting a year contract. Haha. But in all seriousness, the Y is probably where I'd go if I needed that. They usually have favorable terms.
  - true_religion 4y ago
    That true. I’m just playing devils advocate. I use community services when I want to do anything gym like . The only reason for a gym membership is if your community provides nothing or the hours just don’t work for you (e.g. you like early morning or very late at night)
  - bombcar 4y ago
    And even if you don't have a Y nearby, check out community centers and other such things. The main thing is finding something that's not part of a massive chain, and they'll usually be pretty reasonable.
  - nonameiguess 4y ago
    Unfortunately, the Y is probably the only option for an indoor pool in most places, but I wouldn't recommend them in general if you're worried about scummy practices. They wanted me to come in-person to sign a form in order to unsubscribe, after I'd moved. I finally got them to relent, but still had to send a digitally-signed pdf to the manager. Of course, signing up was a simple web form. Climbing gyms kind of run the gamut. I was actually pretty delighted to find that the one I had been a member of, when I moved during Covid, actually never reactivated by subscription when they reopened, so when I nervously called to cancel, expecting them to have some ridiculous requirement, I didn't even have to cancel at all. They hadn't been billing me in the first place. If you want to run, go outside. Even in fairly unpleasant weather, I think that's generally a better experience than a treadmill. And if you want strict measurements and not to worry about being hit by cars, go find a local high school or college and they almost certainly have a track that is sitting unused often enough for community members to run at. That's how I used to do it when I still ran.

m463 4y ago

I belonged to a gym that couldn't be cancelled by phone. You had to send a certified letter to headquarters.

brewdad 4y ago
As much of a pain as that is, that would solve a lot of these nightmare gym stories. Try to cancel the convenient way. If that fails, cancel in writing in a way you can prove. After that, it's their problem.

JohnFen 4y ago

I would never sign up for anything that's a recurring charge (including utilities and such) without using a virtual credit card. It makes any shenanigans the company might pull impossible.

googlryas 4y ago
Just an FYI, but you're still legally liable for charges on your virtual credit card, regardless of whether or not the charges go through.
- TedDoesntTalk 4y ago
  You are only legally liable if you sign a contract that says you are. They can send a collections agency after you, but if you have proof that you notified them before the X days required in the contract that you're ending it, you're not legally liable.
  - googlryas 4y ago
    Sure, of course. My point was you can't necessarily just turn off/delete a virtual card to "cancel" anything. It may end up working out that way, or as you say it may end up going to a collections agency.
    - UIUC_06 4y ago
      Maybe you can't. I do it all the time. Credit cards become invalid in the normal course of human activity, esp. because of their expiration date. Their software handles it routinely. I usually attempt to cancel the "legitimate" way as well. No collection agency has ever called me. But hey, do what makes you comfortable.
      - lupire 4y ago
        Expiration dates do not stop recurring charges.

kelnos 4y ago

I always hear horror stories about gym memberships, but have never had a bad experience there. Many years ago I was a YMCA gym member, and I canceled without any fuss. More recently I was a member of the boxing gym around the corner, and I needed to cancel due to an injury (not sustained at the gym!), and they even waived their policy of requiring 30 days notice to cancel. (I also just realized I wasn't going often enough to justify the membership, and could save money by just paying the drop-in fee whenever I wanted to go.) I do wonder if COVID has made this a bit less bad; my partner was a member of a different gym for a while, and they were good about keeping her membership paused, even after they reopened for in-person classes, and then weren't sketchy about her eventually canceling.

zhte415 4y ago
Perhaps the local boxing gym derives significant social capital from being decent beyond a contract. I'd count YMCAs in this too, at least where I'm from. A brand name gym may offer a competitive and value added service at branch via equipment offered or rent bargaining, or financing of such, or network effects or being part of a larger organisationIt is simply a rent seeker that happens to be a gym. Some may seek to be this and the above, with varying degrees of flexibility in having both cakes and eating them.

Mattwmaster58 4y ago

I've gotten around the bank account requirements by simply filling in bogus numbers for the account number and routing info, then asking them to bill my credit card first.