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>Gyms, cloud storage, restaurant buffets, insurance all follow this business model. I'm struggling to understand how you can lambaste people by saying "jUsT cA

>Gyms, cloud storage, restaurant buffets, insurance all follow this business model. I'm struggling to understand how you can lambaste people by saying "jUsT cAnCeL iT"[0] when you seem to be well aware of the business model of gyms, wherein cancelling a membership is widely-known to be a purposefully cumbersome and difficult experience. [0]https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39059793 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39059793

themacguffinman 3y ago
That's misunderstanding the point, "this business model" doesn't mean hard-to-cancel. The comment specifically points to a model where customers with heavy usage are subsidizing customers with light usage (edit: I mixed it up, it's light users who subsidize heavy users). With maybe the exception of gyms which I've heard bad things about, cloud storage and buffets and insurance are usually not hard to cancel.
- jjulius 3y ago
  I completely understand the original point and also agree with it wholeheartedly, but you misunderstand the reason for my comment. The user I responded to made a separate comment elsewhere in this thread, and I highlighted their comment in this chain we're in as evidence that they should be well aware of why the point in their other comment doesn't always work out the way they would like. The fundamental business model in this discussion is different, yes, but if you understand that business model then you're likely also well aware of the other side of their business around membership cancellations.
  - themacguffinman 3y ago
    I don't see the conflict between the two comments. You can lambaste people for not even trying to cancel a subscription they don't want while recognizing that many subscriptions depend on light users. Light users are not people who want to cancel their subscription but can't because of shenanigans, they're just light users. It's not "the other side of their business", you can have a heavy/light user model while not playing these shenanigans with customers.
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    - jjulius 3y ago
      >I don't see the conflict between the two comments. There isn't. I haven't said that there is. >You can lambaste people for not even trying to cancel a subscription they don't want while recognizing that many subscriptions depend on light users. Yup. Never said one couldn't do that, either. >Light users are not people who want to cancel their subscription but can't because of shenanigans, they're just light users. It's not "the other side of their business", you can have a heavy/light user model while not playing these shenanigans with customers. Sure. Still not really what I'm getting at, though. I simply pointed to their comment here as evidence that they understand how gym memberships work, thereby being aware of how convoluted many of them can be when it comes to canceling them, which stands counter to their comment elsewhere in the thread. It's that simple, and I don't know how to make myself any clearer at this point. Feel like I'm just repeating myself now - not sure if it's a poor explanation on my part or others just aren't grokking it for reasons on their end, but I'll reevaluate and see how I can be clearer in the future.
al_borland 3y ago
I’ve moved a lot and have cancelled memberships at at least 10 gyms that I can remember. Some were easier than others, but none of them where prohibitively difficult to the point where it couldn’t be done. The worst one, which was very unique, was when the gym had just change hands and I was looking to cancel on the guys first day and he didn’t want to lose anyone. We (me, him, and some other trainer who was his mentor) talked for probably 3 hours. From our talk, I was also a bit of a unique situation, and I don’t think they would have talked to other people for as long. I was also being nice, I could have just drew and hard line and walked out. He ended up giving me 3 months free and a few free training sessions… then I went back when that was running out and cancelled when he wasn’t there in about 3 minutes. The second worse was maybe a 10 minute conversation (Lifetime). The others weren’t enough to remember. Some I cancelled by sending an email. Even if you aren’t moving, just tell them you’re moving and there are no affiliated gyms nearby. It’s not like they are going to check. They can’t really argue with that.

themacguffinman 3y ago

That's misunderstanding the point, "this business model" doesn't mean hard-to-cancel. The comment specifically points to a model where customers with heavy usage are subsidizing customers with light usage (edit: I mixed it up, it's light users who subsidize heavy users). With maybe the exception of gyms which I've heard bad things about, cloud storage and buffets and insurance are usually not hard to cancel.

jjulius 3y ago
I completely understand the original point and also agree with it wholeheartedly, but you misunderstand the reason for my comment. The user I responded to made a separate comment elsewhere in this thread, and I highlighted their comment in this chain we're in as evidence that they should be well aware of why the point in their other comment doesn't always work out the way they would like. The fundamental business model in this discussion is different, yes, but if you understand that business model then you're likely also well aware of the other side of their business around membership cancellations.
- themacguffinman 3y ago
  I don't see the conflict between the two comments. You can lambaste people for not even trying to cancel a subscription they don't want while recognizing that many subscriptions depend on light users. Light users are not people who want to cancel their subscription but can't because of shenanigans, they're just light users. It's not "the other side of their business", you can have a heavy/light user model while not playing these shenanigans with customers.
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  - jjulius 3y ago
    >I don't see the conflict between the two comments. There isn't. I haven't said that there is. >You can lambaste people for not even trying to cancel a subscription they don't want while recognizing that many subscriptions depend on light users. Yup. Never said one couldn't do that, either. >Light users are not people who want to cancel their subscription but can't because of shenanigans, they're just light users. It's not "the other side of their business", you can have a heavy/light user model while not playing these shenanigans with customers. Sure. Still not really what I'm getting at, though. I simply pointed to their comment here as evidence that they understand how gym memberships work, thereby being aware of how convoluted many of them can be when it comes to canceling them, which stands counter to their comment elsewhere in the thread. It's that simple, and I don't know how to make myself any clearer at this point. Feel like I'm just repeating myself now - not sure if it's a poor explanation on my part or others just aren't grokking it for reasons on their end, but I'll reevaluate and see how I can be clearer in the future.

al_borland 3y ago

I’ve moved a lot and have cancelled memberships at at least 10 gyms that I can remember. Some were easier than others, but none of them where prohibitively difficult to the point where it couldn’t be done. The worst one, which was very unique, was when the gym had just change hands and I was looking to cancel on the guys first day and he didn’t want to lose anyone. We (me, him, and some other trainer who was his mentor) talked for probably 3 hours. From our talk, I was also a bit of a unique situation, and I don’t think they would have talked to other people for as long. I was also being nice, I could have just drew and hard line and walked out. He ended up giving me 3 months free and a few free training sessions… then I went back when that was running out and cancelled when he wasn’t there in about 3 minutes. The second worse was maybe a 10 minute conversation (Lifetime). The others weren’t enough to remember. Some I cancelled by sending an email. Even if you aren’t moving, just tell them you’re moving and there are no affiliated gyms nearby. It’s not like they are going to check. They can’t really argue with that.