Return-Path: Received: from oriole.warp.cs.cmu.edu by K.GP.CS.CMU.EDU id aa01982; 20 Dec 91 11:58:07 EST Date: Fri, 20 Dec 1991 11:51-EST From: Robert.Cohn@ORIOLE.WARP.CS.CMU.EDU Reply-To: Robert.Cohn@cs.cmu.edu To: harry.bovik@ORIOLE.WARP.CS.CMU.EDU Subject: fitness club information for the bovik files Message-Id: <693247913/rc@ORIOLE.WARP.CS.CMU.EDU> Here are my experiences with Scandinavian Health club in Penn Hills. Buying a membership there is a lot like buying a car. They take you for a test drive (trying out the equipment), take you into a small room to talk about price, and ask you questions like "if the price is right, will you buy today?" The "trainer" who shows you around is really just a car salesman in exercise clothes. When they take you into the box, they'll show you the first page of the price book, which is a very expensive membership, then turn to the second page which is their "first time visit" offer, which is much better, then finally they will scribble down some numbers on paper which is an even better deal. All the memberships have the same n-year commitment, right now n is 3. After n is up, you can renew on a month by month basis at a cheaper rate, currently it is $12. They usually advertise a really cheap membership on tv and in the newspaper, but this membership has so many restrictions on times and days that it isn't useful. They seem to try to give you as little information about the options for memberships as possible so that you will be forced to take an expensive one. They like to talk about initial payment plus monthly payments. What they didn't tell me until I asked was that if you are making monthly payments then you are essentially financing the membership through them at 18% interest. Furthermore, if you pay in full, they give you an extra discount so that by financing, you are in effect paying more than 18% interest. For this reason, you should always pay in full, even if you just put it on your own credit card. Even if you make monthly payments, you are still obligated to pay the full amount if you try to quit before your membership is over. When talking about price, ask for the paid in full prices, and ask for all the membership levels. Right now, there are at least 4 levels: fitness, platinum, premier, and premier plus. Ask them to list the features of all the levels. The main difference between levels is: national affiliation (allows you to transfer a membership to another club), free tanning, free raquetball, and free fitness test (nearly worthless). If a membership level has everything you want except free raquetball, ask them to throw it in, they might do it. It appears that they have a fixed set of memberships and specials to offer; they can't really deal on price or length of membership, so the trick is just to find the cheapest membership that has what you want. They also tell you that all the special deals they offer you are first time visit only and if you come back later they can only sell you the most expensive membership. I don't know if it is true, but the contract they give you actually says this. For this reason, you should visit scandinavian last if you are considering other clubs. Here is what I think is the best strategy. Tell them you are going to pay in full, and offer them an amount that is half of the premier membership (half of premier without the paid in full discount). They offer this deal occasionly, so you may or may not be able to get it. If they say no, tell them you are not interested but that you would like to work out for a while or use the pool. Give the salesman time to talk to the manager, they'll probably accept your offer by the time you are ready to leave. If not, the paid in full discount on a membership is the best deal you'll receive. Ask them to throw in a free gym bag, too. The salesman has quotas so you might be in a better position if you come in at the end of the month or quarter. After going through all this, why did I join? I had been a member of the caber club for a while, and I looked at club 1, cmu gym, and the JCC, and scandinavian was the best equipped in terms of exercise equipment of all those places. They had the same equipment that I was using at physical therapy, which made it easier for me. However, Club 1 is a nicer place: bigger pool, restaurant, lounge, more courts, and towel service but they cost 2-3 times as much. The JCC is poorly equipped and more expensive than Scandinavian. The caber club is poorly equipped, but is cheap.