Pretty much stick to a non-corporate gym like YMCA. Or, find a place that will let you do month to month.
Many years ago I used to use Planet Fitness because they allowed a pre-paid membership with cash. You pay up-front for a year, and at the end of the year your membership expires with zero action on your part. Because you pay with cash there’s not credit card for them to try to charge or any bank account they can try to pull funds from.
Thats an acceptable gym membership to me, but I doubt they still offer that.
I tried to sign up recently (online) and it only gave an option to give them my checking account which I promptly noped tf out of. Haven’t tried in person tho.
No way will I give a gym my checking account info. I don’t give that to any merchant. Merchants can charge my credit card, accept me pre-paying, or for big purchases wire transfer.
In the past they only offered it a few times a year. From memory once around Thanksgiving (in the USA), and again for a couple weeks around xmas/new years. You have to go in in-person anyway to pay anyway. You’d likely have to contact your local location to find out when/if they offer it, and how much. It used to be $99/year prepaid, which was a great price in itself.
I’m in the bay area, and the location was built in the last 5 years. I almost guarantee they are cashless. I might give it a go at some point. I’ve got a garage gym with everything I need, but I wouldn’t mind having access to a proper gym for some of the machines.
That sounds reasonable. What you want to avoid is signing a contract that requires you to make a monthly payment for 1-2 years. If you move of just don’t like the gym it’s a pain in the ass to cancel. I’ve even seen some with hidden fees… like “surprise! we charge you an extra 50 bucks this month for some bogus reason that was buried in the fine print when you signed up.”
Many years ago I used to use Planet Fitness because they allowed a pre-paid membership with cash. You pay up-front for a year, and at the end of the year your membership expires with zero action on your part. Because you pay with cash there’s not credit card for them to try to charge or any bank account they can try to pull funds from.
Thats an acceptable gym membership to me, but I doubt they still offer that.
I tried to sign up recently (online) and it only gave an option to give them my checking account which I promptly noped tf out of. Haven’t tried in person tho.
No way will I give a gym my checking account info. I don’t give that to any merchant. Merchants can charge my credit card, accept me pre-paying, or for big purchases wire transfer.
In the past they only offered it a few times a year. From memory once around Thanksgiving (in the USA), and again for a couple weeks around xmas/new years. You have to go in in-person anyway to pay anyway. You’d likely have to contact your local location to find out when/if they offer it, and how much. It used to be $99/year prepaid, which was a great price in itself.
I’m in the bay area, and the location was built in the last 5 years. I almost guarantee they are cashless. I might give it a go at some point. I’ve got a garage gym with everything I need, but I wouldn’t mind having access to a proper gym for some of the machines.
That sounds reasonable. What you want to avoid is signing a contract that requires you to make a monthly payment for 1-2 years. If you move of just don’t like the gym it’s a pain in the ass to cancel. I’ve even seen some with hidden fees… like “surprise! we charge you an extra 50 bucks this month for some bogus reason that was buried in the fine print when you signed up.”