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March 29, 2007
Pay less by threatening to cancel your gym membership
I've posted before how I get Comcast Cable to lower my internet bill. Every so often, I have a conversation like this:
Me: I need to cancel my internet service
Comcast: I'm sorry to hear that [because it's going to cost us $175 to hire an independent contractor to go out to your place to disconnect your service]. May I ask the reason why?
Me: Well, I'm going to switch to DSL service which is only $25 per month instead of Comcast's $45 per month.
Comcast: If I could give you $25 per month for the next twelve months, would you be willing to stick with us??
Me: Oh, gee, that would be swell. Would you be willing to charge all of your customers $25 per month, too? Just go ahead and lower their bills.
Comcast: Muhahaha. No way, if other people are willing to pay $45 per month, we're happy to take their money.
Ok, maybe I'm making up those last couple of lines. This has worked for the 3 1/2 years I've had Comcast service. I think I've threatened to cancel about four times.
So today I learned that this also works with your gym membership. I just got off the phone with 24 Hour Fitness. I'm currently paying them $24 per month.
Me: I need to cancel my membership.
24 Hr: I'm sorry to hear that. What if I could put your membership on hold for only $7 per month in case you change your mind?
Me: No, I'm already set to join another gym tonight after work.
24 Hr: I'm sorry to hear that. What if I could change your membership to only $15 per month?
Me: Crap, really? Why didn't I call sooner? So that means I've been overpaying you guys $9 per month for the last two years? I'm such an idiot.
24 Hr: I'm sorry to hear that. So is that what you would like to do?
Me: No, I just want to cancel my membership.
24 Hr: Ok, I'm really going to cancel it.
Me: Ok
24 Hr: For reals, when I hit this button, there's no going back.
Me: Ok
24 Hr: So, just so you know, that means you'll have to re-enroll and pay signup fees if you change your mind.
Me: What, really? Ok, you've changed my mind.
24 Hr: That's great, sir!
Me: Wait, no, I was just kidding. Cancel it.
From there, the conversation got even more boring - it was just me trying to read my email while the rep is talking and then me just repeating "Please cancel my membership" about four more times.
So there you have it. Now go lower your internet bill and your gym membership bill with a couple of phone calls.
Posted by brian at March 29, 2007 04:44 PM
Comments
I hate 24 Hour Fitness too. Did you see their recent lawsuite because they were overcharging people when they quit? Bastards!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/24_Hour_Fitness#Class_action_lawsuits
And a lawsuit by employees:
http://www.24hourlawsuit.com/
Posted by: gorilla jim at August 1, 2007 07:14 AM