Saturday 21 September 2013

Getting your gym membership fee back

Gyms make their money off people who sign up with enthusiasm in January, keep going through February and then slack off.  By now, most of us are probably regretting joining up, feeling a little bit embarrassed to admit being stuck in a 12 month contract, and generally hacked off with the waste of money.  

The obvious answer is "Go to the gym!", but if you can't do that then the best way to make the most of a bad situation is to recover some of your costs.

Gyms are great at offering additional membership benefits. To entice us to sign up, there is often a whole panoply of goodies on offer.  Forget the free sweat towel, and look at the discounts. You never need go to the gym again to make that membership pay for itself.

Of course, it all depends on what package you have signed up to. A David Lloyd family bundle costs £293.85 a month, and you would have to be going some to recoup that, but a typical off-peak monthly gym membership comes in at around £70-£80. So, how do we get that back if we aren't going to the gym, and they won't let us break our contract?  Live it up a little at their expense.

With David Lloyd membership, just as one example, you can get your money back fairly quickly with some of these benefits:

  • cheap breakdown cover, saving you up to 45% on The AA;
  • 25% of your bill at Gourmet Society restaurants; (always struck me as a bit of an odd offer for a gym to make, but there you go);
  • half price MOT from Halfords;
  • 10% of shirts and blouses for T M Lewin;
  • Discounts at UK attractions & theme parks, like Alton Towers, or Chessington;
  • Great rates on foreign currency exchange
This is all stuff you're buying anyway, so you can quickly recover some of your membership fee. 
 
If you really want it all back, then move on to some of the more luxury things. Discounted theatre breaks, Tuscan villa holidays, special offers on family portraits and even exclusive rates on hiring a Ferrari can all be yours to justify that membership to the gym you never go to.

Of course, if you are still going to the gym (well done!) then make the most of the fringe benefits, and you can get your membership almost for free.

For a complete list go to http://imember.co.uk/organisation/1016



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