ALEXANDER'S Health Club. Kaput. Bankrupt. GONE

Life Health & Fitness
1

The woman who runs the Alexander fitness chain was on TV this morning announcing she’s ‘temporarily’ suspending operations. Another example of a relatively famous local brand name going down the drain.

The company was apparently ripped off to the tune of 95 million NT, but I didn’t follow the details. It wouldn’t surprise me if it had something to do with its recent expansion into China.

I walk around a lot to keep fit, so this news doesn’t affect me personally, but there will certainly be lots of angry members showing up at the gyms demanding refunds.

2

I saw it coming a long time ago!

I used to be a member for about a year and cancelled my membership mainly because of the piss poor service, incompetent and lazy staff, the lack of air conditioning/ventilation, and the sweat-stained, dirty exercise equipment.

Before ending my membership I wrote a letter of complaint to the manager of the branch and heard nothing. I then wrote a letter to the CEO and heard … nothing. :s

Here’s to Alexander :raspberry: :raspberry: :raspberry: :raspberry: :raspberry:

I DO feel sorry for members who will propably lose the fees paid for long-term memberships. :s

3

The same old trick … get a loan from a Taiwanese bank to expand your business, then siphon most of it to China to invest there and go broke, leave the country and all’s well … except for your in advance paying members …

4

Quite a few gyms came and went in my neighbourhood. I ended up going with Gold’s gym because:

  1. location - walking distance

  2. equipment - it had better and more of the equipment I was going to use. It didn’t matter to me they had a billion classes in aerobics if I wasn’t going to use them

  3. discount - I was able to negotiate a reasonable discount.

  4. reputation - Gold’s does have a good rep. As far as I know, they are still around in TPE.

Do a search - I did a comprehensive review of Gold’s as well as other gyms I talked to (sales).

5

Dunno if there are any others but the Da’an / Fuxing branch changed to California some time ago.

6

I paid for a 3 yrs membership in advance and now it’s all gone down to the gutter…called the Sales Rep. who sold me the membership (It was actually someone else’s membership who had transferred it to me) and she said she too was out of the job and all Alexander’s employees were now seeking help from the CLA and advised me to go to the Consumer’s Protection Commission (消保會) and lodge a complaint (As if it will do any good!!!)…

Any forumosans here who have prepaid the membership fees and got screwed? What action do you plan to take?

7

[quote=“springonion”]I paid for a 3 yrs membership in advance and now it’s all gone down to the gutter…called the Sales Rep. who sold me the membership (It was actually someone else’s membership who had transferred it to me) and she said she too was out of the job and all Alexander’s employees were now seeking help from the CLA and advised me to go to the Consumer’s Protection Commission (消保會) and lodge a complaint (As if it will do any good!!!)…

Any forumosans here who have prepaid the membership fees and got screwed? What action do you plan to take?[/quote]

One of our secretaries sent this around today:

亞力山大無預警停業，消保會將邀集相關主管機關研商

行政院消費者保護委員會(下稱行政院消保會)於今(10)日上午接獲通知，國內健身俱樂部企業經營者之一，亞力山大集團於今日召開記者會宣布暫停營業。就此行政院消保會會同臺北市政府主任消保官陳主任消保官柏菁共同至亞力山大總公司了解情況，惟該業者早於今日凌晨派員通知公司所在地之美麗華中控中心，將通往總公司的電梯及樓梯通道關閉，無法與該業者取得聯繫。雖然亞力山大於記者會上表示暫停營業，惟對於消費者的權益保障卻未提及，而經查亞力山大之營業據點分別於台北市7家、台北縣3家、桃園縣2家、新竹市1家、台中市1家、台南市1家及高雄市1家，共計7縣市，16家營業點，估計將有上萬會員權益受損。

行政院消保會對於本案已與相關主管機關行政院體育委員會及行政院金融監督管理委員會銀行局等聯繫，並籲請消費者提供基礎事實或先行撥打「1950」申訴專線，向地方消費者保護官申訴，或上行政院消費者保護委員會(cpc.gov.tw)網站申訴，並於申訴時表明以消費方式(例如以現金消費、信用卡消費以及貸款方式)，以及會籍之殘餘價值(例如:3年會期，仍剩餘2年)，同時備妥對於當初加入會員的契約、信用卡刷卡簽單等資料影本，行政院消保會將與縣市消保官聯繫，彙整申訴資料，俾該會能確切掌握確切之狀況，並當於最快時間內邀集主管機關行政院體育委員會、行政院金融監督管理委員會銀行局、法務部、本案的收單銀行，地方消保官等開會，並與亞力山大業者進行協商，確定本案的處理方案，保障消費者權益。

8

My ex was hit by the the Youth SPa (forget if the is the name) for a lot of money, if I remember correctly over 200k NT. Unfort. all she got from it was a bunch of products that were useless to her.

9

This is indeed sad news.

I was a longtime member and recommended friends to join. I thought they ran a state of the art and very professional gym. Of course, their prices were outrageous and I thought it was somewhat exclusive and high class.

This was 7 years ago.

Now, after NOT choosing to renew my membership, I got out.

But sad to say, they are out of business and perhaps with luck and a miracle, they’ll be up and running again, but as for now, their employees and members are SOL.

I hope few here are affected by the unfortunate news.

10

This is the 3rd thread today someone has reported this news.

11

There’s no way I’d put down that kind of money in advance for membership in a club that might simply close doors the next day when the boss decides to retire to the PRC with everyone’s money in his pocket.

12

Bad news indeed when these sales vultures give you this schpeel (sp?) about joining their gym and the longer you sign on for the bigger your discount, then they throw in a bunch of useless coupons and gifts knowing (or maybe not knowing? Who knows) they’re going bankrupt.

Never sign a gym contract for more than two years. And if you do sign it for two years, do the math to make sure you’re getting such a good deal that the amount you’re paying could very well be a regular one year fee. Always negotiate, if they say no, walk away, they’ll most likely budge.

My gym (www.beingsport.com.tw) which I’ve been using during this visit lets me buy weekly passes. I asked hot trainer guy today and he says our gym will be having a meeting later this week to discuss what kind of discounts they’ll be giving to former Alexander Gym members. Last week before anyone knew of this Alexander fiasco I asked muscle trainer guy if our gym would be closing any branches since I don’t see any young people there these days, mostly moms and ojisans but he said no, they’re thinking of expanding to at least two more next year.

So, who knows though. Any time I see “Buy one year get another free!” ads I think they’re bullshit, unless they’ve had a long ass history to back it up. Sucked to hear about this news cuz I know how they kind of pressure people to pay up front.

Call your credit card company and cancel your monthly payments immediately!

13

So it appears she was using money from Alexander or was it membership money to try and finance something in China and the 95 million NT was lost (making it sound like it fell out of her pocket or something)

She is a pretty savvy business woman, so I doubt it is a simple as losing it to some unscrupulous Chinese business man

I do not know of any obligations Alexander has to its members by law, but if I had spent tens of thousands of NTD on membership, I would be looking for her to surrender her passport until all got sorted out

14

[quote=“TNT”]So it appears she was using money from Alexander or was it membership money to try and finance something in China and the 95 million NT was lost (making it sound like it fell out of her pocket or something)

She is a pretty savvy business woman, so I doubt it is a simple as losing it to some unscrupulous Chinese business man

I do not know of any obligations Alexander has to its members by law, but if I had spent tens of thousands of NTD on membership, I would be looking for her to surrender her passport until all got sorted out[/quote]

She was on TV last night doing the popular Taiwanese soap opera thing … crying her eyes out and apologizing to members… asking for their forgiveness … :unamused: :unamused:

15

[quote=“TNT”]

She is a pretty savvy business woman, so I doubt it is a simple as losing it to some unscrupulous Chinese business man

t[/quote]

Why do you say that? Opportunistic sure, but Savvy? I’d say it’s the all too common case of a nobody striking gold but is unable to invest it wisely. Is it any wonder you see a bunch of chain stores pop up instantaneously and suddenly disappear?

16

I translated a gush piece on Candy Tang for the government earlier this year. It was holding her up as a model of female entrepreneurship and service industry development strategy. Ha!

It’s the same in my gym and pool, except that obasans outnumber ojisans and everyone else five to one. :s Three or so years ago, there were many young and youngish people there, especially women, but they all seem to have given up on exercising now. The obasans go there primarily to cluster together, yack and watch TV, and are probably one of the main reasons why young people are staying away.

17

[quote=“maybin”][quote=“TNT”]

She is a pretty savvy business woman, so I doubt it is a simple as losing it to some unscrupulous Chinese business man

t[/quote]

Why do you say that? Opportunistic sure, but Savvy? I’d say it’s the all too common case of a nobody striking gold but is unable to invest it wisely. Is it any wonder you see a bunch of chain stores pop up instantaneously and suddenly disappear?[/quote]

I worked with someone who was a sales manager in Alexander, and from this person’s accounts, this lady is no fool but savvy/ruthless yes. I have no doubts she is an opportunist also. These stores/business did not just pop up and then close down – the outfit has been around for a while. As much as she would like to portray herself as an incompetent victim I do not think this is plausible. Seems to me she siphoned off the money to China, and bankrupted Alexander in Taiwan

18

I’d say she’s a pretty lousy businesswoman having things go tits-up so badly as they have. Nothing savvy about that.

It’s just a shame that she will no doubt remain wealthy while many people with memberships are shit out of luck getting their money back. Shitty deal.

19

Ms. Tang was held as a success story. She gave several lectures at school and she was always regarded as a smart entrepeneur for pioneering the health industry in Taiwan.

The business started showing signs of decay after the boiler incident -which was not managed very well, and served to highlight the problems of cost-cutting. Let’s see what the results of the prosecutor’s raid bring up.

If I understood corectly, stopping the credit card payments will not be easy, say the banks to the ex Alexander customers. Now that’s a bummer.

As top our gyms being full of obasans, actually, I prefer it like that. They are more disciplined, and I cannopt help but admire an 80 year old who swims regularly.

Furthermore, this is a rapidly expanding market -and far more reliable:

[quote] Old Taiwanese people enjoy a much higher frequency of exercise than their younger counterparts, with one out of four elderly people enjoying established sports habits,a researcher of the National Health Research Institute said Friday.
Wen Chi-pang said 50 percent of Taiwanese people interviewed for a survey admitted that they do not like to exercise, citing results of a survey on exercise habits that started in 2001.

Wen said 75 percent of the population do not get sufficient exercise, if those who burn less than 500 calories through exercise per week are added to the 50 percent of people who take no exercise at all. “Those who think they take physical exercise are not necessarily burning enough calories,” Wen noted.

The survey results show that only one seventh of the males and one tenth of the females surveyed burn more than 750 calories per week during exercise, which is the median amount suggested by the U.S. Center for Disease and Prevention.

Nearly 8 million young people with higher education and high income comprise the group that gets the least exercise, Wen said, citing the survey results.
…

The elderly tend to exercise more because they have more free time and realize the benefits of exercise from experience, Wen said. He encouraged young people to engage in more physical activities.

[/quote]

chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/2007 … people.htm

20

Imagine having signed up for a 1 or 2 year membership last week. :astonished: