[quote=“Terry B.”][quote=“DavidL”]Not sure if this is mentioned before, but I’d just like to share a nice and cheap gym/fitness center I recently found. It’s called Zhongshan Sports Center, located adjacent to the Taipei Arena (小巨蛋-xiao ju dan); closest MRT is the Nanjing East Rd station.
New student at MTC ShiDa.
Went to true fitness next to Guting station.
The manager claimed they are better than california and more elite, therefore their price is higher than california.
Joining fee 8800 + processing fee 1200 + monthly 2388/2888 (kinda forget)
Their best price was like 30000 for a year contract. I was like WTF.
Are they really better than california or they just talking crap since they know I’m foreigner?
I’m looking for a nice club but this is just completely a rip off.[/quote]
That’s very pricey. Almost double what I pay for one year at Being Sport.
New student at MTC ShiDa.
Went to true fitness next to Guting station.
The manager claimed they are better than california and more elite, therefore their price is higher than california.
Joining fee 8800 + processing fee 1200 + monthly 2388/2888 (kinda forget)
Their best price was like 30000 for a year contract. I was like WTF.
Are they really better than california or they just talking crap since they know I’m foreigner?
I’m looking for a nice club but this is just completely a rip off.[/quote]
welcome to taipei!
not sure specifically what you are looking for, but it’s it’s simply for hardware and a place to work out, since you are enrolled at MTC, you can also go to the ShiDa gym. it’s not luxurious by any means, but the gym there has all the hardware you will want to get in a good workout, in addition to multiple multipurpose rooms, basketball courts, pool, etc. it’s super cheap, something like 1200 for the entire quarter.
the commercial gyms (eg: california) will all have an ok set of free weights.
the university and no-frills type of gyms vary but really wouldn’t be gyms without free weights:
the shida gym (accessible for those enrolled at 師大 or the MTC) is a fully stocked free-weight room with limited cardio gear. basically old-school muscle-beach, rusty-basement style raw workout place.
the sports centers (eg: the xinyi and zhongshan sports centers mentioned here) have varying free-weight equipment, but at the very least have a smith rack, a curl bar and a full set of dumbbells and benches.
I’m trying to get my 1 year Da’an California membership terminated as my work contract will expire soon and I’m not sure if it’ll be renewed.
I’ve been with California since Nov 09, at the time of joining the staff assured me that if i want an early termination from the 1 year membership all I needed was a copy of my work contract or a ticket back to Australia (he understands thats my work in Taiwan is contract base). I stupidly believed him and didn’t read the contract word for word as i had another appointment to attend.
This morning I recieved a call saying if i do break the contract I’d be liable to pay a $9000 fee or the best they could give me is a 6 month fee suspension. As apparently in the contract there’s nothing in there mentioning you can prematurely terminate your contract due to a termination in employment. I have misplaced my contract (I’ve been moving houses etc) so I can’t check up on what they’re saying (i’m sure they have a copy).
If there’s really no such statement in the contract, its really my word versus a Californian staff. In which case… i’d probably have to pay out my remaining fee
Any tips on how can i negiotiate with them? or am I pretty much screwed due to this sales guys false promises.
California Fitness burnt me with my worldwide lifetime membership because I didn’t pay one annual NT$1000 service fee, and they would not let me catch up the next year. They did not contact me to pay it but they said they sent me the information by mail. I argued, got tired.
I got frustrated and decided it wasn’t worth the trouble or my time by trying to take them to court… The contract is one thing, but going through the effort of trying to get the courts to enforce is a whole other effort.
[quote=“tango42”]California Fitness burnt me with my worldwide lifetime membership because I didn’t pay one annual NT$1000 service fee, and they would not let me catch up the next year. They did not contact me to pay it but they said they sent me the information by mail. I argued, got tired.
I got frustrated and decided it wasn’t worth the trouble or my time by trying to take them to court… The contract is one thing, but going through the effort of trying to get the courts to enforce is a whole other effort.[/quote]
Yes, it’s true. I’m also an infinity card holder and I don’t remember CF has ever sent reminder in any form be in post-mail, text, phone call, e-mail or even from the entrance clerk. For 3 years, I always volunteer to pay it one month before the due date.
This could be another business ploy to take advantage of long-term members after ripping off the prepaid huge sum. Imagine, they will get another chance to ask another membership options after canceling the supposed to be a lifetime membership.
CF has bad reputation to customers in Asia. In fact after stint domination in the region, only the chinese branches remains active while losing their hold in Korea, Malaysia, Thailand. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Fitness
Before, I usually visited the bangkok-silom branch with my taiwan card. It was nice to take a break from gruelling business trip but now no more.
i don’t like California Fitness either. very lucrative attitude treating me. they just need good competition from other fitness operators. it’s good some more others including Taipei municipal sports centers are opening to compete. after those lousy attitudes treating us and trying to make more money from us, they will face their music soon. the same boss will lead the same company to the same end.
California Fitness is a pretty greasy company. The branch in Korea was selling customers memberships until the day they closed! This is similar to what happened with Alexander Gym here in Taipei who also charged customers for long-term memberships right up to the day they closed. Are all these gyms run by crooks?
In fact, I wouldn’t doubt if California Fitness was run by gangsters. Just look at the managers at the Taipei Station branch. They look pretty greasy.
Most of these big name gyms run all kinds of scams. Everyone pays different rates because they gauge people for as much as they can. Some people are just better at negotiating than others and so get a better price.
That new Gym at Taipei Bus Station, BEING, is very nice gym. Probably expensive though. Not sure if they’re above board or not though.
In sum, though, most gyms, other than the community center gyms, are just big scams artists run by cons.
Isn’t California Fitness now a wholly owned subsidiary of 24Hr Fitness from the US? They used to just be affiliated, but I thought they were recently bought out.
Hi Katana thanks for the response. So if I have a 24 hour fitness pass that is ALL CLUBS (ultra membership), I can work out at any Taiwan California Fitness forever as long as I pay my 24 hour monthly fees?
P1ay
[quote=“katana2486”][quote=“p1aymakr”]
wow that is expensive. Has anyone used their American 24hr fitness membership in Taiwan? I know they let you use it for the first month then you need to sign up at their price. Does anyone have tricks to work around this? The price for 24hr fitness USA is much cheaper.[/quote]
Hi! First time poster too. ^-^
To answer your question, yes, you CAN use an American 24 Hour Fitness membership in Taiwan. Although it may depend on the type of membership you have. If you have a 1-gym membership, you probably can’t, but I think most people have the kind of membership where you can use most/any 24 Hour gyms anyways.
Before I left the States, I asked 24 Hour and they said that I could use my membership in Taiwan for a month without transferring my registered gym. If you plan to stay over a month, then you have to change your registered gym. I asked if you need to pay any sort of fee and they said no. I got over here, and asked the same questions, to see if 24 Hour was just giving me lip service, but I received the same answers. I’ve been going to California Fitness with no fees and no problems so far. I’m not sure if they’ve registered my transfer yet, but I expect it to be completed soon.
Oh, and when you want to transfer back to the US, both 24 Hour and CA Fitness said that there are no fees. [/quote]
New student at MTC ShiDa.
Went to true fitness next to Guting station.
The manager claimed they are better than california and more elite, therefore their price is higher than california.
Joining fee 8800 + processing fee 1200 + monthly 2388/2888 (kinda forget)
Their best price was like 30000 for a year contract. I was like WTF.
Are they really better than california or they just talking crap since they know I’m foreigner?
I’m looking for a nice club but this is just completely a rip off.[/quote]
I actually joined True Fitness. But I bargained hard for what I got, so I got a pretty good deal? And they knew I was a foreigner too… so I dunno.
I didn’t have to pay the joining fee, but I did have to pay the processing fee. The monthly contract for me is around 2288? Still pretty expensive, but it’s close to where I live, so I can’t complain too much. I think you have to bargain with them. ALSO, I went there an hour before they closed and they were in a rush to close, so maybe that’ll help
I don’t have much to complain about except sometimes when I go to the treadmills, there is a gross B.O. smell. Ergh. But not all the time… haha
For comparison, I negotiated a monthly rate of NT $1, 200 a month at California and I’ve talked to guys who said they were able to negotiate rates slightly lower than that.
You’re right though, there is no “going rate” - it’s what you can negotiate with those pricks.
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