i tried to update my credit card so they won’t send me daily fucking emails that i “owe” them $30 (because a gym membership definitely needs to be a cOnTraCt, sure, sure), but the website didn’t work, so I tried calling their “automated” system, whereupon after entering my info to the robot, it gave up and connected me to a guy who i had to speak do and do it all over again.
then they made the poor guy literally ask at the end ‘are you satisfied with my service today’
This is baffling. In Korea, you pay up front. You pay for a month, go to the gym for a month. Pay for a year, go to the gym for a year. The more time you pay for, the better the deal you get. WTF would anyone subscribe to a gym? That’s not incentive to go to the gym, that’s incentive to quit going to the gym.
My fitness gym (Germany) has subscriptions, but there is also one that can be canceled monthly, which is offered at a discount, especially at the beginning of the year, because of the new year resolutions, so people who regret it can cancel quickly. It is still available later in the year, but is then about 20% more expensive than if you enter into a contract for 12 months, which is still billed monthly and not all at once at the beginning. There is also a student discount that saves you around €200 a year. You can cancel online or on site, I’ve already done it once and it went without a hitch. So it seems to be a bit more convenient here than with OP. Although I would love a prepaid option as you describe.