DON'T JOIN!!!!!!!!!!!!

“DON'T JOIN!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Written on: 25/06/2012

Thinking of joining David LLoyd? I have a much better idea for you if you want a really stressful experience and you wish to completely waste your money. Go into your spam emails and send one of them your bank details and mothers maiden name and any other details they require to successfully fraud your bank account. It would probably still be less of a con than this money greedy excuse for a gym. Maybe even do one of those telephone scams where they say they're going to put money into your account but really steal money out of it.That will be cheaper to call than the 0845 number you have to call for head office to complain about yet another thing thats irritated you.

I joined David LLoyd in Brighton in 2008. At the time I wanted to join a chain of gyms that also had clubs in Northern Ireland. The reason for this was due to the fact that I am self employed, so not only work around the country, but visited my parents in Belfast on a regular basis. When I explained this to the sales man he told me about the vantage membership available at an even more extortionate price than the regular, already overpriced monthly membership. Suprisingly enough, even the offer of being able to use their crusty towel service for free (what a selling point!!!) couldn't convince me to pay the extra cash. So, I explained I wasn't interested and would join another gym that offered the use of their gyms across the country without the additional cost. The sales man could not have stopped me leaving that building fast enough. They have sales targets to meet afterall. He offered me the option of corporate membership which at the time meant that not only could I use any club I wanted but I could also book into the classes in the other clubs too. This was the most important factor for me. The gym itself holds no appeal to me.

Three months after joining the gym in Brighton I had to relocate to Surrey, the nearest gym being Weybridge. To use this gym as my home club I would have to pay an extra £25 a month!!! What mug would do that when they could still use all the facilities and still book into the classes as a guest. I guess I was not the only person in the country pulling this one as the rules changed a few years down the line. You can no longer book into classes outside of your home gym. I completely understand this, as members of Weybridge should have priority over members from another gym who are too tight fisted to pay more money to use their facilities. What grinds my gears is the fact that a supposed chain can charge such varying prices for what are varying standards of facilities. For example, why does Weybridge charge thirty pounds more than Belfast, when Belfast has an outdoor pool and sports hall and Weybridge does not?

Five years down the line I'm moving into an apartment with an onsite independent gym that blows crappy old DL out of the water. The nearest David LLoyd is 40 miles away. I've explained I'm unwilling to travel that far to use a gym, when I'll have one on my doorstep. Unsuprisingly, they don't care. Despite my five years of monthly membership payments, fortnightly massage,weekly personal training and additional paid courses, they want to bleed me further. Three months notice!!! (Three months and one week to be exact) For a gym I can't even use in three weeks time. I don't mind paying a months notice but three months is just plain greedy. Of course they refered to the contract signed five years ago. I can't believe that after everything that has happened in my life over the past five years, the small print in a gym contract escapes my mind! (Please read that comment with a huge side serving of sarcasm) How come you only need to give a months notice to move out of a property and switch off your phoneline/broadband/sky, but a contract you signed five long years ago requires three. ABSOLUTE CON!

This gym is the biggest con I've ever come across. I can't believe its even legal (and I can't believe that not only am I venting my rage on a website but I have used the word con so many times). And how do they have the audacity to care so little about their customers. There are over three hundred reviews on here, all of them scathing. I am clearly not the only one upset by such a stupid rule, and obviously not the only one caught out by it. So why don't they change it? Hopefully they will run out of idiots like myself to con into getting a membership and go bankrupt. Don't join. I think they pump stupifying drugs through the air-conditioning. I'm normally quite quick off the mark, how did it take five years for me to finally pluck up the courage to leave!! On the bright side, at least I have three months of gym membership to go- I really need to release some endorphines.