Saturday, January 17, 2015

Change is not always a good thing....

One of the resolutions I made at the beginning of this year was to visit the NAT 2-3 times per week.

Resolution FAIL.  I have been there exactly twice so far this year - once right before my monthly membership ended on Jan 4.

Second time was today.

I have an excuse or two - seriously.

I got sick after the New Year - sick enough to keep me in bed the better part of a week. Being in bed is not conducive to exercise.  I take that back.  But you know what I mean.


And then...a new gym came to town.  And as my son said "You should check it out; it has everything you need, it is closer to your apartment, it opens earlier in the morning - you could go before work..."

So I checked - online.  It does have everything I want and it is 20 per month cheaper than the monthly non-resident NAT membership - after a $99 enrollment fee.  .

Yeah that enrollment fee is a big red flag for me. 

$99 + 29.99 per month with the $99 plus 2 x $29.99 down before I can start using the place. 

I had already decided I would subscribe to the NAT for a year which would bring my monthly rate down to under $38.  With the enrollment fee spread out over a year, I am looking at about the same cost at each gym for the first year.

So I decided to look on online reviews for the owning company.  Like most gyms with an enrollment fee, there were a lot of complaints. Not lying -  I did not see one good review. Spas and saunas are left dirty/non-working for days at a time.  The required two month notice to end your membership more often than not turns into at least 6 months of fees still being withdrawn from your account. There is not an option to pay for a year upfront and have the membership end after the year. 

And then there is the issue of  employer reimbursement.  I can file one voucher  per calendar year for gym fees (80% or $240 (whichever is less) of receipt totals, excluding enrollment fees.  So I would be eating that $99. And I would need to wait 10 months to have enough receipts to get the maximum reimbursement.

Needless to say, I decided to stick with my original goal and enroll for one-year NAT membership - which just happened to be $100 less than the advertised rate, because this is the first time I have obtained a full year membership. What a nice surprise! I will forward my receipt to my employer this week; and I should  reimbursement in one of February's checks. 

WIN - WIN!

I do love the NAT.