[shoeluver67]

Has anybody done this? my gym recently closed one of it's facilities and now has redirected it's members to their other one...needless to say, it's packed there! i want out!! anybody negotiated a membership at a gym...i heard you can do that.

[Ilene]

Absolutely, try it you have nothing to lose everything to gain...

[BlueToBlue]

Definitely. My first gym membership, I negotiated without even trying. I really just wasn't sure about it, so I sort of hmmm and hawed for a bit and the sales guy completely surprised me by coming back with a better offer.

In fact, it turns out that stalling is a very effective negotiating technique. They tell you the price and you say something like "I don't know, I'm just not sure I can pay that much, I'm going to have to think about." If they don't make a better offer, you can say something like "Is there anything you can do to make the membership more affordable?"

BTW--this technique works on mattress salesmen too--we got $500 off our last mattress when we used it. And it can work when buying a car--I got the sales guy to double his offer on my trade-in with it.

[shoeluver67]

Mattresses?!?! REALLY?? wow...had no idea you could haggle on those. i'm desperately trying to get them to waive the $99 enrollment fee...they have a "special" going (although of course she told me it was for the weekend only) of $24.99 a month with $99 enrollment. i don't want to pay the $99. they really haven't budged on the price at all (it's LA Fitness). she keeps calling and i've been "i don't know" ing her for 3 days now, but no luck so far.

[Ilene]

I love haggling we always negotiate with big ticket items...

If you can't get them to take off the 99$ enrolment fee, try to get them to give you a free month or two... BTW 24$ per month is a very good deal...

[stargzr]

Over the phone is a lot different than in person. In person they have you in their office and you can take up their time and space. Over the phone, she can just shrug you off and call the next person. I say go in and sit down with her and say you'd like to sign up but are worried about the $99 down. With the economy the way it is, I'd sure negotiate. If she can't waive the entire fee, then request a % off of the first 6 months of something to make up for it. Just convince her that it would hurt you financially to unload $100 up front.
My gym offered me $150 down, $35 per month. I ended up paying $75 down with $25 per month.

ps -thanks to *blue*, I would never have thought of negotiating a mattress - will definitely have to do that!

[BlueToBlue]

Originally Posted by shoeluver67

Mattresses?!?! REALLY?? wow...had no idea you could haggle on those.

Me neither! We weren't even trying to negotiate; we really just weren't sure we wanted to pay the price they were asking. I do all my best negotiating when I'm not actually trying to. On the mattress, it definitely helped that we were there at the very end of the day, almost closing time, on a Sunday and the store was dead empty. Timing is everything.

With my first gym membership, which was at 24-Hour Fitness, the guy waived the enrollment fee if I agreed to pay for 6 months up front (they didn't have a long-term contract). Maybe try that offer. Or instead of saying "I don't know," come right out and say that the enrollment fee is really a problem for you and ask if there's anything she can do about it. Make some suggestions--pay for a few months up front, sign up for a longer contract, or Ilene's suggestion of a few months free as compensation for the enrollment fee (amounts to the same thing as paying a few months up front).

Another strategy that can work is to ask to speak with a supervisor. Maybe just call back or go in on your own, ask for a supervisor, explain the deal and why you are hestitating and see if he/she can do anything. The salesperson may not have the authority to make the deal that you want, so going to someone with more authority might help.