AIBU to want to know David LLoyd prices up front?

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I don't get why David Lloyd don't have their membership prices online.

Why do you have to make an appointment to go and see them to find out prices?

Why are they so mysterious? Are they not really gyms but secret societies or something?!

They're such a massive brand, I don't get why they're so dumb about this. It's offputting and weird.

I pay £72 a month off peak for David Lloyd - 2 huge pools, jacuzzi, steam, sauna, MASSIVE gym, loads of classes.

I go to aqua aerobics classes at least twice a week and use the pools, jacuzzi, steam. This brings an exercise class plus all the above to under £10 a class - normal classes in church halls round my way are a tenner a time.

There are 70 classes plus included with membership - spinning, ballet, basically everything

I think it's really cheap. It's £8 to go swimming in my local council pool.

I paid £64 as a single person and that might have been the student rate...

Our local had been a very luxurious, country club vibe type place when it was taken over by David Lloyd. Maybe they misjudged the potential clientele?

I think cost would be the last of my worries. A child died here a couple of years ago in one of their pools.They were not being supervised properly and drowned.

www.davidlloyd.co.uk/memberships

How did a pp just google and find a price? All I get is this.

@HeadintheiClouds it cannot be.
Surely you can accept you have made an error when you understood the offer.

Why on earth would your offer be 10x more than anybody else on here who is a member at DL?

I pay £85 a month off peak. I priced it up and for one exercise class a week and a swim it is cheaper than paying for those things directly. In this outer London borough it is nearly £10 for an adult swim and about the same for a Pilates class! Actually the main benefit I get is somewhere nice to work (I'm a teacher and also freelance) - I'm not the only one working on a laptop using their heating/air con and wifi, either!

The staff in our one are delightful. The local Virgin ones I found consistently rude and unhelpful and Virgin also ripped me off over pricing.

I expect the managers vary a lot. Our one must be nice as the staff are so helpful and motivated.

I realise I sound like I work for them but it's more the contrast with the other facilities locally...

It was three+ years ago and I’ll post a copy of the email if I can dig it out. This had been a seriously sumptuous country club on a sprawling park like site, which David LLoyd seemed to think made it ok to continue charging top whack whilst providing inferior services.
I don’t know if they’re still going, I’ll google, but no, I didn’t make a mistake

They all vary. When I left mine 5 years ago it was £80-90 a month per person so god knows what it is now. I hate a lack of transparency for pricing be it kids classes, gyms etc.

I can live with the gym membership model but there are lots of kids group things that have emerged that annoy me a lot. I might want to pay for one gymnastics lesson- not pay an inflated membership for ‘unlimited’ classes or other great member benefits which are usually shite. My child is 3.

YANBU!

I know the reasons why they do this i.e. nobody would ever sign up if they saw the prices listed on the website! They need to seduce you first by getting you to come and hard selling it all to you- I can see how this is a very effective method!

Recently I was trying to find out about signing up for a 3 month trial, but it was impossible to just find out some/any information about the costs involved. You have to give all your details and then arrange to come in to meet with them etc

It was frustrating as I just wanted a vague idea i.e. whether it was worth pursuing or not

There’s a tennis club and a spa on site as well, it appears.

Our joint membership is around £118 per month in the NE, whereas another North East club is that amount for a single membership!

That does include full tennis tho which is mainly what I use it for and there are a huge amount of classes that I could do as well.

It is expensive but worth it to me as I play wheelchair tennis with friends and they were members which is why we joined the cheaper club, further away from where we live but easier to access

Placemarking to see the email that @headintheiclouds got!
I pay £60 for Virgin Active, can use any club, all classes free, nice clubs and get towels.

Just to add- one thing that put me off was the thought of being hounded via phone/email for weeks or months after my initial enquiries!!

I pay £87 a month! fab gym highly recommend - not sure where people get £1200 a month from? sounds like bs

The pool in our local one (indoor only) isn’t deep enough to dive into. Anywhere. For the money, I’d like a proper pool.

Unfortunately, diving pools are pretty rare now. It’s a health and safety thing.
I used to have a lovely deep pool near me but the leisure centre got refurbished and now it’s only 1.2m deep

Anything that doesn’t give you an upfront price will give you a hard sell. That includes gyms, double glazing, beauty treatments, cleaners and so much more. IMO if they aren’t prepared to tell you the price they probably aren’t worth what they are charging.

I go to exercise classes every week. The instructor is there to ensure you do the moves properly. There’s Zumba, yoga, Pilates, body conditioning, Barre, flex and tone, dance fusion, gentle movers, weights, strictly fit and there are classes morning , evening and weekends. All the instructors are qualified in their field, all are lovely. We go to different venues, the local coffee shop and I pay less than £1 a class.

YANBU
It's a tactic of theirs to get the hard sell when they get you into one of their gyms. I was a member until July last year and I paid £92 a month for premium membership. It was expensive but my other options was my local council gym which was a third of the cost but the gym was tiny and not enough equipment. Or to drive over 20 minutes to an overcrowded PureGym... so it was worth the cost for me tbh.

We pay the same as @hidinginthenightgarden, we have platinum membership for the 4 of us. Definitely a luxury but we all use it and do the classes. Plus towels and discount on the cafe when I’m supposed to be in the gym it’s a bit like a family hobby for us though, kids don’t do any other after school activities.

I paid £99 a month 10 years ago if that's any help 💸💸💸

@Foxyloxy1plus1
Where are these classes that cost less than £1 each? Even for local church hall type things that is crazily cheap, how can it be good business sense to run them so cheaply? Do you pay a non-refundable block up front?

I've been thinking about a 3-month membership for DD and myself over the summer, but I don't think I can justify it. We're not going on holiday, so the outdoor pool would be the big draw. I was quoted around £115pm for 1 adult and 1 child in off-peak hours, which includes an extra £15 per month per individual for the shorter contract. I could possibly justify that for August if we went most days, but we wouldn't use it nearly enough in Sept and Oct to make it worthwhile. Plus the email mentioned another £100 joining fee, so it's a no from me.

I think they are looking at your jewellery/watch/car etc to see how high to set the prices. Surely "joining fees" are completely arbitrary.