To think this gym policy makes no sense

[redskylight]

My gym has a policy that if you book a class/activity in advance and don't turn up you get charged a £4 no-show fee.

This makes sense for people on contracts - clearly they don't want people booking up loads of classes and then not coming, and depriving other people of the spaces.

However, I don't have a gym membership, I pay on a PAYG basis. I recently paid online to attend a class and then attended the class. It appears that my attendance wasn't registered because I've been told I have to pay the £4 no-show fee. However, I'm not sure of the validity of this even if I hadn't attended? I paid for a specific service (attending the class) and even if I hadn't turned up the gym still got my money for this. They surely then can't charge me more money for not using the service I'd paid for? If anything, this is great for the gym -if lots of people pay for classes on a PAYG basis and don't turn up, they are raking in money for nothing.

(I should also say, in case it matters, that the class was only about 1/4 full, so in no way did this affect anyone else).

Yes the PAYG customer has already paid for each and every class so her attendance is neither here nor there, she’s paid up! The membership person might have block booked 14 classes. but has paid a monthly charge covering gym, swimming and classes. Just those classes alone might be more than the monthly fee. It’s clearly not the same. .

Is the policy fine? I can't think of any other example, where I would pay for something, and then had to pay even more for not using it.

Yes, that's totally unreasonable. That's like paying for a flight, not showing up and being charged £100 for missing the plane.

Re-read what I said and you’ll see the many reasons that I listed as to why it’s bad for PAYG members to do that. It’s already been stated so I’m not sure why you’re now feigning ignorance and saying “her attendance is neither here nor there”.

I totally agree with this post and you op.

If you pay to block book and due to unexpected circumstances, you have to cancel all classes, you are unlikely to get your money back. If you don’t cancel and are just a no show, they’ll charge you double! A member otoh can block book and cancel all classes, then block book another set of classes with no penalty.

It could be an admin oversight but if it’s not, I kind of see what they might be trying to do, in terms of incentivising people to show up. Yes they’ve got your cash, but if you don’t show you block someone else from attending should the class be full.

The other (and probably fairer) way to do this is through a three-strikes-and-you’re-out type of approach someone else has mentioned, where if you do pay and don’t show up two/ three times in a month, they block your booking privileges for a month.

It seems very strange to me. As long as you’ve paid the fee to attend what does it matter to them that you didn’t? You wouldn’t get charged for not going to the cinema or if you’d booked and paid for a train seat but didn’t travel etc?

But I suppose the logic is the same- if people cancel their contract because there's never any availability for classes and they're only half full it's a good business decision to impose a penalty on no shows

This. I know it sounds unfair on the face of it, but when you consider the longer term repercussions to the gym, it perhaps starts to make sense. I appreciate that this particular class is never full, but it's probably easier and fairer to just have a blanket policy that applies to all gym users (both members and non-members) - it reduces the risk of any complaints of discrimination or unfairness.

So @redskylight - how late can you cancel with no penalty? Surely if it’s to allow others to attend you could cancel right up to start time, maybe lose your fee, but not get the penalty. Is it literally only if you don’t tell them you’re not coming?

My local council gym lets you cancel quite late for PAYG, and you get the money as a credit in your account, which seems really reasonable.

Yes you're right. It's fine for them to fine people on a contract who don't pay extra for the class for blocking a space they don't use, but makes less sense to charge people twice for the same space

You can cancel up to 2 hours before the class.
Ironically I only booked this one about 50 minutes before the class as I like to be sure that nothing last minute will come up to stop me attending :)

The gym has now agreed to remove the charge, but not commented on my comments on their overall policy.

It probably is an oversight by the gym.

They obviously want to make sure they don't lose money through people not attending classes, but they have not been very intelligent in the way they have implemented it.

You need to point out their error.

Its a bit daft if the class isn't full. Ours doesn't charge, but they have a cancellation policy whereby is you cancel 3 times then you get in the 'sin bin' and can't book in advance for 1 week. The cancellation only counts if the class was full.

Happens to me if I book a hygienist appointment at dentist's and then don't turn up. Happened to me once when I had a migraine and wouldn't have been safe driving. You have to book up well in advance but you can cancel with 24 hrs notice.

I wouldn't think of it as a charge, it's more a fine - to discourage unwanted behaviour. My dh often can't get a place and ends up on the waiting list, and then still doesn't get in. He used to assume it was because the class was jam-packed full. Fair enough.
But when he did get a place he noticed that there are maybe 5/6 empty mats. People just didn't bother cancelling. It's very frustrating that people are missing out because others can't be bothered cancelling. A fine for no-shows is an attempt to stop this.

It's a stupid policy.
Imagine if the rest of the country ran that way.

Pay for train ticket then pay a fine if you miss the train, pay for your takeaway then pay a fine if you forget to collect it, pay for your parking then pay a fine if you get stuck in traffic on the way there. The non attendance and waste if money is punishment enough!

Ridiculous.
And yes, just pay on the door in future

I think it is a very strange policy! I agree with the fine for gym members to stop them booking lots of classes and only showing up to some of them since the cost of the class is inc in their membership fee anyway.

I'm glad they are refunding you the fine (as they should) I don't think I'd press them on their policy but it is a weird one.

Yes, you might be asked to pay for the appointment itself even though you didn't turn up for it, but you wouldn't be asked to pay an extra fine on top of the cost of the appointment, which is what we're talking about here.

I go to one class at one gym regularly and another at a second gym so I'm PAYG and one of them does this - I think this is in addition to the no refund for PAYG if you don't show up.

Once I got stuck in traffic and couldn't find the gym number to call while driving, and they took me off the three strikes list. Once I did go but didn't get registered on entry and ditto once I told them. It expires anyway so the non-registration was before Christmas, then I was ill and then didn't go back for a month and they'd expired that issue anway.

No I paid for the appointment and a fine so it is exactly what we are talking about here. I think it is the same for the dentist but I've never missed an appointment so not 100% sure.

That's a stupid policy and can imagine they will just upset their members.
My gym used to have a 3 strikes and you weren't allowed to book onto anymore classes, until you were pardoned or something.
Agree if you've booked and paid on a PAYG basis, then your attendance is irrelevant and I doubt they get many no shows under those circumstances, its the regular gym goers block booking and not showing up that need penalising to prevent them doing it.

Unfair if you are alleged to have not turned up if you did.
100% fair if you did not show up and did not cancel. Same as I support restaurants asking for a deposit for bookings of large numbers of people.

Had you already paid for the hygienist then paid a fine on top?

Restaurants asking for deposits is an entirely different thing though.

Do you support restaurants asking large parties to pay for their food in advance, and then more on top if they don't turn up?

This isn’t about that though is it? It’s about paying fully upfront and then having to pay a fine on top.

Ha snap 😁