Buyer Beware - Gym Memberships!!

Who knew gyms were so sneaky? You know that contract you sign when you get a membership? Well there can be a heck of alot of things hidden in there! In Advertising class, my group, consisting of Shelley, Lindsey, Lauren and I, dove into the gym agreement world looking for answers. We started off by picking four major gyms located in Winnipeg. Curves, Shapes, The Y, and Good Life Fitness. Our goal was to get a contract from each gym, get information on what each gym offered, the costs of each membership, cancellation policies, extras and what the all around customer service was like. We each chose a gym and went there individually, inquiring about getting a membership.
We surveyed 60 random people whom we found in various areas throughout our campus. The survey included what gyms they have been and are a member of, as well as a rating of customer service at the specific gym and what kind of experience they had exiting their memberships.
Out of the research we did, the experiences we had at our specifc gyms and the opinions we got from various sources, we came to the conclusion that Shapes is deceitful and has bad customer service, Curves was mediocre, Good Life Fitness was good and The Y was great. The Y was the only gym that would give us a copy of their memberships.
So watch out when you sign contracts! You could have trouble cancelling your membership like many did at Shapes, or have money automatically taken out of your account, or get charged something extra that you don't know about, or only have access to your gym on a specific day at a specific time. Be aware of what is offered and what you're being charged because a signed agreement is legally binding and it'll be helll in a hand basket trying to get out of that if you're being swindled.