Is A California Wow Going Out Of Business?

[Underbelly]

I just joined a month ago so the title nearly scared me.

8000 baht for lifetime? I just paid a bit over 20,000 for a life time including the Yoga. Did I just get ripped?

Doesnt matter I was paying about 22K in Australia a year at fitness first and its still a bargain to me.

And the girls here are blindly good, nearly fell off the treadmill yesterday

Edited March 26, 2009 by Underbelly

[jackdanielsesq]

Gyms are worse than restaurants, more like hos

Go out of business weekly.

Change the signs and start all over.

BR>Jack

Try Dusit, Dolphin Circle, Pattaya - more eyecandy than weights, clean, pool, sauna, everything +

a walk on the beach with small bar with COLD CHANG!!

[tlongdon]

Just as a follow up to my last post, a quick lookey at the SET this AM has California Wow shares in the top ten gainers again!

CAWOW 16,812,100 0.89 +0.13 (+17.11%)

Recapping, opened yesterday at .59 per share... Now at .89.

Interesting for a company supposedly going out of business.

or a smart investor who knows from "the inside" that they're about to be taken over....

[bkkjames]

Just as a follow up to my last post, a quick lookey at the SET this AM has California Wow shares in the top ten gainers again!

CAWOW 16,812,100 0.89 +0.13 (+17.11%)

Recapping, opened yesterday at .59 per share... Now at .89.

Interesting for a company supposedly going out of business.

or a smart investor who knows from "the inside" that they're about to be taken over....

you could be onto something ... again today number 2 biggest gainer on the stock market

CAWOW 16,084,600 1.08 +0.22 (+25.58%)

Almost doubled in value in 3 days.

[on-on]

or a smart investor who knows from "the inside" that they're about to be taken over....

Exactly. Or it could be nothing. Whatever it is, people watching the markets (particularly the American markets over the last decades) should be pretty reticent of anything other than a long-term trend when using markets to predict actual health of an underlying company. I've no reason to believe they are or aren't going out of business, but as I posted earlier in this thread we have seen this exact thing happen before in America, where we invented this market and then destroyed it and ended up with a bunch of PE firms as holding companies.

[katasyd]

Could be some truth about going broke.

If you see the owners house in Mai khao beach, it's amazing

3 hole golf course, tennis court etc sitting on 20 rai of absolute beach front

I got to take a look because it is quietly on the market for $24m u.s.

2 years and still no buyers

The home is called "Beyond"

[tlongdon]

Could be some truth about going broke.

If you see the owners house in Mai khao beach, it's amazing

3 hole golf course, tennis court etc sitting on 20 rai of absolute beach front

I got to take a look because it is quietly on the market for $24m u.s.

2 years and still no buyers

The home is called "Beyond"

You can buy something decent in Florida for that. No wonder it's been on the market 2 years...

[TonySoprano]

wow sounds like he has had huge success in his life. i trust he can turn this biz around. he has done much more in his life and is smarter than all of us.

[oMega69]

So what is the latest news from Wow ? . . ,, prices for member card and so on . . . . . . . .

[sibeymai]

My reply to another thread regarding California WOW:

All of you people who think it's a good idea to throw money at California WOW for "lifetime" memberships should read this:

http://bangkoklibrary.com/news/174-price-w...-xperience-pcl-

According to the audit report the company's liabilities exceed the company's assets by about 350 million baht.

To quote the report: "These conditions indicate the existence of a material uncertainty which may cast significant doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern."

[MrHammer]

A little off topic, but could California Fitness be fudging a little in their weights, making them seem heavier than they really are in order to make their clients feel good?  It seems like it would be way more trouble that in it worth, but after last night, I am wondering.

I usually lift at California Fitness Pin Klao.  But last night, I went with friends tothe fitness center at the Riverine Condos in Nothanburi.  When I did my normal free weights, they seemed a little heavy but within a reasonable range. My arms started buring on my second set of curls where they normally do not burn until the fourth set. It was hard to tell for sure as they didn't have heavy enough weights for my normal lift in several exercises.  But then, I went to do some pulldowns.  At CW, I pulldown 160 lbs, the maximum on the machine, and it is fairly easy. At Riverine, I went to 160 lbs, and I about busted my gut. I could barely crank them out.

So either I had an attack of the wussies, or the weights just aren't the same at both places.

Haha.. I wondered the exacy same thing only with the weights at my condo gym. In my own country I used to do free weight 2 x 30 kg barbell bench press, dont know the name of the excersise. Anyway I went to train at the gym in ThaiYippun center and grabbed thw 30 kg weights. As soon as I do the first push I feel my stomach cramping. The weights were way heavier than what I as used too. But I think it was the metal bar that added 2 kg or so on each dumbell/barbell?, which can make a big difference when lifting close to your limit.

The gym in my condo doesnt even have free weights heavy enough to do anything meaningful.

[theosiris]

Im in the process of recieving the calls and offers of around 2000 baht per month. I used to work in this industry back home in England, so im fully aware of their bully boy tactics. They dont give up!

Does anyone know of an alternative gym in the Vibhavardi/ Mo Chit area of Bangkok??

[oMega69]

Latest now is . , 11769 THB for "Lifetime" memebership . , then 100 THB per year . , Black Card All bransches . .

But i think CW have about 3yrs more to go. . . ., so its okey price for ~3 yrs .

quoted at bransch : Asoke BKK

ill also go and check prices at Ekamai and Siam Paragon . , ill be back later. . .

Edited September 2, 2009 by oMega69

[tropo]

But i think CW have about 3yrs more to go. . . ., so its okey price for ~3 yrs .

How did you arrive at 3 years?

[hhgz]

"dont know the name of the excersise"

Perhaps it was the "clean and jerk", but in high school it was known as the "jerk and clean".

[MrHammer]

A few months on with membership of 740 baht monthly and I have a hard time understanding why so many people slag on Cali Wow. I've not been the subject of any sales speak except for one clerk who asked me if I wanted to upgrade my membership on my first arrival.

Actually, I am very satisfied with Cali Wow, except they could have some more free weights and more benches for doing ab crunches, but thats the same in all 'fitness' type gyms.

Cali Wow seems busy and running well to me. I doubt they're going out of business anytme soon.

[Garret]

As many posters have written this is the same exact thing that happened in the U.S. Eric Levine is the guy that runs the show here and he pretty much brought his type of fitness buisness here from California...He learned from his boss the granddaddy of the whole Fitness-Ponzi Ray Wilson. I would say they are on there way out for sure excepy Major Group owns 36% so who can say

[robblok]

They stopped with the life time memberships now.. so that is a good thing new people come in on monthly basis. So there is hope that cali wow keeps on going.

[BusyB]

They stopped with the life time memberships now.. so that is a good thing new people come in on monthly basis. So there is hope that cali wow keeps on going.

While killing a week in BKK last year I needed some gym work (I’ve got a gym membership here at home). Spotted the CALWOW in I think it must have been the Paragon.

Got a week’s membership for I think Bt1500 - used it 3 times that week so came out on top. It was OK but nothing more (ignoring the fact that they tried to slip in a long term contract for my signature ).

The music was extremely loud and mindless for my taste, but OK for a cuppla workouts. Atmosphere was busy but friendly and the view looking down Sukhumvit from the cross trainer was impressive enough .

And it’s central enough for other activities afterwards.

What are the alternatives though? I’ll be needing a similar deal again most certainly. 

[MickeyM]

Could be some truth about going broke.

If you see the owners house in Mai khao beach, it's amazing

3 hole golf course, tennis court etc sitting on 20 rai of absolute beach front

I got to take a look because it is quietly on the market for $24m u.s.

2 years and still no buyers

The home is called "Beyond"

You can buy something decent in Florida for that. No wonder it's been on the market 2 years...

A recent article about the house (w/photo):

Link to Owner's House

[oMega69]

I just did buy the "Lifetime/12month/pre-paid/" Diamond card for 9995 THB ., and its renewal every years to come for 100 THB .,

[spysee]

California Wow is the best gym in Bangkok, I am also a member with fitness first and have to say it is crap.

[oMega69]

Any updates ?

[Gaccha]

Any updates ?

As in, will they survive the week...??

The wildly anticipated quarterly filings are now available at the Stock Exchange of Thailand website, telling a story of a company in wild freefall with a cash flow of minus 505 million baht in the third quarter... and revenue down a quarter on last year...

(http://www.set.or.th/set/companyfinance.do...&country=US)

So if you fancy a gamble you should throw money on the horse races in Royal Jockey Club. But if you want a *dead* certainty then lifetime membership at Cal Wow is the way to go... there is some astonishly frenetic trading this month in the shares... (84 million shares on 13 November traded)

[flightcrew1]

California Wow is the best gym in Bangkok, I am also a member with fitness first and have to say it is crap.

I'm a long time member of California WOW since it was California Fitness since it first opened 9 years ago and I've watched it grow steadily down hill. I'm not a member of Fitness First (but it's certainly comparable) but to say California Fitness is the best gym in Bangkok is a laugh. I'm now a member of the Olympic Club which is just so much better and has a pool. There are others in this league such as the Capitol Club on Sukhumvit and the Cascade Club on Satorn.

The Silom branch of California WOW is a disgrace with the locker rooms full of cockroaches and the showers moldy and slimy and to make it worse they put bright lights in the showers yesterday which just makes it easier to see the dirt!

Most of the cardio equipment is falling apart and half the trainers are in worse shape than some of the members.

Why do I still go? It's convenient as it's on Silom close to my condo and I'm still a lifetime member. If it shuts tomorrow I would not care as I've gotten my monies worth.

[Zzinged]

I'm interested in joining CW. I went in for a look-see today and I came away with an offer for lifetime usage at Esplanade (+B100/year) although I'm supposed to sign a contract at Silom branch. Although the manager said she would take care of me if I wanted to use Silom occasionally.

Grand price =11,999

Thoughts? Is the Esplanade branch better than the Silom branch? Other than things mentioned so far, is there anything else I should keep an eye out for?

[oMega69]

California Still Go Strong

[chantorn]

CA Wow is just another version of the ole Ponzi and/or pyramid schemes...translated into the fitness center genre. Find some product/service that you can oversell, quickly sell allot of it at whatever price the market will bear, collect as much money as you can in advance, recruit ever increasing people into the scheme, take all the money you can out of the business and put it into your Swiss bank account, and then step aside as the business implodes.

The Post had an article a few days ago about how the gig was almost up on this enterprise.

They are a listed public company. I am such they won't do that.

[soundman]

California Still Go Strong

[Declared] Balance shet is not too attractive.Here.

[KunMatt]

California Still Go Strong

[Declared] Balance shet is not too attractive.Here.

Oh dear. I'll re-think joining their Ekamai joint then.

I presume that if one were to pay for a lifetime membership and WOW goes out of business the next month you would lose all your payment and membership?