Fricken Fitness Clubs In Thailand (long)

[wormdrive]

My rant. XXXXX XXXX Bangkhae – the worst fitness center in Bangkok, Thailand.

Last week I decided to join the new XXXXXX club at the Mall Bangkae in the hopes to reduce my stress level and lead a more active lifestyle. I have already been a member at several fitness clubs in Thailand, but have had to cancel or seek new facilities because of moving around. I have been waiting for a fitness club to open around this area for a long time. The closest facilities to Bangkhae are in Pinklao. By the end of the application process, my heart was racing 150bpm and my stress was through the roof. Here is why:

One of the things that I hate most about Thailand is the blatant incompetence of sales representatives. Thai management, holding firm to the believe that Thai people are not concerned about particulars – rather the appearance, hire the most ignorant and beautiful 20 year old girls to sell everything under the sun in this country. Need to buy a thermo-nuclear generator? There is a 20 year old bimbo selling it. Need a refrigerator or washing machine? “Hi my name is Nattaporn.” Same. A 22 year old still in university with a serious mini skirt on and a smile the reaches from Chiang Mai to Butterworth. Ask any kind of technical question like “can the spin cycle be manually set” or “how cold can this refrigerator get degree wise?” and you will get a deer-in-headlights stare back at you. And, yes. It is asked in Thai.

I walked into XXXXXX Bangkhae, after having an even WORSE experience at California WOW on Silom. The sales reps there (California fitness/California wow) need to get slapped some sense into them. Their American high pressure in your face sales tactics are way over the top for Thailand. It is sad that their “Ya baby, join our club” “Lets get pumped-out and motivated” yells over the blaring music impresses countless Thais into joining. Almost every expat that I have known has stayed away. Those that are there have a naïve factor off the charts, or are gay and just using it as a pick-up joint.

It seems like all the fitness clubs like to maintain dynamic pricing structures. Their pricing changes about twice a month, and you really don’t know what the next month will bring. Will they raise prices, or will they lower them? This really sucks for the consumer.

XXXXXX in Bangkhae has the aforementioned sales reps – no short skirts. These reps have long black pants. I don’t think any of them are out of school yet. When talking about membership prices – the girl needed a calculator to add 1,000 and 1,500. She added the two figures and got the total. Then, cleared and re-added. Then, cleared and re-added again. It was necessary for her to check the answer 3 bloody times before she was confident the calculator told her the right number. I just sat their rolling my eyes wondering where the ###### I was.

It is not a serious fitness club. It is in Thai style a social club. Everything is designed to be beautiful but highly ineffective. There was no R&D that went into the club at all. For example they have 4 interior glut machines, but not a SINGLE triceps or biceps machine – when I inquired about this, they said “have to use free-weight.” They neglect to tell you there are no preacher benches or other dedicated benches for using free-weights to hit these areas. The fact they don’t have any machine for these two muscles is utterly unbelievable, but they have plenty Glut machines.

The focus of the club is obviously geared towards the more social aspects. The weight equipment is some Thai crap with limited adjusting capabilities and is made for the Thai average sized man person 160 - 170cm. They do have countless treadmills, stair climbers, exercise bikes, recumbent bikes, and various other cardio stuff. If you are looking for a cardio gym – then it would suffice for you.

The other 3 social rooms are nice indeed. But you would expect them to be seeing how this is First Social and Second Fitness club. The group aerobic room is brightly lit with quality sound. It is a large room and can accommodate a good size group in excess of 40 people. The instructor’s platform is not high enough for the people in the several last rows to properly see. The yoga room is also nice with good atmosphere. The Spinning room (cycling) is also nice with a fairly good set-up.

Being set at the Mall Bangkae and being the only club for miles and miles creates some unique problems for the club. The first is the amount of traffic. There is an absurd amount of foot traffic wondering around and through this club. Many of it is young children – even though the club says they have a policy of no person younger than 14 in the club. Thai people like to bring the whole 34 person extended family when they are purchasing something. The collective brain power is required to make the joining decision. You will never see a person alone signing up for the club – constant tours give the club a circus atmosphere.

Less than 5% of the members there are serious in their intent of joining the club. There are so many people on the treadmills with the speed set to number 2 out of 35 – talking away of their mobiles – looking form shoulder to shoulder every 3 minutes to see who is looking at them. A typical routine I see is: come into the club and talk for 20 minutes, walk – never run- on the treadmill for less than 5 minutes, talk again for 30 minutes – do 1 set of dumbbell curls, talk again for 25 minutes, stare in the mirror for 5 minutes, do interior glut exercise for 1 set of 5 and then finish.

The club doesn’t have a towel service; the locker rooms are cramped and over crowded with small seating areas for changing. Each seating area is about 1.5 x 2 meter and has 30+ lockers surrounding it. The hot water in the showers took bloody no less than 5 minutes to come out and having glass doors (undoubtedly not safety glass) is dangerous as ######. One slip could equal having a shard of glass ripping through your neck. The “free” soft drink machine conveniently doesn’t work and their “free” VCD movie library has 4 VCD’s for checkout.

Lastly, the membership of this club is comprised of at least 85% woman. If you are a guy wanting to meet a girl or just look – then it is probable your gig. There really isn’t much eye candy though here … not too many college girls have signed up. The woman consist of those in their earlier 40’s and serious heffers in their mid twenties. Stay away from this club if you don’t want to work-out in a circus everyday (I forgot to mention the have 4 meter high glass walls so that everyone in the Mall can stare in at you like a monkey in the zoo).

I did not name the club specifically to avoid backlashes. There are better clubs out there. Don’t make the mistake of joining this one.

[Darknight]

Life is hard sometimes

[Wolfie]

Just say what you mean, wormdrive, dont hold anything back

[Jai Dee]

There is a 20 year old bimbo selling it. Need a refrigerator or washing machine? “Hi my name is Nattaporn.” Same. A 22 year old still in university with a serious mini skirt on and a smile the reaches from Chiang Mai to Butterworth.

One of the things I love about Thailand...

[HarryHacker]

I can relate to everything you have written but don’t expect any sympathy here.

[Ijustwannateach]

Um... maybe the stress of membership at your gym is higher than simply going the extra miles to the nearest competitor?

[Tornado]

Fricken Fitness Clubs In Thailand (long), They are not gyms, they are social clubs

maybe look for a gym, that doesnt have club attached to the heading

[Jockstar]

My rant. XXXXX XXXX Bangkhae – the worst fitness center in Bangkok, Thailand.

Last week I decided to join the new XXXXXX club at the Mall Bangkae in the hopes to reduce my stress level and lead a more active lifestyle. I have already been a member at several fitness clubs in Thailand, but have had to cancel or seek new facilities because of moving around. I have been waiting for a fitness club to open around this area for a long time. The closest facilities to Bangkhae are in Pinklao.  By the end of the application process, my heart was racing 150bpm and my stress was through the roof. Here is why:

One of the things that I hate most about Thailand is the blatant incompetence of sales representatives. Thai management, holding firm to the believe that Thai people are not concerned about particulars – rather the appearance, hire the most ignorant and beautiful 20 year old girls to sell everything under the sun in this country. Need to buy a thermo-nuclear generator? There is a 20 year old bimbo selling it. Need a refrigerator or washing machine? “Hi my name is Nattaporn.” Same. A 22 year old still in university with a serious mini skirt on and a smile the reaches from Chiang Mai to Butterworth.  Ask any kind of technical question like “can the spin cycle be manually set” or “how cold can this refrigerator get degree wise?” and you will get a deer-in-headlights stare back at you. And, yes. It is asked in Thai.

I walked into XXXXXX Bangkhae, after having an even WORSE experience at California WOW on Silom. The sales reps there (California fitness/California wow) need to get slapped some sense into them. Their American high pressure in your face sales tactics are way over the top for Thailand. It is sad that their “Ya baby, join our club” “Lets get pumped-out and motivated” yells over the blaring music impresses countless Thais into joining. Almost every expat that I have known has stayed away. Those that are there have a naïve factor off the charts, or are gay and just using it as a pick-up joint.

It seems like all the fitness clubs like to maintain dynamic pricing structures. Their pricing changes about twice a month, and you really don’t know what the next month will bring. Will they raise prices, or will they lower them? This really sucks for the consumer.

XXXXXX in Bangkhae has the aforementioned sales reps – no short skirts. These reps have long black pants. I don’t think any of them are out of school yet. When talking about membership prices – the girl needed a calculator to add 1,000 and 1,500. She added the two figures and got the total. Then, cleared and re-added. Then, cleared and re-added again. It was necessary for her to check the answer 3 bloody times before she was confident the calculator told her the right number. I just sat their rolling my eyes wondering where the ###### I was.

It is not a serious fitness club. It is in Thai style a social club.  Everything is designed to be beautiful but highly ineffective.  There was no R&D that went into the club at all. For example they have 4 interior glut machines, but not a SINGLE triceps or biceps machine – when I inquired about this, they said “have to use free-weight.” They neglect to tell you there are no preacher benches or other dedicated benches for using free-weights to hit these areas. The fact they don’t have any machine for these two muscles is utterly unbelievable, but they have plenty Glut machines.

 

The focus of the club is obviously geared towards the more social aspects. The weight equipment is some Thai crap with limited adjusting capabilities and is made for the Thai average sized man person 160 - 170cm.  They do have countless treadmills, stair climbers, exercise bikes, recumbent bikes, and various other cardio stuff. If you are looking for a cardio gym – then it would suffice for you.

The other 3 social rooms are nice indeed. But you would expect them to be seeing how this is First Social and Second Fitness club. The group aerobic room is brightly lit with quality sound. It is a large room and can accommodate a good size group in excess of 40 people. The instructor’s platform is not high enough for the people in the several last rows to properly see. The yoga room is also nice with good atmosphere. The Spinning room (cycling) is also nice with a fairly good set-up.

Being set at the Mall Bangkae and being the only club for miles and miles creates some unique problems for the club. The first is the amount of traffic. There is an absurd amount of foot traffic wondering around and through this club. Many of it is young children – even though the club says they have a policy of no person younger than 14 in the club. Thai people like to bring the whole 34 person extended family when they are purchasing something. The collective brain power is required to make the joining decision. You will never see a person alone signing up for the club – constant tours give the club a circus atmosphere.

Less than 5% of the members there are serious in their intent of joining the club. There are so many people on the treadmills with the speed set to number 2 out of 35 – talking away of their mobiles – looking form shoulder to shoulder every 3 minutes to see who is looking at them. A typical routine I see is: come into the club and talk for 20 minutes, walk – never run- on the treadmill for less than 5 minutes, talk again for 30 minutes – do 1 set of dumbbell curls, talk again for 25 minutes, stare in the mirror for 5 minutes, do interior glut exercise for 1 set of 5 and then finish. 

The club doesn’t have a towel service; the locker rooms are cramped and over crowded with small seating areas for changing. Each seating area is about 1.5 x 2 meter and has 30+ lockers surrounding it. The hot water in the showers took bloody no less than 5 minutes to come out and having glass doors (undoubtedly not safety glass) is dangerous as ######. One slip could equal having a shard of glass ripping through your neck.  The “free” soft drink machine conveniently doesn’t work and their “free” VCD movie library has 4 VCD’s for checkout.

Lastly, the membership of this club is comprised of at least 85% woman. If you are a guy wanting to meet a girl or just look – then it is probable your gig. There really isn’t much eye candy though here … not too many college girls have signed up. The woman consist of those in their earlier 40’s and serious heffers in their mid twenties.  Stay away from this club if you don’t want to work-out in a circus everyday (I forgot to mention the have 4 meter high glass walls so that everyone in the Mall can stare in at you like a monkey in the zoo).

I did not name the club specifically to avoid backlashes. There are better clubs out there. Don’t make the mistake of joining this one.

bad day at the office worm?

[Orion76]

hahaha you summed it up perfectly wormdrive

my favorite is when they work out in a group of 5 or 6 people and spend 30 minutes on a machine that you're waiting for without actually using it.

personally I stay away from the franchise gyms and work out in the hotel gym of a 5 star hotel. it's a bit more expensive and there is somewhat less equipment but the atmosphere is better and they don't try to pull that aggressive sales pitch and credit card billing scam on you.

[pedro01]

Have you considered not taking things too seriously ? I see that you say that any expat that's a member of Califorinia WOW is naive or gay.

"Those that are there have a naïve factor off the charts, or are gay and just using it as a pick-up joint."

I am at California WOW every morning at 7AM - I don't consider myself gay or naive. The gym is next to my office & has fantastic equipment. There's plenty of expats there - many of them very serious about fitness.

On joining the gym, I was offered some free sessions with a personal trainer to which I said 'no thanks', I was offered fitness analysis to which I said 'no thanks'. There was no high sales pitch 'cause I made it fairly obvious it wouldn't wash.

My advice to you is to go the gym with the best equipment & take what you need from it. If you assert yourself, you'll find that there really is no need to listen to any sales pitch. If you assert yourself, you'll also find that there's usually a manager available that'll discuss your more technical questions.

It has to be said that you are a fitness clubs dream - they make a high percentage of their profit from people that join but then don't bother going - how many gym memberships have you paid so far ?

Stick with it, get fit & stop stressing over stuff that doesn't matter.

[austen]

Have to agree with the above, but also a lot of points made by the OP as well. I'm also a California WOWer, not lured in by a sales pitch, but by the latest promotion of the hour which got me a 5-year membership for 26,000B...figured that was too good to refuse considering the equipment and facilities really are top-notch. Couldn't tell you how I got that deal--someone knew someone who knew someone...which is indeed the thing with California--it's like buying an airline ticket--you can bet no two people paid the same price! But part of that intense marketing does mean competitive pricing, especially as more and more flash fitness centers edge into the market. So like pedro says, take from it what you want and somehow try to ignore the giggly girls walking at 0.5 kph on the treadmill while applying lipstick. It all gets to me as well sometimes, but I know there are other more serious fitness centers out there if I wanted to seek them out (though like you, and like most people, location usually wins out). My biggest complaint about California these days is the insane overcrowding--at some point, I really think they need to set a cap on their membership.

[JSixpack]

You didn’t mention the price of the club as compared w/ the price of a club that you’d be perfectly satisfied with.

OK, I’m gonna play devil’s advocate now.

wormdrive,2005-05-24 11:45:31:

By the end of the application process, my heart was racing 150bpm and my stress was through the roof.

You poor thing. When did you arrive in Thailand? Last week? This is all standard stuff.

One of the things that I hate most about Thailand is the blatant incompetence of sales representatives. Thai management, holding firm to the believe that Thai people are not concerned about particulars – rather the appearance,

Yep. Do your own research, pal. It’s all buyer beware. How much you think these ladies are being paid anyway.

I walked into XXXXXX Bangkhae, after having an even WORSE experience at California WOW on Silom. The sales reps there (California fitness/California wow) need to get slapped some sense into them. Their American high pressure in your face sales tactics are way over the top for Thailand.

Clearly you're wrong. That place is going gangbusters.

It is sad that their “Ya baby, join our club” “Lets get pumped-out and motivated” yells over the blaring music impresses countless Thais into joining. Almost every expat that I have known has stayed away.

What's wrong with impressing Thais? A very exclusive group, your expat acquaintances.

Those that are there have a naïve factor off the charts, or are gay and just using it as a pick-up joint.

Not at all. You wouldn’t know that, now would you? Must be lots of serious fitness buffs who appreciate the facilities and have got the dosh.

It seems like all the fitness clubs like to maintain dynamic pricing structures. Their pricing changes about twice a month, and you really don’t know what the next month will bring. Will they raise prices, or will they lower them? This really sucks for the consumer.

It depends on the consumer. Hang around often enough and you get a great deal.

XXXXXX in Bangkhae has the aforementioned sales reps – no short skirts. These reps have long black pants. I don’t think any of them are out of school yet. When talking about membership prices – the girl needed a calculator to add 1,000 and 1,500. She added the two figures and got the total. Then, cleared and re-added. Then, cleared and re-added again. It was necessary for her to check the answer 3 bloody times before she was confident the calculator told her the right number. I just sat their rolling my eyes wondering where the ###### I was.

You see this all the time in LOS. Get over it.

It is not a serious fitness club. It is in Thai style a social club.

OK. And so? Don’t join if that bothers you.

Everything is designed to be beautiful but highly ineffective. There was no R&D that went into the club at all. For example they have 4 interior glut machines, but not a SINGLE triceps or biceps machine – when I inquired about this, they said “have to use free-weight.” They neglect to tell you there are no preacher benches or other dedicated benches for using free-weights to hit these areas. The fact they don’t have any machine for these two muscles is utterly unbelievable, but they have plenty Glut machines.

Then it's time to have great gluts, eh. But surely you can improvise, as any farang often has to do in Thailand. Use the lat machine for the triceps; stand or sit on the seat at the lat machine and lift dumbbells for the biceps.

The focus of the club is obviously geared towards the more social aspects. The weight equipment is some Thai crap with limited adjusting capabilities and is made for the Thai average sized man person 160 - 170cm. They do have countless treadmills, stair climbers, exercise bikes, recumbent bikes, and various other cardio stuff. If you are looking for a cardio gym – then it would suffice for you.

Well, this is Thailand and of course the club assumes most of their customers are Thai. If you were in Japan, you’d find the same in many clubs.

The cardio is important and not to be sneered at. Try doing your cardio running down Sukhumvit in the heat.

Being set at the Mall Bangkae and being the only club for miles and miles creates some unique problems for the club. The first is the amount of traffic. There is an absurd amount of foot traffic wondering around and through this club. Many of it is young children – even though the club says they have a policy of no person younger than 14 in the club. Thai people like to bring the whole 34 person extended family when they are purchasing something. The collective brain power is required to make the joining decision. You will never see a person alone signing up for the club – constant tours give the club a circus atmosphere.

Yep. It’s the Thai village. Learn to love the charming informality. Thai kids are so cute.

Less than 5% of the members there are serious in their intent of joining the club. There are so many people on the treadmills with the speed set to number 2 out of 35 – talking away of their mobiles – looking form shoulder to shoulder every 3 minutes to see who is looking at them. A typical routine I see is: come into the club and talk for 20 minutes, walk – never run- on the treadmill for less than 5 minutes, talk again for 30 minutes – do 1 set of dumbbell curls, talk again for 25 minutes, stare in the mirror for 5 minutes, do interior glut exercise for 1 set of 5 and then finish.

Well, that’s probably true, but it’s their business, not yours. Let them do what they want to do (which is making the existence of the gym possible), do what YOU came do, and mind your own d a m n business. One good point is that they're off the machine quickly. A group of serious farangs might all take turns doing 4 sets each and you'd have to give up on that machine for the session.

The club doesn’t have a towel service; the locker rooms are cramped and over crowded with small seating areas for changing. Each seating area is about 1.5 x 2 meter and has 30+ lockers surrounding it. The hot water in the showers took bloody no less than 5 minutes to come out and having glass doors (undoubtedly not safety glass) is dangerous as ######. One slip could equal having a shard of glass ripping through your neck. The “free” soft drink machine conveniently doesn’t work and their “free” VCD movie library has 4 VCD’s for checkout.

It’s all very charming, isn’t it?

Lastly, the membership of this club is comprised of at least 85% woman. If you are a guy wanting to meet a girl or just look – then it is probable your gig. There really isn’t much eye candy though here … not too many college girls have signed up. The woman consist of those in their earlier 40’s and serious heffers in their mid twenties. Stay away from this club if you don’t want to work-out in a circus everyday (I forgot to mention the have 4 meter high glass walls so that everyone in the Mall can stare in at you like a monkey in the zoo).

I did not name the club specifically to avoid backlashes. There are better clubs out there. Don’t make the mistake of joining this one.

Well, I haven’t heard a real show-stopper here if this is your only choice in the area. In part it would depend on the value for the price.

Edited May 25, 2005 by JSixpack

[Dradam]

My rant. XXXXX XXXX Bangkhae – the worst fitness center in Bangkok, Thailand.

Almost every expat that I have known has stayed away. Those that are there have a naïve factor off the charts, or are gay and just using it as a pick-up joint.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I joined California fitness for two reasons. It is close to my work and is open late at night. Other fitness centers close too early for me to use the facilities.

The crowds are annoying though. The music is overdone. The price was alright. I paid 20,000 Baht for 3 years but I can only go 4 days per week (which is OK for me).

It is a mostly gay gym though and many people are there for the social aspect as they are not working out serious enough to have much of an effect. I wouldn't recommend that anyone else join though. I don't want to have to struggle through even larger crowds.

[chippendalesam]

Dear Wormdrive, Along with physical fitness, goes mental and emotional fitness. These are a part of a good rounded health club atmosphere. Nothing or no-one is perfect; health clubs get over crowded at peak hours, but that is when your mental and emotional physique should be worked on. Just my 2 satangs worth, keep on smileing through it all......

[the hatai]

I have to agree with you, Thai people have no sense of fitness/body building and nutrition. Most of the gym's here in Thailand (aside from Thai boxing camps) were established no more than 10-20 years ago. They are an incompetent bunch when it comes to fitness, there is no way in ###### that I would take "fitness tips" from a Thai.

[jrincon17]

My rant. XXXXX XXXX Bangkhae – the worst fitness center in Bangkok, Thailand.

Last week I decided to join the new XXXXXX club at the Mall Bangkae in the hopes to reduce my stress level and lead a more active lifestyle. I have already been a member at several fitness clubs in Thailand, but have had to cancel or seek new facilities because of moving around. I have been waiting for a fitness club to open around this area for a long time. The closest facilities to Bangkhae are in Pinklao.  By the end of the application process, my heart was racing 150bpm and my stress was through the roof. Here is why:

One of the things that I hate most about Thailand is the blatant incompetence of sales representatives. Thai management, holding firm to the believe that Thai people are not concerned about particulars – rather the appearance, hire the most ignorant and beautiful 20 year old girls to sell everything under the sun in this country. Need to buy a thermo-nuclear generator? There is a 20 year old bimbo selling it. Need a refrigerator or washing machine? “Hi my name is Nattaporn.” Same. A 22 year old still in university with a serious mini skirt on and a smile the reaches from Chiang Mai to Butterworth.  Ask any kind of technical question like “can the spin cycle be manually set” or “how cold can this refrigerator get degree wise?” and you will get a deer-in-headlights stare back at you. And, yes. It is asked in Thai.

I walked into XXXXXX Bangkhae, after having an even WORSE experience at California WOW on Silom. The sales reps there (California fitness/California wow) need to get slapped some sense into them. Their American high pressure in your face sales tactics are way over the top for Thailand. It is sad that their “Ya baby, join our club” “Lets get pumped-out and motivated” yells over the blaring music impresses countless Thais into joining. Almost every expat that I have known has stayed away. Those that are there have a naïve factor off the charts, or are gay and just using it as a pick-up joint.

It seems like all the fitness clubs like to maintain dynamic pricing structures. Their pricing changes about twice a month, and you really don’t know what the next month will bring. Will they raise prices, or will they lower them? This really sucks for the consumer.

XXXXXX in Bangkhae has the aforementioned sales reps – no short skirts. These reps have long black pants. I don’t think any of them are out of school yet. When talking about membership prices – the girl needed a calculator to add 1,000 and 1,500. She added the two figures and got the total. Then, cleared and re-added. Then, cleared and re-added again. It was necessary for her to check the answer 3 bloody times before she was confident the calculator told her the right number. I just sat their rolling my eyes wondering where the ###### I was.

It is not a serious fitness club. It is in Thai style a social club.  Everything is designed to be beautiful but highly ineffective.  There was no R&D that went into the club at all. For example they have 4 interior glut machines, but not a SINGLE triceps or biceps machine – when I inquired about this, they said “have to use free-weight.” They neglect to tell you there are no preacher benches or other dedicated benches for using free-weights to hit these areas. The fact they don’t have any machine for these two muscles is utterly unbelievable, but they have plenty Glut machines.

 

The focus of the club is obviously geared towards the more social aspects. The weight equipment is some Thai crap with limited adjusting capabilities and is made for the Thai average sized man person 160 - 170cm.  They do have countless treadmills, stair climbers, exercise bikes, recumbent bikes, and various other cardio stuff. If you are looking for a cardio gym – then it would suffice for you.

The other 3 social rooms are nice indeed. But you would expect them to be seeing how this is First Social and Second Fitness club. The group aerobic room is brightly lit with quality sound. It is a large room and can accommodate a good size group in excess of 40 people. The instructor’s platform is not high enough for the people in the several last rows to properly see. The yoga room is also nice with good atmosphere. The Spinning room (cycling) is also nice with a fairly good set-up.

Being set at the Mall Bangkae and being the only club for miles and miles creates some unique problems for the club. The first is the amount of traffic. There is an absurd amount of foot traffic wondering around and through this club. Many of it is young children – even though the club says they have a policy of no person younger than 14 in the club. Thai people like to bring the whole 34 person extended family when they are purchasing something. The collective brain power is required to make the joining decision. You will never see a person alone signing up for the club – constant tours give the club a circus atmosphere.

Less than 5% of the members there are serious in their intent of joining the club. There are so many people on the treadmills with the speed set to number 2 out of 35 – talking away of their mobiles – looking form shoulder to shoulder every 3 minutes to see who is looking at them. A typical routine I see is: come into the club and talk for 20 minutes, walk – never run- on the treadmill for less than 5 minutes, talk again for 30 minutes – do 1 set of dumbbell curls, talk again for 25 minutes, stare in the mirror for 5 minutes, do interior glut exercise for 1 set of 5 and then finish. 

The club doesn’t have a towel service; the locker rooms are cramped and over crowded with small seating areas for changing. Each seating area is about 1.5 x 2 meter and has 30+ lockers surrounding it. The hot water in the showers took bloody no less than 5 minutes to come out and having glass doors (undoubtedly not safety glass) is dangerous as ######. One slip could equal having a shard of glass ripping through your neck.  The “free” soft drink machine conveniently doesn’t work and their “free” VCD movie library has 4 VCD’s for checkout.

Lastly, the membership of this club is comprised of at least 85% woman. If you are a guy wanting to meet a girl or just look – then it is probable your gig. There really isn’t much eye candy though here … not too many college girls have signed up. The woman consist of those in their earlier 40’s and serious heffers in their mid twenties.  Stay away from this club if you don’t want to work-out in a circus everyday (I forgot to mention the have 4 meter high glass walls so that everyone in the Mall can stare in at you like a monkey in the zoo).

I did not name the club specifically to avoid backlashes. There are better clubs out there. Don’t make the mistake of joining this one.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Get fat like me !!!!!!!!!!

bad day at the office worm?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[The Coder]

Fair enough on your observations. Knowing just how crappy they are (or even if they were better), the thing I fail to understand is why they are so darn expensive. Why can't they be 20 baht a session or something reasonable? They seem to be priced at farangland levels, but fitted out only to thai quality. Doesn't seem right.

[p_brownstone]

Fair enough on your observations. Knowing just how crappy they are (or even if they were better), the thing I fail to understand is why they are so darn expensive. Why can't they be 20 baht a session or something reasonable? They seem to be priced at farangland levels, but fitted out only to thai quality. Doesn't seem right.

What’s so difficult to understand?

When selling anything, anywhere, pricing is established by the Marketing 101 lesson “charge what the Market will bear” ; the seller pushes the price to the threshold which maximizes Capacity / Turnover / Profit, this deliberately excludes people outside the target clientele and maintains perceived “Exclusivity” .

For which the targeted Clientele happily pay of course.

Patrick

[The Coder]

What’s so difficult to understand?

When selling anything, anywhere, pricing is established by the Marketing 101 lesson “charge what the Market will bear” ; the seller pushes the price to the threshold which maximizes Capacity / Turnover / Profit, this deliberately excludes people outside the target clientele and maintains perceived “Exclusivity” .

For which the targeted Clientele happily pay of course.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Following your logic, in farangland a massage is an exclusivity item and priced very high, but this is not true in Thailand. In Thailand you pay more to walk into a fitness room than for a massage. That seems a bit out of proportion to me. So maybe the question is WHY is fitness considered an exclusivity item here when it isn't elsewhere?

[camerata]

personally I stay away from the franchise gyms and work out in the hotel gym of a 5 star hotel. it's a bit more expensive and there is somewhat less equipment but the atmosphere is better and they don't try to pull that aggressive sales pitch and credit card billing scam on you.

That's pretty much what I've found, except that Clark Hatch is OK for me. My only complaint is they often have all three TVs going full blast (sometimes on different channels) as well as the disco music. Thais don't mind the noise at all, but it's pretty irritating for me.

[JSixpack]

personally I stay away from the franchise gyms and work out in the hotel gym of a 5 star hotel. it's a bit more expensive and there is somewhat less equipment but the atmosphere is better and they don't try to pull that aggressive sales pitch and credit card billing scam on you.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That's pretty much what I've found, except that Clark Hatch is OK for me. My only complaint is they often have all three TVs going full blast (sometimes on different channels) as well as the disco music. Thais don't mind the noise at all, but it's pretty irritating for me.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Know what you mean. The music is torture in most gyms. Having to listen to it is harder than the exercise itself. So I sometimes wear earplugs while exercising. And on various other occasions, like traveling by intercity bus or sitting in particular go-gos. Very helpful.

Somebody was saying in another thread elsewhere that he thought earplugs can't be found in Thailand--which would seem likely, given the Thai attitude towards loud music and noise. But in fact I've seen them sold at Watson's and at Boots.

[camerata]

Know what you mean. The music is torture in most gyms. Having to listen to it is harder than the exercise itself. So I sometimes wear earplugs while exercising. And on various other occasions, like traveling by intercity bus or sitting in particular go-gos. Very helpful.

Somebody was saying in another thread elsewhere that he thought earplugs can't be found in Thailand--which would seem likely, given the Thai attitude towards loud music and noise. But in fact I've seen them sold at Watson's and at Boots.

Both foreign-owned stores.

I may try my walkman with the earbuds that fit right inside the ear.

[Heng]

I like Fitness First myself. The music isn't terribly loud and they have headphone plugs for most of the machines anyway. At only 2,000 Baht a month... 21,000 if you pay a year in advance, you've got a clean place to work out, conveniently located in many shopping centers (nice to work out and have a sauna + shower before shopping, having dinner, seeing a movie, etc.). In the end, it's the social aspect that's the selling point. If one wanted "pure" workout in the LOS, one could easily build a small gym at home, given the low cost of construction here.

[soi lurker]

I like Fitness First myself. The music isn't terribly loud and they have headphone plugs for most of the machines anyway. At only 2,000 Baht a month... 21,000 if you pay a year in advance, you've got a clean place to work out, conveniently located in many shopping centers (nice to work out and have a sauna + shower before shopping, having dinner, seeing a movie, etc.). In the end, it's the social aspect that's the selling point. If one wanted "pure" workout in the LOS, one could easily build a small gym at home, given the low cost of construction here.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

California wow is probably the most professionally built fitness centre i have seen after 16 years around the trade. I agree that its the social aspect thats the selling point of these centres, but its still a professionally equiped gym. You just have to get used to the music levels...... oh yeah, and the gorgeous women!

[samBKK]

my 2 cents for what they are worth..

Anyone condifering joining a club should stay away from claifornia, just my own opinion, shared by all my friends duped into joining but still...

Equipment ok, staff clueless but harmless..untill you have any problems with billing , etc.. NO CUSTOMER SERVICE WHATSOEVER.

As soon as you sign the on dotted line you theirs for the duration, you wont be able to complain about bad treatment etc.. dont even dream about compensation.. and get ready for unauthorised charges on your bills etc..

I know this is thailand, but they are simply a prime example not even amazing, just plain shocking thailand, that goes to lengths that even the most patient and huomrous person wont be able to just write off as incompetency.

Any and all conversation with staff where a customer (who has been unfortunate enough to sign his life over to them) wishes to discuss any mistreatment, misbilling, in general any contact where you could expect that even your average thai business would consider meeting you half way or at least try to keep general customer satisfaction in mind, will end in a dead end street with a firm stone wall to meet you.

I mean should there be any issue you would like to clear up or talk about, by the second time you approach any one (and you must always condsier the first person you talk to as just basically being there to smile at you, dont expect any results, and you really wouldnt anyway since you are in Thailand) it becomes clear to you how their policy is blatantly simply get all the customers money full stop.

As you go home thinking about how they dealt with the matter, words evil and greed come to mind.

(its as if a medieval alchemist has cooked up the word ethics broken it down into the level of atoms, rearranged them and created a mixture of devious and deceitful soup that the management is feeding the staff.)

You end up leaving and feeling as if you have to apologize for your existence as a human being and should simply subdue to the role you have been selected for, credit card holder, soon to be billed, again and again and again.

In all fairness, if you go to the gym and mind your own business, you can manage a work out, they have ok equipment, fitness more so than lifting weights but its still there.

If you encounter any situation where you will have to defer from your role as payee, and maybe address the issue of customer service/californias responsibility towards the paying customer, well then get ready for battle and for sure prepare for a bad day, but not before they will clearly and politely explain to you that infact they do not have any responsibility towards you.

Once that misconception has been cleared, you may joyfully continue exercising.

[kenk3z]

I also understand, generally speaking, that the fitness clubs are quite vicious and aggressive at chasing down what they consider they are owed. To the extent of getting the (Thai) ID looked up and pursuing the family back in the home town.

Something to do with not being able to successfully discontinue the automatic contract renewal........

What are they taking from you in the way of ID and credit card info at signup? If it is possible to pay with cash I'd recommend it as an alternative to a credit card.

kenk3z

[Jim 50]

I did not name the club specifically to avoid backlashes. There are better clubs out there. Don’t make the mistake of joining this one.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks for the tip!

[britmaveric]

Sounds like a business opportunity - target a gym towards farang?

[wormdrive]

The catch is all about the auto-billing cycle that they have. But, it is not just California, most of the clubs do it now. They create a legal contract a yard line of all the hoops you have to jump through in order to EVER get the auto monthly charges to stop.

Like the energizer battery... they just keep going... and going.... and going...

However, there is some recourse. I don't know about Thai's or Thai credit cards, but I know that if I don't like a charge I can contest it and will not have to pay for it - and it effectively locks out the auto pay - every time they would try to get payment, they would be rejected by MasterCard and Visa - Citibank is great on this...

Once you do that, you better keep about 1km from the club because if they see you they will kill you on sight. LOL

Some gyms now ONLY offer membership by auto payment - there is NO cash option. What would that tell you in itself?

I gym for foreigners by foreigners would be sweet. It would charge the 10-15 bucks we get charged for them back home. $800 - $1000 a year for a gym membership IS UNHEARD OF back where I am from. It just wouldn't wash at all.

But then I might go into some kind of withdrawl from not being able to see Thai birds... hmmmmmm. wonder about that one.

[leftcross]

California in Silom is a great gym. Top-notch equipment and plenty of it, good showers/steam/sauna/towels and lots of classes for those who want them.

It's the best gym I've ever been a member of, here and in England.

You can pay cash, so no Autopay BS, and it's a good place to work out.

What doesn't make sense to me in the OP is that this guy makes out he is some kind of expert on customer service, yet he gets hoodwinked by some 'Thai bimbo'!!!! Why not have a look around at the equipment and facilities first and if you don't like it, don't join. It's not rocket science.