Life Expectancy Slashed By 95% In Some Parts Of Bangkok

[alyx]

When California Wow promised lifetime membership they forgot to include a definition of the meaning of lifetime

Mind you, that is all in the name of sport as members, with the closure of 4 clubs in Bangkok, are left with no choice but walking miles to the Siam Paragon and Pinklao clubs: that is positive health wise.

As a gesture the annual renewal of the life membership card, set at one hundred baht per annum, is valid, this year for two years.....if renewed this month.

What I have never understood is that appetite for new clubs, even though some were showing signs it was not going to work

Why did the management engage a race with other fitness centres when it should have been sufficient to keep a couple of clubs running: they would have been at the top.

Ego....maybe the answer

I guess some of us will just have to go to these other brands as they are closer to our homes

One thing though, how can a club like Pattaya survive the crisis when the frequent action is not that high, compared to Silom? Rent expenses doesn't explain it all

This is not a thread about "how can one expect to have a lifetime membership" but rather understand the process of self inflicted wounds leading to suicide by companies like California Wow

[richard_smith237]

Your thread title is quite misleading...

Anyway - in its simplest terms the answer is: Greed and lack of care for customer service.

[VocalNeal]

It's the fitness club business model. Build a club(s) then continually sell memberships to people who only attend for maybe 6 weeks , then sell more memberships and more memberships in a multi level marketing way, while all the time siphoning off the money. Simple?

[BigJohnnyBKK]

Many businesses work off this business model, pump it up fast as you can, suck the money out before it peaks and walk away let it collapse like the house of cards it was from the get-go.

Such people aren't interested in running a business designed to give good value over the long term, they want to get out on their yacht nice and early, not a care in the world.

And who's hurt really? People who think to keep fit they need a hi-so air-conditioned loud disco environment, most treating it more like a status symbol and social club than a gym.

[robblok]

Many businesses work off this business model, pump it up fast as you can, suck the money out before it peaks and walk away let it collapse like the house of cards it was from the get-go.

Such people aren't interested in running a business designed to give good value over the long term, they want to get out on their yacht nice and early, not a care in the world.

And who's hurt really? People who think to keep fit they need a hi-so air-conditioned loud disco environment, most treating it more like a status symbol and social club than a gym.

I would feel hurt, if i was not stupid enough to forget to renew my cali wow last year. I almost never used it because i got my own gym at home. But still people who paid for a lifetime and only enjoyed it for a year are hurt. Not the ones who use them longer.

But i did not think cali wow was hi so. They had some decent free weights and some nice machines too. Besides when i workout i dont care much about anything except training.

[jbaldwin]

People got exactly what they bought - lifetime membership - but California WOW is now dead - and yet people still complain

[alyx]

Not complaining, just amazed by the way people run businesses

They still have a couple of branches open in Bangkok so the membership still works there, although I don't think I will go there on a daily basis

California is not HiSo at all: it is aimed at middle class who can afford to eat and then exercise, it is not like I had paid a million baht to get a life membership ( I did actually but that is another matter) to get access to a health club

But, as I wrote, this thread is just about understanding the way they deal with their businesses rather than getting any kind of refund

[alyx]

Your thread title is quite misleading...

Anyway - in its simplest terms the answer is: Greed and lack of care for customer service.

Well, I thought it was eye catching and gave a not too serious tone to the story

[eeeya]

People got exactly what they bought - lifetime membership - but California WOW is now dead - and yet people still complain

Renovations at Ekkamai started this week. Id say there's still some life left in my lifetime membership.

If it closes.. ill move to the next gym.

Does not bother me

Sent from my HTC One X using Thaivisa Connect App

[Pikey]

Me & Mrs Pikey paid 13k each for our "lifetime" memberships 20 months ago here in Chiang Mai. We both use it on average 2 - 3 times a week so even if it folds next week, it's cost us less than 500thb/month - good value. Not Hi-So or a "club" as one poster suggests, but of course that depends on what you go there for - chit, chat or to exercise in the squat rack until you are f*cked then go back and do it again. I know which I prefer and I hope the bankrupcy case drags on and on so me and Mrs Pikey can keep on getting f*cked

Cheers,

Pikey.

[Quickmill]

I'm the most satisfied california wow customer since I bought a lifetime membership card and i never get in one time, anyway I don't felt I lost a big value I felt stupid just because i could spent these money for a better cause.

[toenail]

Good ole' capitalism at its "best"... In the States (which is now happening in Thailand) the telephone, satelite TV, internet companies and other private services where you give your credit card number in order for the monthly payment to be done automatically, plays all kinds of games to not cancel the service thought you call. Every person you call, (once you have spent 20-30 minutes on "hold" and have pressed all the appropriate buttons) you get someone that cannot speak good English and then gives you the run around or doesn't give you the correct answer. The company continues to bill you though you have sent letters or called up. Every operator gives a different answer... and what working person has the time to spend three hours like my sister did to finally get her phone packaged changed?