California Wow: Customers, Staff To Sue Failing Fitness Centre

[sandgroper2]

Where's tropo,you ok mate?

[Berkshire]

Apparently, Mr. Levine enjoys a modest, almost frugal, lifestyle:

http://www.designsig...ic-levine-home/

http://www.nytimes.c...h-thailand.html

http://www.nytimes.c...uket_index.html

Oh... and he's still a Canadian.

Wonder if the guy's still with the hottie. She looks pretty good for 38...

[MaxLee]

That's the reason I never applied to any fitness center in the first place in Thailand. Ladies and Gentlemen, I didn't know that California WOW was a rip off,... I SMELT that it was a ripoff.

Prices are on their lists are overly expensive and cost 10 times a Thai laborer's salary if not another 10 fold,.. WOW!!!!!

When exercise, I don't visit fitness centers anymore, I just run my a$$ of in my village or public parks and play basketball with my friends twice a week on a court near my university where it's for free...

Fitness machinery doesn't really replace Zoldschool wood chucking or log carrying, watch Rocky 4, where you see Dolph Lundgren and Sylvester Stallone training in two totally different environments simultaneously, one really California WOW style with all the machinery equipment (Lundgren aka Drago) and the other one in nature with cheaper but old school heavy equipment (Stallone) with self constructed wooden equipments. Which one of the two would save more money and get really stronger, lol???

My bottom line is: if you waste your money for any fitness center rip off like California WOW, you lose more than 4-5 years of salary money PER YEAR, money that the average Thai would make in 7 years, lol

[bonobo]

I am slightly amused by the righteous posters here who claim "Ponzi" and "Ripoff" for not only CaliWow, but now any fitness chain as well.

The fact of the matter is that most people who buy a gym membership quit after only a short time. So for any business to ignore this fact is foolish and if a corporation, not in keeping with its fiduciary obligation to its share holders. Hotels and airlines overbook for much the same reason: statistics show that will be a certain percentage of no-shows. How they handle it when there aren't enough no-shows goes along way to keep customers happy and coming back. To call this practice a Ponzi scheme is really not accurate.

What CaliWow failed to do is to reasonably manage their memberships. Other companies worldwide have been in business for 30 or 40 years with this paradigm, and CaliWow could have done it too with a better business plan and more astute pricing.

The problem is CaliWow's management, not the concept.

And for those who decry the trainers or the sales staff, well, it is pretty easy to say no. I never once used a trainer there (not that too many seemed qualified to train, to be honest), and the one time I had a sales staff approach me after I joined, I literally laughed at her offer and walked on. It was pretty easy.

What I would like to know is what will happen to the facilities, Pin Klao, in particular. The gym itself is roomy, and the equipment is much better than what is available at Fitness First. I would love for some independent company to come in and take it over, lock, stock, and barrel. I would be more than willing to pay a reasonable fee to be able to use the place.

[vacationman]

I got a lifetime membership at CA Wow in 2008... for 10,000 baht and 100 baht per year. Still open here in Chiang Mai... but expect it to close at anytime based on the news the past few months.

When I was at home in America I purchased my mom some resistance bands to help her work out some.

http://www.bodylastics.com/

Sooo when I got back to Thailand I made me some from Surgical Tubing from a local medical supplies store.

Talk about a GREAT Workout... my muscles haven't BURNED this bad since I was in Air Assault school 20 years ago.

Makes for a great workout and you can do it at home.

Resistance Bands can be combines to go to over 315 pounds for a price of less than $125.00 one time fee. (3,800 baht approx.)

Try a good 1 hour work out with these and I'm sure you never got a workout that good at California Wow EVER...

Good luck... and stay healthy.

[jerrysteve]

It will be a civil case anyway. I am sure of that.

And as most people find out, winning and getting paid are mutually exclusive of one another.

If a bankruptch is filed, depending upon what kind of bankruptcy is filed, all those complaints will fall on deaf ears.

The bottom line is that Bankruptcy is just another way of doing business! And thats that!

Edited August 22, 2012 by jerrysteve

[pacovl46]

This would've happened with Fitness First! ;-)

[Jim walker]

A brisk run to the bar in the evening and a slow jog home keeps me as fit as a fiddle

[AiteCM]

does this include the Chiang Mai branch?? if so YES a very good excuse not to work out!! seriously though.. i paid 8000 for a 'life time" membership and have to fork out 100 or 120thb per year no club can operate like that- they should charge 3000 to start and 1000 per month or 10,000 and 500 or 600 per month - they must have been hurting up front and needed to dive for dollars- i will say i've met some execs at CA WOW and they were cool took me to their box and the Green Day concert in BKK a few years ago- at least those early membership dollars went for something....

[MyFriend You]

Now that's WOW California WOW

Wasn't this scam played out in 2000 and it was called "California Fitness" if so they were in Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, and Jakarta probably more placesI didn't read about.

[12DrinkMore]

How it's possible to go bankrupt with the prices they charged is beyond me. The whole setup looks like it was a giant scam from day one.

All multi-location fitness centers like Cal WOW are scams. Some are just better managed than others. They all rely on overselling, and people's tendencies to get all motivated about fitness, and then fade away back to eating chocolate bars in a month (week?) or two, albeit with a long-term contract to pay, or a big one-time membershipfee gone. Hence the high-pressure to 'Sign today'. They know if you have a chance to cool off, you won't pay the price.

For them to stay in business, they need to carefully balance new sucker customer acquisition against overhead and upkeep, which is why the places are so often in disrepair...

Find a good locally owned community gym, pay monthly, and do your best to stay motivated. Better (and WAY cheaper) in the long run.

Jeeze, just go walking everyday. Stop driving the car 50 metres down the road to avoid a little bit of physical exertion.

Anathema to all Thais.

[transam]

Sorry, did l read ''refund fees'' ? If l did,

[masaomi]

i wonder how many of the "end of days" memberships went directly into staff pockets?

given that the Bank is into them for 80 odd million, the staff and customers are going to have quite a wait ahead of them.

On another note, i cannot understand why, for the life of me, anyone would want to work out at Paragon. It seems neither convenient nor appealing to me in any way.

Do you hear yourself talk or think before you type or die? For the life of you, why would anyone not want to work out in Siam Paragon? There are nice restaurants to eat and chill out. Supermarkets to do your grocery and you can catch a great movie at the top floor! Not unless, you are poor as a church mouse and living on a tight budget, then goodbye....*duh!

By the way, living in Soi Langsuan for me seems like a great idea to train in Siam Paragon. It is only 10 mins from my serviced apartment!

[Bender]

A year ago I was shopping around for a gym and search TV for topics and even open a topic.

My search pulled many postings that WOW was about to close and not really functioning anymore.

Other people really adviced WOW to me.

I ended up signing up for a year membership (4999 Baht) at Castra gym.

Good, clean and no real bodybuilders, so good for fatties/ex-fatties like me to do their workout.

http://www.thecastra.com/index.html

I wish they did have a gym like Castra in Bangkok, i trained there few time. It has it all : clean, big, good price and well equiped.

fitness first, woow california are pussy gym.

Edited August 22, 2012 by Bender

[transam]

A year ago I was shopping around for a gym and search TV for topics and even open a topic.

My search pulled many postings that WOW was about to close and not really functioning anymore.

Other people really adviced WOW to me.

I ended up signing up for a year membership (4999 Baht) at Castra gym.

Good, clean and no real bodybuilders, so good for fatties/ex-fatties like me to do their workout.

http://www.thecastra.com/index.html

I wish they did have a gym like Castra in Bangkok, i trained there few time. It has it all : clean, big, good price and well equiped.

fitness first, woow california are pussy gym.

I like a gym with pussy. Keeps the heart rate up.

[wotaplonker]

The Wow in Chiang Mai is still going strong. Wonder how long that's going to last...

that guy retirecheap who posts you tube with advice about Thailand, latest is exercise facilities in Chang mai, he went to check out wow

i couldn't believe the membership costs, not much less than the £28 a month i pay, here in the UK at LA fitness, which has sauna, stream, swim pool and free classes, there must be many rich Thais in Chang mai

[MaxLee]

Who needs a gym, if you can go jogging yourself, make push ups and sit ups by yourself, buy and water tank in Lotus, drink the tanks up, and fill them in with gardening water or tap water again, in order to replace the dumble,...

... that's cheaper for me than paying 1,000,0000 baht plus life time membership in a rip-off Fitness franchise like California WOW, True-fitness or whereever...

... one of my distant friends told me once via youtube: those fitness trainers are full of POOP and overpaid....

So in order to save yourself from millions of Baht in Memberships, DO it yourself, safe more, that's what I did for many years since my exit in 2007 from official Fitness centers, where I more or less retired.

Those treadmills are machinery killers of natural running pace, as a human being needs some gradual slow jogging paces instead of fixed ones...

[Keesters]

Did anyone actually think “lifetime” meant until the end of your life?

no it meant lifetime of the company which as we can see was quite short...

[robblok]

Who needs a gym, if you can go jogging yourself, make push ups and sit ups by yourself, buy and water tank in Lotus, drink the tanks up, and fill them in with gardening water or tap water again, in order to replace the dumble,...

... that's cheaper for me than paying 1,000,0000 baht plus life time membership in a rip-off Fitness franchise like California WOW, True-fitness or whereever...

... one of my distant friends told me once via youtube: those fitness trainers are full of POOP and overpaid....

So in order to save yourself from millions of Baht in Memberships, DO it yourself, safe more, that's what I did for many years since my exit in 2007 from official Fitness centers, where I more or less retired.

Those treadmills are machinery killers of natural running pace, as a human being needs some gradual slow jogging paces instead of fixed ones...

I actually have a decent home gym, but i don't save money with it. Its much more expensive to start up. But it has great re sale value and you don't have to leave your house to workout. But cheaper.. no cant beat an 11k life time membership.

[tinfoilhat]

i wonder how many of the "end of days" memberships went directly into staff pockets?

given that the Bank is into them for 80 odd million, the staff and customers are going to have quite a wait ahead of them.

On another note, i cannot understand why, for the life of me, anyone would want to work out at Paragon. It seems neither convenient nor appealing to me in any way.

Do you hear yourself talk or think before you type or die? For the life of you, why would anyone not want to work out in Siam Paragon? There are nice restaurants to eat and chill out. Supermarkets to do your grocery and you can catch a great movie at the top floor! Not unless, you are poor as a church mouse and living on a tight budget, then goodbye....*duh!

By the way, living in Soi Langsuan for me seems like a great idea to train in Siam Paragon. It is only 10 mins from my serviced apartment!

yes, i do think before i type. note i specified "It seems neither convenient nor appealing to me in any way" in my post.

I, personally, i would not want to walk through a busy shopping mall on my way to or especially from from my workout or at any time really unless i were actually shopping. If a mall is your idea of entertainment or even a nice place to spend the day, well then you enjoy yourself.

For grocery shopping, living within 5 minutes of a robinsons, tops, villa and foodland all with direct ground floor entrances, helps me avoid grocery stores based in malls.

not sure why exactly you felt the need to question my budget, but feel free to speculate. I suspect it runs a little more than a serviced hong dio.

but i will defer to opinion of the populace and open a poll to see what people say.

[webfact]

please continue:

California Wow Customers Sign Complaints For The Return Of Membership Fees

BANGKOK: -- Over 200 customers of once-popular California WOW yesterday filed complaints for the return of membership fees and being denied access to fitness services after they paid over Bt1million to exercise at various outlets, a consumer protection agency revealed yesterday.

Full story: http://www.thaivisa....embership-fees/

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