Groupon: Collective Buying Power

For you keeners out there wanting to get fit for 2011, I would look a little more into this. I used to be a member at World Health and this is typical of them. If you notice at booster juice and several other locations, they have boxes where you can enter to win a membership for 1-3 months. Do you know anyone who hasn’t won? No. Because it’s a ploy to get you in the door and pressure you into a contract. They call everyone and everyone wins.

Get this if you want, but you might want to enter the draw to win first, since they’ll end up calling you (and its free). And the 2 personal training sessions are a joke as well. The first one is just an assessment where they just simply measure your body composition, ask a few questions, and the next session they give you a little teaser session and then try to talk you into more personal training at an outrageous price.

Don’t take my words for granted. Do your own digging to find out for yourself. But just be warned, this is probably a “too good to be true” deal.

I’m with you Jeff and way to offer current members garbage! Also typical once your a member the rip offs keep happening!

Well said..

And I must say that World Health doesn’t maintain their equipment at all. Everything is at least 5 years old – since i started going there.

At the downtown and north-west (St. Albert Trail) locations at least

Does anyone know if you buy the $50 gift card that has a limit of one per person for yourself if a friend can buy and gift to you a second gift card that you can use?

Disappointed as a current member I can’t use towards membership dues….

Yeah I totally agree with you Jeff. And then if you are able to end your month membership without signing up for a contract you will be called constantly until you give in or stop answering their calls. I was a member for 2 years and the personal training sessions are a joke unless you are paying for the “upgraded” ones. I decided to go with the City of Edmonton facilities and it offers more flexability and options for me plus a workout with Gizmo Williams beats any trainer at WHC any day ;p

$19 is an awesome deal but just a marketing ploy to get you in the door as is the draw box. Take Jeff’s advice. Heck you can even get a 2 week free membership by just visiting any WHC as a new member.

Sorry WHC but there are a lot of burnt members out there.

i have to disagree with jeff h. while i can understand the frustration, “the ploy” jeff h refers to is no different than any other marketing strategies businesses use to get customers in the door. you’re not required to sign up for additional training sessions and the two gyms i’d belonged to before don’t even hold a candle to world health. not only is the equipment better, but the staff at world health is far superior to the others. also, take into account the convenience of the multiple facilities and this one is a no-brainer. if you don’t like the deal then don’t buy it. for everyone else…this deal is a steal.

Hi,

Can you use this new membership at different locations or are you limited to the one you choose when you purchase the Groupon?

Thanks.

I would be werly about this one. I had a certificate that I won at a silent auction and they made me pay a start up fee of $100 to use it. Then when I extended my membership they made me buy another membership card to replace the old one, even though I had the old one.

@Bette: You must choose which location you want to use the 1 month membership at the time of purchase.
@Leslie: There are no additional fees when using this Groupon.

Patrick
Groupon Edmonton

Is this valid for all classes?

Hi all, would be happy to answer some of the questions and respond to some of the comments:

@Jeff: The Groupon is available for use as a stand alone month so you don’t have to sign in to any contract. You are correct that we use introductroy offers to encourage prospective members to vistit our clubs with the aim of actually enrolling new members. I’m not sure we agree with your assessment of this as a “ploy” since we are not hiding our intentions.

@Kristy: Just to clarify, the member offer gives you twice the value of your dollars spent. Many other members are quite happy with it. We’re not sure what you mean by “rip off” but if there is an unresolved account issue of any sort please call our customer service line (1-866-278-4231) during business hours and we’ll be more than happy to get it handled for you.

@Sarah: The gift card is a limit of 1 redemption per person, regardless of who purchases it.

@Leslie: Patrick has already answered your question, but let me add please call our service line mentioned above regarding being required to pay $100 to redeem a gift certificate. I may not know the full story, but this is not standard practice so we would be interested in hearing from you to get this resolved.

@Holly: All of our standard group exercise classes that you can see on the schedule on the website are included.

*Typo on the service phone number… correct is 1-866-278-4131

I’m curious if i buy the groupon for my girlfriend – can she choose which location she actually wants to go to. I go to one on the west-end, but I can’t see her going that far… but does she have the option of switching it up if she wants to. One of the 3 north ones would be her choice, but I’m not sure which one works…

Or even if we can switch it up – we’d like to possibly do some of the classes together. Yet I’m close to downtown and she’s not. And my boyfriend goes to a different one yet, but he’s limited to where he goes because he only pays $30/month and isn’t on a contract, so he can only go to the one gym!!

Janis,

Go ahead and purchase the Groupon for her. We will be happy to honour it at any Edmonton location.

Oh good to know – i just bought one for my girlfriend – at one location and another for another friend of hers that doesn’t have a credit card, and she didn’t want it at the same one – so that is good to hear – thanks World H.

DJ

our pleasure Devon

I just went to use my groupon at the City Center location and I have never been more pressured in my life to sign up for the following months! I told the guy I would wait and see how I like it he was all offended and said “Why?! Isn’t this a long term commitment?”

I had the worst expirience of my life.
I left for a second to get some air before my workout and they CALLED ME while i was still in the City Center mall to wonder where I was!

Groupon/World health you can have my $35 bucks, It’s not worth it.