I have a gym membership with Washington Sports Club. In 30 days I will no longer have a membership with them. The reason is simple - $39. $39 is what they charged me to change my default gym to one closer to my house. An utterly bogus charge. The gyms are roughly 1.5 miles apart. This, to Washington Sports Club, is a $39 update. An update to one line on a computer. They must be using a really fancy font for that line.

When I changed my default location I was not told about the charge. Probably because the guy updating my file realizes that is it is a BS charge and would be too embarrassed to mention. Instead I found out about this charge when I got my CC statement. Always a pleasant way to learn something. I called them and asked about my increased fee for the month. $39 because I changed my, in their nomenclature, home gym. Come on, you really gonna nickel and dime me on this? The guy on the phone, told me that this was assessed to anyone that made this change. I pointed out my long relationship with the gym, but this did not sway him. I pointed out that if I was a new customer I would not be charged this. Heck, 9 times out of 10 as new customer you can bypass all of the bogus "signup fees". He just reiterated the same line. So I asked to end my membership and he informed me I would have to do this in person.

Perhaps I have to cancel in person so they have one more opportunity to entice me to stay. Nope. I went in and cancelled my membership. No question was asked why I was leaving. No offering to keep me to stay and keep paying them. No interest in keeping the easy money I offered.

Does their policy not account for basic math skills? They billed me $39 and wound up losing $888.