Megatlon- a warning

[barnaby33]

Just to play devil's advocate, this isn't just an Argentine problem. Anyone who has worked in a corporate gym in the U.S. knows how dirty their business practices are, and how common billing "errors" are once they've got your CC info. Guess the parasitic nature of the gym industry is universal.

While I had a gym in Sydney bill me for extra months (3 of them) 24 Hour Fatness has never over billed me. Of course I've been a member for 13 years, but I don't think they have ever tried to scam me.

I don't see what the problem is with using a card. Just call up the card company and tell them to refuse to accept any more charges.

 

[starlucia]

While I had a gym in Sydney bill me for extra months (3 of them) 24 Hour Fatness has never over billed me. Of course I've been a member for 13 years, but I don't think they have ever tried to scam me.

I worked for Equinox Fitness on the Upper East Side of NYC -- an expensive, 'upscale' gym with an enormously wealthy clientele. The billing practices I saw there were horrendous, and deliberately dishonest enough to be considered a corporate scam. NYSC was almost as slimy. I don't know the first thing about Megatlon, but I wouldn't put it past any corporate gym, anywhere in the world, to make it just a little too easy to overcharge a card, and then so difficult for the client to contact management that they eventually just give up.

And that is why I stick to running in the park

 

[mellowshipslinky]

Finally settled on digs very close to Alto Palermo shopping mall, so was going to swing by the Megatlon there and look at their rates. . . from reading this I'd be paying cash for sure.
Can anyone else recommend gyms in the area?? Don't mind walking a bit to get there, but if it involves public transport then I know that I'll have just that fraction more incentive to skip it, so really want somewhere local.

I'm on ave Coronel Diaz close to Santa Fe

thanks

 

[mellowshipslinky]

just an update - checked out the Megatlon in AltoPalermo but seemed very pretentious and expensive. Sure, was very clean and the USB key telling your machine all your past workouts would be fun to tinker with, but in the end found a down-to-earth place on Santa Fe, a few blocks up from Bulnes.... Alfa Sports Center.

Not as big but for 1/3rd the price i'm more than happy to give them my custom. They do classes at night but can't comment on these yet

 

[barnaby33]

Mellowshipslinky. I lived on charcas and gallo and jogged each day to Always. Its on Paraguay, I think. I looked at Alfa, its the tiny place upstairs correct? The weights there looked frankly quite bad.

 

[Napoleon]

While I had a gym in Sydney bill me for extra months (3 of them) 24 Hour Fatness has never over billed me. Of course I've been a member for 13 years, but I don't think they have ever tried to scam me.

I signed up for a 3 year plan at 24 Hour Fitness back in 2002 that cost nearly US$950, but allowed me to use about 90% of the gyms. (Located mainly throughout the southwestern part of the USA.)

That included 5 training sessions as well.

After that, I re-up for the whopping fee of US$49 PER YEAR!

So even though I've been in Argentina for 4 years, I haven't let go of that membership, because I use it every time I go back to visit my family, visit LA, visit Vegas, visit the town I went to college in...

US$49 gets me about 3.5 months at my dinky little gym here in BsAs. (Definitely NO Megatlon.)

But they don't overcharge me either.

 

[Davidglen77]

Let's be realistic, while these things can happen anywhere and do from time to time, let's remember where we are. Argentina has been, is, and will always be a country of opportunists, they will try and take your things and cheat, overcharge and steal from you anytime a possibility exists. This applies to ALL sectors, government, companies, neighbors / friends, you name it. Here's an example, one of my neighbors once asked to borrow an extension cord. I didn't have one free, but my television had one attached but to get to it I had to move a piece of large furniture which I couldn't do alone. So I asked him to help me. He said he couldn't "right now" but asked another neighbor to help me get it out. So the other neighbor came, we moved the furniture, I gave him the cord and he said "I'll get it right back to you". So 1 day passed, 2 days, 3 days, 4 days, (of course him knowing I was without TV) and the 5th day I asked him for it. He said "oh I am using it for a project at a friends house and I will get it back to you soon", so another few days passed, I see him in front of the building and he ducks around the side of the building when he sees me. At this point, I just forget it and think tomorrow I am going to buy another one. He later comes and rings my bell (11:30 at night) and says that he lost the exension cord and that he will buy me a new one when he gets paid for the job (he's a carpenter) he's working on. Moral of the story.......3 months later I am waiting for an extension cord (which of course I never mentioned again) and now he doesn't say hello to me anymore. Last saturday a neighbor asked me to borrow a ladder, I told him that if he gave me his DNI as a deposit I would lend him the ladder (3 meters tall, cost me $500 pesos), he didn't seem surprised, so he came back with his DNI, I took it, he took the ladder and I had the ladder back the next morning, I was tempted to tell him I lost his DNI, but then again I am not Argentine. No offense to the Argentines on the board.......this is not meant to hurt anyone's feelings, and if it does people here need to change their dastardly ways.

 

[Guillo]

That post was totally insulting and out of place, generalizing from your neighbour to the rest of the country and picturing all argentinians as oportunists, cheaters and thieves.

 

[Davidglen77]

That post was totally insulting and out of place, generalizing from your neighbour to the rest of the country and picturing all argentinians as oportunists, cheaters and thieves.

Typical response.......instead of changing your ways.......you attack people who point out your faults. I don't say ALL Argentines are this way, but MOST I have experienced are. If you don´t like it too bad, change your ways. Your people and country is known for being this way, it's your OWN FAULT!

 

[Montrose]

I went to Alpha gym for a while- just to use the treadmill and some weights. It's very basic but it was what I wanted for a good price (was 100 pesos a month, but that was about 6 months ago). The staff are nice too, I would recommend it as a basic and cheap option. I never tried the classes- they seemed to be full of old ladies just doing stretching, etc whenever I saw them.

I stopped going just because I hate the gym and bought a 35 peso jump rope instead...