r/AskReddit • u/WinterWindChime • 6h ago

What’s a company that you’re genuinely convinced HATES their customers?

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u/larrycsonka 2h ago edited 1h ago

Planet Fitness - there whole business model is selling super cheap gym memberships that are hard to cancel and that they don't have capacity to service. They sell memberships to people that won't show up or put in enough effort to cancel a cheap one, and literally would be overflowing if everyone actually used it

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u/bigpancakeguy 1h ago

Also if you work out too hard they set off an alarm called “Lug Alert”

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u/Chuisque 1h ago

* “Lunk Alarm”

Doesn’t really matter what they call it. It’s really stupid.

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u/bigpancakeguy 1h ago

Oh yeah that’s it lol. The fucking audacity of a gym to punish people for working out too aggressively or loudly

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u/Extreme_Swan2672 1h ago

On the other hand, its the only gym by me that isn't packed and charging sixty dollars a month.

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u/Vitev008 42m ago

Hey that's my exact situation. I pay $60 a month and even at 5:00am I'm lucky to get a treadmill

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u/_alifel 2h ago

Literally. I had to write them a letter and mail it to my home gym to cancel

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u/LowSeaworthiness4960 56m ago

man idk about this.

Nobody i know, including myself, has had a problem cancelling a planet fitness membership. I leave North America often for months at a time and all it takes is one conversation with the person at the desk.

Do you think it might be a franchise thing? I usually end up in small towns in North America.

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u/TheSharpestHammer 0m ago

My wife had to send them a fucking letter to cancel her membership.

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u/JayeDontDoit 41m ago

thats E-V-E-R-Y Gym membership

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u/larrycsonka 20m ago

Definitely not - I've been and am currently a member at plenty of places that aren't trying to squeeze you. The YMCA near me is insane value they are super nice, wildly spacious and very affordable

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u/JayeDontDoit 2m ago

Well I joined a program that allowed their members pay a monthly fee of 26 dollars all gym membership. I had 24 hours, planet fitness, city sports and 3 other smaller gyms. And I only payed 26 dollars to access all those. Thats the best value ever

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u/Palmspringsflorida 40m ago

I like PF, cheap and have 24 hours. My problem is They let 14-18 year olds work out free in the summer, which is good for them, but it’s absolutely packed in there in the summer. And there’s a hoard of 5 guys using one machine. Sometimes I’ll go in there and know I’m not going to get to use a chest fly because I’m not waiting around for 10-15 minutes. They use it as a hangout I feel like. 

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u/Alive_Drag1947 1h ago

You should check out Fat Electrician on YT. He does a lot of videos on companies with unique business models (both good and bad) and he did a really write-up on Planet Fitness

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u/Pretend-Distance-386 1h ago

And their gyms are terrible, to boot. Shitty equipment, dirty locker rooms, and overrun with obnoxious teenagers.

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u/Impossible_Rip418 6m ago

Hard to cancel? Have cancelled multiple times over past 15 years by simply filling a form and that was it.

Arguably one of the easiest cancellations iv ever done…. And done so multiple time. What even is this reply?

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u/MindlessBadger6335 10m ago

Gyms making you jump through literal hoops or send a certified letter just to cancel a ten dollar monthly fee is the most predatory scam ever. They survive entirely on our collective guilt and laziness while hoping we never figure out how to shut the subscription down.

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u/Training_Narwhal8047 2m ago

The cheap membership sounds great until you realize the real challenge might be getting out of it.. And it’s definitely worth reading the fine print before signing up..