So I joined a new gym last year and was pleasantly surprised. They gave me a smart card to get in and out, that’s it, no app, no accounts, no nothing. Well, today I got to the gym and saw the announcement that they are phasing out the access with the smart card and starting to use, you guessed it, an app.
Now, I know this is not such a big deal in the grand scheme of things. But I’m just tired of this trend of replacing perfectly functioning systems with apps (public transport tickets come to mind). Just more ways to harvest people’s data, I guess…
Ah and by the way, in my previous gym they not only required an app for accessing the place, they also incentivized people to track their workouts, meals and bodyweight using the gym’s app (of course I never used any of these features).
So if you can’t get in a gym because of a technology they added after you signed, they will just continue to charge you?
That’s what you think will happen?
Yes that’s absolutely what will happen. They likely have language in the contract you signed allowing them to do just that.
You are paying for access to the gym. They don’t have to provide you access via a card or a list or an app - they probably specify that they can refuse access for a variety of reasons, including “safety and privacy” or some shit they can shoehorn an app into. You don’t have a legal right to access a place via the mechanism you choose.
Looking online at similar situations people had their membership canceled by management. Other cases showed bring able to enter by a phone number, by their old tag, or ID verification. Looks like it happened for people whose app kept on crashing or a work phone that wouldn’t allow installs.
Which gym would just keep charging you if you said you can’t get in?
