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The gym towel saga

Very recently I decided that I should start going to the gym again as I was getting a little tubby here and there. I had been using a gym in Croydon but I have also been a member of the gym at my place of work for the past two years without using it, so I decided that the work gym was the best option.

The gym has added a level of membership this year - silver - which includes a towel for an additional £7 per month. This sounded like a good option as I didn't want to lugg a towel to work and back every day so I rang the gym and asked about upgrading my membership. They told me that all I need do is sign a form they had when I visited next. So that night I went to the gym and filled in the form expecting to be given a towel before I went in. But no. Apparently I would be getting an e-mail confirming my upgrade. So I had to hire a towel at £2.

Next day I recived the first mail: (Gym persons name has been changed)

Dear Simon,

Thank you for your request to upgrade your membership to our Silver service.

Your towel service will commence on Tuesday 4th of January 2005.

The new membership fee of GBP25.00 per month will be debited from your account on or soon after 5th of January. This replaces the GBP18.00 currently being paid.

Please present your nedap / smart card at our reception and request a towel. Please deposit used towels in the drop off points located in the main changing rooms.

You are reminded that towel hire is available @ GBP2.00 if you forget your towel before your new membership starts.

Hope you will enjoy the new service!

With kind regards

Miss Carlsberg
Gym Service & Admin co-ordinator

Oh dear (edited) I thought. I have missed the cut of by one day and can't get the towel service till January. How very inconvenient.

I wrote back

Dear Ms Carlsberg,

Why can't the upgrade start today?

This means I either bring a towel in each day for the next month, pay 2 pounds per day or don't go to the gym at all - all of which defeat the point of upgrading to the Silver service.

This is silly.

Simon

And they explained

Dear Simon,

Thank you for your reply.

As stated in our rules and regulations we request 1 month's notice in writing in order to change membership status. Membership changes will be in effect from the 1st of each month only due the direct debit system and our pre-order of towels from our supplier. The membership payment £18.00 for December came out around the 5th of December.

I am truly sorry for any inconvenience caused.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you should have any further questions.

With kind regards

Miss Carlsberg
Gym Service & Admin co-ordinator

I have not met Miss Carlsberg but she sounds a reasonable person so I tried to appeal to her sense of justice.

Miss Carlsberg,

So if I gave you an extra £7 cash would that then give me Silver membership for December?

Regards,
Simon

And then came the brilliant, if slightly flawed explanation.

Dear Simon,

If I could, I would change your membership today. Our towel supplier need advance notice in order to change our towel stock which is why upgrades can only be done on the 1st of each month. We will have the appropriate towel stock in 1st of January in order to upgrade your membership then.

I am truly sorry for any inconvenience caused.

With kind regards

Miss Carlsberg
Gym Service & Admin co-ordinator

Well I had to reply!

Miss Carlsberg,

I am aghast at this news!
If the towel supplier needs advance notice to supply an extra towel for me then logically that would mean there will not be a towel for me to hire on a daily basis until January the 1st. Yet I was able to hire a towel on Monday. Was this an emergency towel?

Regards,
Simon

But she persisted.

Dear Simon,

Stock is allocated for towel hire. The stock is constantly monitored and adjusted according to demand on a monthly basis. Our

As stated in the rules and regulations (section 2.12) upgrades are permitted providing one calendar months notice is submitted in writing to fifthdimension. Membership upgrades will take effect from 1st of each month only.

Your membership upgrade will be in effect from 4th of January 2004.

I am truly sorry for any inconvenience caused.

With kind regards
Miss Carlsberg
Gym Service & Admin co-ordinator

So, only a half explanation - I am guessing she is losing it with me at this time but I wrote back anyway.

Miss Carlsberg

Thank you for explaining what appeared to be an absurd situation. I will be coming into the gym 12 more times before my Silver membership starts which means a profit of 24 nice shiney English pounds for the gym. I applaud your opportunism.

I have considered bringing my own towel in but the extra weight of a wet towel plus my gear for the journey home may well go past the tipping point for carrying a safe load in my appallingly bad state of fitness which would mean having to hire one of your reasonably priced personal trainers to recover from the strain, a cost that is somewhat greater than that of the extra towel hire.

Tiny Tim will have to go without his yacht this year.

Merry Christmas.

Simon Cox

Well I don't expect a favorable outcome - or indeed any more correspondence and when I go to the gym tonight I may well use a false name or someone elses pass.

Posted by Simon at December 9, 2004 9:45 AM

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Comments

1 December 17, 2004 2:36 PM Dean

HAHA! Thats silly!!!

Thanks for the good story and good luck. I've taken to riding a bike (in warmer weather) and it beats a gym membership in my case. Lucky you have a facility at work.

2 December 19, 2004 5:50 PM Shirley

A bit surprised but within expectation!! Good luck at the Fifthdimension!! Remember the "motivation" you gave me during the summer??:)
All the best!

3 December 21, 2004 1:02 PM Claire

thanks for the laugh Simon - great story! How's the gymming going?

4 October 5, 2006 11:19 AM Andy Morgan

Dear Simon

You seriously need to get a life. If I were a member of that gym, I'd carry your f*+!king towel for you - so long as you never mentioned towels again.

How on earth does Paula live with you? Do you keep incessantly whinging on about the minutiae of life to her too?

For her sake, when people ask what you'd like for Christmas, I'd suggest gift vouchers (for a good divorce lawyer) ;) !!!

Keep it up sonny, keep it up...

(The garden looks nice on the webcam, btw.)

5 October 5, 2006 11:01 PM Simon Cox

Thanks Andy. Gift vouchers sounds just the ticket.

6 June 27, 2007 2:39 PM Sean

Hi Simon,
I come across this website by accident as i was searching for gym towels myself. I found your situation very typical of company's and there rules and regulations. Although funny as it is, I feel company's in general seem to make life as difficult at possible at times for customers. As trivial as your situation may seem, little things like the hand towel can make life so much easier for us and the company should have just let you pay the money to upgrade for that month.

By the way i would have argued the same and had the little sarcastic comment at the end. However i am getting a towel to bring myself as my gym dont have any towel upgrades and i sweat crazy. Hope the gyms going well.

Regards

Sean