Is it normal that you have to sign on for 12 months?

[kehcorpz]

This seems to be common practice, at least where I live. All the stuff I checked out online was similar.
They all want you to be a member for 12 months minimum. One dojo explained this by saying that learing
a MA takes time. Great justification....

I mean what if after 2 months you notice that this stuff doesn't work for you or that your body cannot handle it?
Then you have to pay the entire 12 months. Imo this is not fair and not customer-friendly. But since they all do
it they obviously think that it doesn't matter cause people who are desperate enough to want to learn self-defense
will not be hindered by this, which is probably true. I mean somebody who wants to learn self-defense already has
his own personal reasons and he will probably not back down cause he has to sign on for 12 months.

But for me it's a big problem. It's a huge risk. You not only risk losing a lot of money cause the monthly fees are already
pretty high but if you really had to leave you'd also be very upset cause you still have to pay for the rest of the time.

Imagine you sign on for 12 months and then realize this stuff isn't for you then you probably won't dare to try other stuff
cause it's simply too risky. Imagine 1 year costs you 500$ total. Then how many different things would you be willing to try
out? How much money would you basically be willing to lose? What if you try 4 different MAs and they all don't work and
then you basically threw 2000$ in the toilet? Wouldn't this make you really angry? It would make me angry and then I'd
get upset every single time I think about it and this would also be really unhealthy.

 

[Ironbear24]

I have never heard of this before. Everywhere I been billed monthly as you wished to continue.

 

[kehcorpz]

I wish they did this here, too. I am very reluctant to sign on for 12 months. It's a high risk. I can as well play roulette and I don't play roulette cause it's too risky.

If this is not common practice in other countries then they do this on purpose. I thought maybe this is how it's done in all dojos worldwide.

But in most gyms you also have to sign on for 1 year, at least those which I know. They simply want to bind the people to them.

 

[Ironbear24]

I am not sure your country has anything to do with it. Then again I've only ever trained in America. Do they at least offer a free trail for a few weeks?

 

[drop bear]

It is a very popular business model unfortunately.

 

[Ironbear24]

It is a very popular business model unfortunately.

Where? I have never seen this at any gym or dojo before. I have seen it offered but it wasn't the only option.

 

[drop bear]

Where? I have never seen this at any gym or dojo before. I have seen it offered but it wasn't the only option.

Unfair gym contracts - Diet and fitness - CHOICE

 

[kehcorpz]

This sucks!
How can you feel comfortable and appreciated as a customer when you're forced to sign on for 12 months?
This already makes me feel uncomfortable.

 

[Ironbear24]

This sucks!
How can you feel comfortable and appreciated as a customer when you're forced to sign on for 12 months?
This already makes me feel uncomfortable.

It's not the end of the world. Look for other areas that have different practices. If there isn't one then take the free trail lessons and see if you feel it is worth the risk or not.

 

[kehcorpz]

but what if i simply cannot decide after the trial lesson? i mean why is it only 1 lesson?
that's like saying you can test drive a car 5 minutes and then you have to decide.

 

[Ironbear24]

It's not 1 lesson. It's normally a few weeks of free lessons to see if you like it or not.

 

[kehcorpz]

what?! where i live they all offer only 1 (ONE!!!!) free lesson!
i doubt that you can just come back a few times.

 

[Blindside]

what?! where i live they all offer only 1 (ONE!!!!) free lesson!
i doubt that you can just come back a few times.

Offer to pay for one month at a higher rate than the contract price.

 

[drop bear]

There is also this sort of thing out there where you can buy business plans for your dojo. They are usually chock full of how to get people on contracts.

Small Dojo Big Profits | Martial Arts Business Success Done Right — Small Dojo Big Profits

 

[Ironbear24]

what?! where i live they all offer only 1 (ONE!!!!) free lesson!
i doubt that you can just come back a few times.

Then you have to ask some of the students there how they feel about the place, also look up reviews online about it. I would put more faith in the students though.

 

[geezer]

Wait, did you say you would have to pay $500 a year in advance? Most schools around here are at least $100 a month, some a lot more. That's $1200 a year. If I could save $700 by paying a year in advance, I'd definitely go for it. Don't like the business model, but would love the savings.

BTW, my standard fee is now $90 a month, but if you pay for three months at a time I drop it to $80, or $240 total. I only push that because I hate to keep asking for dues all the time and it's nice to know in advance that you can make your rent.

You know I actually get together with my senior students and lay out the expenses and we agree on the rates. More like a club than a business, I'm afraid. We even give discounts to hardship cases. And to the guy that dives 35 miles each way to get to class. Dropped his rate $30 a month to help with gas. Just seemed fair.

... no wonder I never make any profit. Guess I better keep the day job. Of course, they don't pay me much there either. I'm a high school teacher. In Arizona.

 

[Midnight-shadow]

At the school where I train we pay by the lesson. You pay £50 annual membership and then £6 per hour session. You can also pay 11 sessions at a time for £60. I like this model because it means you only pay for the sessions you can attend, as opposed to paying monthly and then feeling forced to attend as many sessions as possible to get your money's worth. It also means that if I go away on holiday and can't attend classes, I don't lose out on money.

 

[geezer]

At the school where I train we pay by the lesson. You pay £50 annual membership and then £6 per hour session. You can also pay 11 sessions at a time for £60. I like this model because it means you only pay for the sessions you can attend, as opposed to paying monthly and then feeling forced to attend as many sessions as possible to get your money's worth. It also means that if I go away on holiday and can't attend classes, I don't lose out on money.

Interesting idea. I also find it interesting that the rate you stated matches up really closely with what classes cost here. We offer three classes a week which, of course, is about a dozen classes a month for $90. According to the way you pay at 6 pounds per class (not counting the annual fee) at the current exchange rate of $1.41 for a pound, that's about $96 per month.

The one thing I like about paying a set fee for a longer stretch of time is that, like you said, the more you attend, the better value you get. From an instructor's perspective, I don't want students to feel like they can miss class without it costing them something. To the contrary I want students to attend more classes and progress faster. I mean isn't that what every teacher should want?

 

[Gnarlie]

I view my fee as sponsoring and supporting the continued operation of our dojang. I pay monthly on a rolling contract, and would be obliged to give notice of a minimum 3 months to the half year end if I wished to leave.

The amount I pay in relation to the amount I train means I pay around €1.30 per hour for world-class tuition. You get out what you put in.

Ask if you can buy a block of ten lessons as a trial.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

[Midnight-shadow]

Interesting idea. I also find it interesting that the rate you stated matches up really closely with what classes cost here. We offer three classes a week which, of course, is about a dozen classes a month for $90. According to the way you pay at 6 pounds per class (not counting the annual fee) at the current exchange rate of $1.41 for a pound, that's about $96 per month.

The one thing I like about paying a set fee for a longer stretch of time is that, like you said, the more you attend, the better value you get. From an instructor's perspective, I don't want students to feel like they can miss class without it costing them something. To the contrary I want students to attend more classes and progress faster. I mean isn't that what every teacher should want?

I understand where you are coming from, but from a customer's point of view if you can only attend 1 of those 3 classes each week, and yet are paying the same amount as someone who attends all 3 classes a week, chances are you will feel a little slighted and feel you aren't getting your money's worth. After all, you may very well want to do all 3 classes but can't due to your work schedule, or family commitments. In that situation I would probably not bother as the amount of training I'm getting doesn't equal the amount I'm paying. Also, in the school where I train there are a total of 15 hours available training in various disciplines, so imagine if they did a monthly subscription model, and you had one person who could only attend a single hour session a week, paying the same amount of money as someone who can attend all 15 hours.