24 days was plenty.

3 weeks and 3 days ago today I walked into New York Health & Racquet Club in Great Neck, to talk about a membership. I thought it was very overpriced, but I agreed to a 3 week trial, with my membership set to officially start on February 11, and they gave me another 3 days after that to cancel my membership, to at least see what it was like. It wasn't anything special, and the price was ridiculous, especially with a 2 year commitment, so last night, I went in and told them that I would be quitting. When I told them why, they mentioned that they had no ability to negotiate the price of the membership that includes access to all gyms, which was something I really wanted to keep, so there was no way I was sticking with that gym.

I expected it to be as quick and easy as quitting 24 HR Fitness, a nice gym that I tried before NY HRC, which I liked a lot but unfortunately only had locations in Manhattan. There, they clicked a couple buttons, had me sign a form, and I was on my way, with a refund in my bank account within a week. At NY HRC, I was told that I had to fill out a form and send it to the company headquarters via certified mail. Not only that, but the form stated that I had to send my contract in with it, which of course, I had put in a very clever spot so that I would remember it, and then promptly forgot. I was busy this morning, so I had to go out of my way to find a post office open past noon. I stopped in at the gym to ask for a copy of my contract, but they claimed I wouldn't need it for cancelling during the full refund period. I got the letter out and postmarked today. Good thing I went in last night about cancelling instead of this afternoon after the post offices were closed, or I'd be under a two year commitment right now. But still, there's no way of knowing how many monthly charges they'll get me for before they process my cancellation, and then how much longer until I'll get any of that money back.

I didn't get a workout in last night, so I went to NY Sports Club, which has locations all over the tri-state area, including one in Great Neck, about the same distance from my house as the NY HRC. By the time I walked out of there, including purchasing a new membership and doing a 5k run on the treadmill (in about half an hour), there was nothing about it I didn't like better than NY HRC. The whole place was cleaner and had newer equipment; the staff was much friendlier; I met the owner of Bruce's Restaurant (everyone from Great Neck knows what I'm talking about); and, best of all, the price was about 40% lower than NY HRC. The only down side is that instead of full access to all clubs, I only get off-peak access to clubs other than Great Neck (but the membership that gets full access was still about 25% cheaper than NY HRC and I can always upgrade to it later).

I think I've found my new gym.