Gym

Photo by Andrea

Ed. Note: We had a lengthy discussion about gyms on Thursday but I continue to get a ton of messages asking specifically about WSC so I’ll dedicate this post to talk about your experiences with them.

“Dear PoPville,

Has anyone figured out what’s going on with Washington Sports Clubs? Are they continuing to charge membership dues despite being closed?

I reached out to them on 3/21 to cancel my month-to-month membership because I was moving out of DC. No answer. Followed up a few days later; no answer (they have not been answering their phones either). I take to social media and find the below email address, which just sent this auto-reply and directs you to this BS letter about how they are basically unreachable and will deal with “credits” after they are back up and operational. This is absurd! Would love to know if you’ve gotten any intel from other readers.”

Noodle writes: “Washington Sports Clubs seems to have tacitly refused to suspend membership charges during closure. This auto message (above) seems to indicate they intend to continue charging & will count the undue charges as future credits after they reopen.”

Mike writes: “This is now the second email in the past couple of days that I’ve received from Washington Sports Clubs parent company (Town Sports International) which, after not receiving any correspondence from them from the beginning of the pandemic until now, states that they will continue collecting membership dues from all members throughout the crisis. This is, of course, problematic on multiple fronts, not the least of which is that I suspect they know this behavior is unseemly (at best) due to the defensive posture of the email below. (more…)

Photo by PoPville flickr user Ted Eytan

I’ve been getting tons of messages about folks concerned about what’s happening with their gyms. So let me just dedicate this post to it. Since gyms have now been ordered closed – what is your gym doing regarding your memberships?

“Dear PoPville,

I know a lot of readers go to WSC. I haven’t heard any communication from them about cleaning/shutting down/pausing memberships, etc. What gives?

Seems like almost every other gym/work out studio has paused things and/or offered online programming.”

From a Urban Adventures Companies press release:

“Update on VIDA Fitness, SweatBox, Bang Salon, Aura spa

The Urban Adventures Companies will be closed March 16th until March 31st in order to help our employees, members, and clients stay healthy and safe.

We have been closely tracking the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in hopes that we could remain open to our members and clients during this uncertain time. All of us at Urban Adventures come to work every day deeply committed to the health and wellbeing of our stakeholders. This town is our home, and you are our family. It is for these reasons that we have made the very difficult decision to close all of our businesses effective March 16th through March 31st. (more…)