Grace period for reciprocity

I have seen a gradual increase in people abusing the system. I have seen a handful of prospect members price shop all Snap locations, then drive to and sign up at the cheapest one - just to use the club closest to their home and never even use the club they joined. I have also seen an increase in the number of clubs that are allowing this to happen. They will make a very cheap prepaid offer and send the new member on their way, knowing they’re not going to be using their club. This isn’t an enormous issue yet, but it’s been happening more often recently and in a metro area – this is a huge challenge.

Anyone know if it's ever been considered by Corporate to put a grace period on a member’s ability to use any club after they initially sign up? For example, if someone signs up at my club then they’re not able to access any other club for 30 days. I’m not saying we should take away reciprocity. I understand that’s a huge selling point and helps make Snap Fitness what it is. However, if there was a 30 day grace period.. “You can use any club you want after 30 days, Mr. Johnson”.. it might help govern some of the unethical behavior we’re seeing.

There are probably a couple of negatives to the new member that I’m not thinking of, but overall I really think the positives would outweigh them.
What does everyone think?

I have a club about 15-20 minutes away from me. The owner is a nice guy, but his manager does that kind of crap, knowing full well that these members are not going to use his gym. He gets a commission for each new membership, so he could care less. I think you came up with a great idea, but Snap corporate is going down the tubes. Have you seen the new FDD. They are basically tripling the rates and will soon put those clubs in smaller areas out of business. Peter's greed is shining brightly, and proving to us all that all the negative talk going around is not without merit.

I believe there is a 60-Day period before a member can transfer a membership to a another. So, if a member signs up on April 1, even if they immediately begin using another club, the membership and the billing won't transfer to the other club until June 1. The exception is if the member requests a transfer of the membership via an online request. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

@kentoh You're absolutely correct about the 60 day timeframe regarding the members billing information and membership being transferred to the new club (that they're using the most). However, my suggestion is to not even allow the new member to USE ANY other club for 30 days after joining at a particular club. This would also help in those cases that a particular club (or group of clubs) decide to participate in a killer Groupon deal (Let's say 3 month membership for $25). In their Groupon ad, they'll say "your trial membership access card will work at ANY Snap nationwide, just redeem your Groupon here!" Now if we had a 30 day grace period on allowing a new member (or in this case a prospect member that purchased a crazy Groupon deal), it wouldn't be such a killer to the other surrounding clubs that didn't want to participate in the Groupon.

@SnapWY I'm interested in learning more about the new FDD. They're tripling what costs exactly? Is this only effective for new people that sign the FDD or are they planning to roll this out to all current Franchisees? This freaks me out a bit.

I agree about the grace period. Too much of that club-hopping goes on. As far as the new FDD, the new fees apply to all franchisees when they re-sign a new agreement. Current fees are being raised as well as new fees being added on. Now there will be a 51 cent per member maintenance fee, cooperative marketing fee, etc.

I sat down with my current memberships and ran all the numbers. Disgust is too kind of a word. I suggest you download the FDD and look at pages 6 thru 10 and run the numbers with what you currently have.