Little Gym - help me understand the financials

[Anonymous]

DS is taking his first little gym class - it started at the beginning of September but I enrolled him back in June. We chose the 4 payment plan so they charged me in June and again this week. I am used to paying by the session so this is new. Now I feel like I paid for nothing all summer. How does the "membership" work? Are we members for a year from the time his first class started, or from the time that we registered and made the first payment?

thanks in advance. I don't know why they can't just charge by the session like most other classes...

[Anonymous]

When I did the Little Gym, there were several options - monthly, quarterly, semi-annually and annually. I get why they don't let you pay by the session, as people would drop in and out each week and there isn't a consistent revenue stream.

I think they started the payment schedule when you paid in June. They offer classes year-round, so they anticipated that you would start taking your child to class when you paid. So, I think you did pay for nothing over the summer.

One more thing - they have two separate fees, which is nuts, but all these kids places do it. You have a membership fee (~$40/year) and "tuition" for the classes.

[Anonymous]

I think you should call Little Gym and ask them. I am pretty sure that there is a separate summer session. The membership is for the entire year, but that is just $40 that one time. I choose the bi-annual plan, so I did make my payment back in June to get the discounted price, but I won't make my other payment till later. Maybe there was a mistake.

[Anonymous]

I recall a similar payment plan. Didn't you sign something? Take a look at that. On another note, check the refund policy in case your kid finds it to be lame.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think you should call Little Gym and ask them. I am pretty sure that there is a separate summer session. The membership is for the entire year, but that is just $40 that one time. I choose the bi-annual plan, so I did make my payment back in June to get the discounted price, but I won't make my other payment till later. Maybe there was a mistake.

OP here. I did the 4x a year plan. I paid $270 in June (which included the membership fee) and then next payment was in September - $230. I will have two more payments in December and March. The summer classes may have been already underway or maybe the issue was that DS wasn't going to be 3 until September so we wanted to get him right into the Funny Bugs. I can't remember.

For this PP - did you take a class in the summer, or pay in June but not start the classes til September?

I will call them. I think it made sense to me at the time but now I'm wondering what I paid for in June. An annual fee of $1000 makes sense if we do ~50 weeks of classes ($20/class seems like the average around here) but not so much if we did nothing all summer.

[Anonymous]

OK, OP again. I spoke to the Little Gym . PP was correct that there is a separate summer session. So when you pay for the "year", it's actually the school year, September through June. Around $1000 for 9.5 months. so more expensive than most, but I think I knew that when I signed up in June.

My kid loves it so we're all good on that front.

[Anonymous]

it amazes me that these places can get away with charging what they do.

[Anonymous]

When I paid in June, I signed up for the September 2nd - June 21st season. I paid in June to get $45 off my initial payment My next payment is due on 12/1. When I signed up the only options were one time payment, bi-pay and then a monthly payment of $95 a month. I didn't do classes over the summer. There was a big overall difference to do the bi-pay as opposed to the monthly charge.

[Anonymous]

This is so crazy...we pay $70/month for our gym and that includes all courses and classes they ever offer and 24hr usage of all equipment year round. That means $840 per year all inclusive. And it's a high end gym with very well educated staff, the newest high tech equipment etc. It sounds absolute crazy to me to pay $1000/year for a child. I am flabbergasted to be honest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is so crazy...we pay $70/month for our gym and that includes all courses and classes they ever offer and 24hr usage of all equipment year round. That means $840 per year all inclusive. And it's a high end gym with very well educated staff, the newest high tech equipment etc. It sounds absolute crazy to me to pay $1000/year for a child. I am flabbergasted to be honest.

Same here. We pay 75 a month for our JCC that has an outdoor pool, indoor courts and a nice gym and (most importantly to us) a nice childcare room. However, I still am kinda flabbergasted I pay that much for a gym and am always reevaluating it. I can't believe people pay more for a baby/toddler activity!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is so crazy...we pay $70/month for our gym and that includes all courses and classes they ever offer and 24hr usage of all equipment year round. That means $840 per year all inclusive. And it's a high end gym with very well educated staff, the newest high tech equipment etc. It sounds absolute crazy to me to pay $1000/year for a child. I am flabbergasted to be honest.

$840 and $1,000 both sound crazy to me to be honest

[Anonymous]

Do you guys really not sign your kids up for any classes? $20-$25 per class is pretty standard. Good for you for finding other options, I guess.

FWIW we belong to the JCCNV too. It has a gym and indoor pool but kid classes are extra (usually $20/session). The babysitting is only offered 9-12 weekdays so useless for a working parent.

[Anonymous]

I'm doing a class at the JCC in Rockville. I'd like to do My Gym but we did it in our prior city and I hated the endless monthly billing. They needed two months notice to cancel and I just found the while endless billing thing shady. We ended up paying for months we didn't use due to scheduling and medical issues. I would definitely sign up for and pay for one class if they offered that option.

[Anonymous]

I do the little gym as well. I think it is way overpriced but DD loves it and I think its good for her.
Because I do shift work they let me sign up for classes every other week, instead of every week. I pay for 3 months at a time but $44 a month not $88.
There are cheaper classes out there but they dont have the flexibility the little gym does with my schedule.