People get lured into signing gym memberships after seeing a great advertised price.
This is followed in most cases by a big surprise when the credit card statement comes in the mail. Several gyms charge unnecessary add-ons as well the monthly payment.
When you go and fight the charge with the management of the gym they tell you that the extra fees are for “fitness improvement center”, “maintenance and upkeep”, “insurance”, and other payments. While you challenge this, saying you should have known about it beforehand, you will be shown the fine print, where the extra charges are mentioned (of course, they never talked about them when you signed the contract and gave your credit card number).
How to avoid: every time you want to join a gym, read the fine print and ask in advance about upcoming fees. If they mention “fitness improvement centre”, ask exactly what they will do and when. But above all, never, ever sign a contract without reading the fine print. If it makes them impatient, just tell them that you always read the fine print before signing and they will just need to wait.