Disputes over the financial details in contracts at gym chains are the top consumer complaint, New Taipei City Consumer Protection Office official Wang Chih-yu (王治宇) said on Wednesday last week, adding that people should research whether establishments are trustworthy, read the fine print in contracts and think twice before signing up for a membership.
City residents often choose a gym near their home, but can get cornered by the aggressive sales pitches of some establishments, especially gym chain outlets, Wang said.
Some gym chains push people to buy courses or to buy time with a personal trainer, he said, adding that this tactic often results in consumer complaints once members hit a “fatigue period” in their membership.
Disputes can also result from an establishment refusing to reimburse a member after their personal trainer quits the gym, he said.
The Executive Yuan’s Consumer Protection Committee has instructed gyms to cut back on overselling their products and to set up suitable periods in which members can use up the hours they have purchased, he said.
Gyms must clearly inform people that they cannot break the contract after the trial period, he added.
If people sign up for two programs that share the same time slot, the second program should only begin after the first one has concluded, he said.
Gyms are also responsible for informing people when their membership is about to expire, especially if the memberships renew automatically, he said.
People should not waste their membership fees, Wang said, adding that they should set aside the time, or even force themselves to go.
Wang urged people to do their homework and research their local gyms before committing themselves.
Students and office workers should carefully calculate the amount of time they have to commit to gym workouts before they sign a contract, Wang added.
Seven of the 17 NT$10 million (US$311,604) winning receipts from the November-December uniform invoice lottery remain unclaimed as of today, the Ministry of Finance said, urging winners to redeem their prizes by May 5. The reminder comes ahead of the release of the winning numbers for the January-February lottery tomorrow. Among the unclaimed receipts was one for a NT$173 phone bill in Keelung, while others were for a NT$5,913 purchase at Costco in Taipei's Neihu District (內湖), a NT$49 purchase at a FamilyMart in New Taipei City's Tamsui District (淡水), and a NT$500 purchase at a tea shop in New Taipei City's
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
Deliveries of delayed F-16V jets are expected to begin in September, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said today, after senior defense officials visited the US last week. The US in 2019 approved a US$8 billion sale of Lockheed Martin F-16 jets to Taiwan, a deal that would take the nation’s F-16 fleet to more than 200 jets, but the project has been hit by issues including software problems. Koo appeared today before a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which is discussing different versions of the special defense budget this week. The committee is questioning officials today,
TALENT SCOUTING: The university is investing substantial funds in its future to bring in the kind of researchers that would keep the college internationally competitive National Taiwan University (NTU) plans to invest NT$2 billion (US$62.6 million) to launch two programs aimed at attracting and retaining top research talent, university president Chen Wen-chang (陳文章) said yesterday. The funding would support the “Palm Grove Scholars Project,” which targets academics aged 40 to 55. Up to 20 scholars would be selected, each receiving as much as NT$10 million annually, Chen said. The initiative is designed to attract leading researchers to Taiwan and strengthen NTU’s global competitiveness by fostering a more research-friendly environment and expanding international collaboration, he said. NTU is also introducing a “Hong Hu” chair grant, which would provide Palm
RSS