THE EVIDENCE IS CLEAR SINCE 1918
SEPTEMBER 17, 2012 | VOLUME XCIV| ISSUE V
New U-Hill behind schedule
U
Despite massive overcrowding at the current location, University Hill Secondary’s new home may not open until December
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THE UBYSSEY
Now what?
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Can UBC rebuild after loss to Saskatchewan?
Koerner’s returns
The GSS has found new management for beloved pub P3
Out of the archive
AMS puts permanent collection paintings on show for the first time in more than 30 years
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GOLD’S GYM >>
UBC staffers criticize gym for ‘slippery’ contracts Owner says he can’t be blamed if people don’t read what they sign Ming Wong Senior News Writer
Staff at the UBC Faculty of Medicine are frustrated with the way they’ve been treated by the Gold’s Gym in the University Village. They argue that the gym is being “slippery” about how it enforces its high-priced multiyear membership contracts. But the gym’s owner is adamant that everything Gold’s does is within the law. Karminie De Silva, an office assistant at the UBC Faculty of Medicine, signed up for a gym membership with Gold’s Gym in September 2011. She was under the impression she was signing a one-year membership contract. Two weeks ago, when she thought her one year was almost up, De Silva went to Gold’s to cancel her membership. But an employee told her that instead of signing up for a 52-week program, she had instead signed up
for 52 bi-weekly payments — a two-year membership. “I just want[ed] to try out for a year, then they said, ‘This [membership] is the one that you should then go for,’” said De Silva. “I should have read my contract a little bit more, because it says [it ends in] 2013.” De Silva admits she did not read the contract carefully before she signed it. But she argued that the structure of 52 bi-weekly payments was confusing. Victor Newman, owner of this Gold’s Gym and two others, argued, “Out of our thousands of members in here, there might be one or two people [who] are not happy. I cannot please 100 per cent of the people in here. But we have a government [approved] contract in there that is legitimate [and] approved by the B.C. Consumer Affairs Office.”
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