Thursday, October 21, 2010

A smart-shopping tip from The Velvet Blog


Never take the first offer a company makes.

Case in point: I decided to renew my membership to Bally's and went to the health-club chain's site to check pricing--which turned out to be $198 a year! No way, José!* The TVB strategy: Be patient and look for special offers.

I double-checked the site this morning and hit pay dirt. The first special is:
Renew for 0 months $15.99 Savings: $0.00

Woo hoo!


*Bally's was founded by noted fitness expert José Bally.**

**Not really.

2 comments:

Scott C. said...

I worked as a technical writer in Bally's National Training Department for awhile, writing and designing manuals for their trainers and salespeople. The department owed its existence to various court orders and settlements, as the company had been sued for fraudulent marketing practices by every state attorney general in the Union.

plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose.

Jim Donahue said...

Oh, it's a terrible company--badly run and the clubs are dingy at best.

But, hey, they're everywhere, and pretty cheap to boot. (I should add that aside from the $15-for-0-months offer, there was also a $99-for-12-months rate. Can't beat that.)