We’ve been asked time and time again why we don’t charge customers for a membership. The answer is simple. Massage memberships completely suck. There I said it. Why the heck should you have to pay a monthly fee over and over just to get a massage at an affordable price? The answer as to why some companies charge their customers a monthly fee just to use their services may surprise you. Here’s the secret behind the reason why many massage chains want your money whether you use their services or not and the rules you may want to consider following before making that decision:
1. It’s All About The Exit Strategy
It seems wrong to think about the breakup before your first date, but that’s exactly what you must do with a membership at a massage parlor. While massage membership contracts can be full of booby traps, long-term commitments, useless sign-up fees, and so on, the vast majority of massage membership complaints come down to one thing: Consumers get charged after they quit.
Here’s something to consider. Before you sign up for a membership, make sure you have the company’s cancellation policy in writing, and you understand it well. Often it goes like this: you must give the company 30 days’ notice, which generally gives the massage establishment one extra month of your money.
That’s fine, but often, massage establishments that are very good at signing you up are awful at processing cancellation paperwork. So send your cancellation in writing with a return receipt request. Also take the paperwork into the establishment and get someone to sign it in person.
2. They Want Your Membership Fees, But That Doesn’t Mean They Want You To Use Their Services
Why would they want to charge you fees if they don’t want you to use their services? It’s simpler than you think. Many of these establishments oversell their memberships. So if everyone actually uses the services for what they were intended for, there would be no room to service their customers. So a lot of these companies rely on customers throwing money at them every month in the form of membership dues with the hope that they actually won’t come in and use their services. it’s free money!
3. Memberships Keep You Locked In Whether You Like The Services Or Not
Massage is very subjective. And because of that, many massage establishments rely on memberships forcing you to remain as a customer instead of providing excellent service to keep their customers. By sticking you with a membership, these massage establishments know that when you don’t like the service you received, you’ll most likely return anyway because of the monthly dues that you are already paying. It’s a poor way to keep customers, but it works very well. Memberships prevent the customer from trying other establishments because it makes the customer feel like they are losing money by not fully using their membership. In the long run however, it will generally cost the consumer more to pay a monthly membership and get mediocre service.
4. Is It Money Well Spent?
Calculate the annual cost of a membership to a massage establishment plus the cost of the actual massages and you’ll find in most cases that you’ll end up spending way more than if you went at it without a membership. Realistically if they provided an enjoyable service there would be no need to charge you regular fees just to lock you in.
5. Will Happy Head Massage Ever Charge Membership Fees?
The short answer is no. The long answer is heck no! One of the biggest reasons that the Happy Head became the premier place in San Diego to get a massage was the fact that we never required memberships. We relied on excellent customer service and great massage without the spa prices. By giving our customers the freedom to choose their service and not locking customers into a long-term membership, it forces all the staff to remain accountable for always providing the best service possible. We do not believe in charging customers every single month whether they receive a massage or not. We don’t believe in forcing customers to sign a contract in order to receive a discounted rate. We believe that you will enjoy your experience so much that you will come back again and again because you want to, not because you have to.