When I was a member of California Gyms, I used to use a lot of really great fitness equipment including the regular treadmills, the cross trainer, the stepping machine, but I wasn’t a real fan of these machines… perhaps it was the loud awful music that was played every day in California.
But the worst was the deal that I was given. When it came time to renew the membership, I was refused a deal that other members were given, and I walked. It was a pity because I really liked the gym, and I gave them quite a bit of money. But when it came to dealing, they just refused to deal properly with clients like me in Taiwan. And it got them a lot of trouble because they were found to be charging different customers different amounts for no apparent reason.
So if you are checking out a gym with great equipment, pay attention to the deals offered, and make sure that other members paid similar amounts. In my opinion, California did a lot of damage to their reputation in Taiwan as a straight dealer.