Over the last few years a number of gym chains have been heavily criticised about their inflexible terms and conditions. This has resulted in some customers being locked into unsustainable payments as their personal circumstances changed and the media attention has damaged the reputation of major firms in this sector.
In "Marketing" magazine last week, Fitness First's marketing director explained why his gym chain is undergoing a £70m re-brand. Its ambition is to become a member-led business. It is interesting within this that he stated "We wanted to be completely transparent. We proactively contacted the Office of Fair Trading to approve our terms and conditions, and we had them certified by the Plain English Society. These types of things are housekeeping, which everyone should have in order, but not everyone does".
A very valid response to this could be "big deal" but it does at least help to demonstrate that one of the many benefits and arguments for everyday business ethics is that transparency and fair treatment do help to keep the Regulator or Government off your back. While you wouldn't expect "housekeeping" to be much of a competitive advantage, Fitness First is at least realising the benefits of being proactive in improving customers outcomes. Even if this is because it is cheaper than dealing with an OFT investigation, the move is at least in the right direction.
I suppose these kind of things are hygiene factors - you may not tweet about how clear the T&Cs are on your gym membership but it could avoid some serious problems further down the line. And the thing about transparency and fair process is even if people don't agree with a decision if they can see fair process they're more likely to accept it.
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