Dear UQ Sport Management,

It's a real shame that UQ sport prices have gone up. I have been using the gym, cardio and pool regularly for the past year, as well as playing casual lunchtime sports at UQ for about five years now.

My focus of late has been on weights training and cardio and I have a year membership that will last me until the beginning of next year. I quite enjoy the laid back atmosphere of the gym, and the staff are very friendly and approachable. The gym has all the equipment one would need for any sort of training, and a lot of it so even at busy times it doesn't take too long to have access to pieces of equipment. However, most of the machines are quite old and often don't seem like they've been maintained correctly or are out of order. The benches are satisfactory, but again, old and sometimes difficult to adjust. There is also no air conditioning. Where does the membership money go?

I go to the gym on average about 5 times a week for different periods of time. Four of these visits will be during the week, and generally each visit costs me at least an additional $1.20 in parking. I'm sure like most people, I over compensate the parking limit because I have been hit with a fine before for being TEN minutes late to my car after a workout. 4 x 1.20 = 4.80/week on parking. I have gone to the gym every week this year, and plan to make it each week till my member ship runs out. This means I will have gone to the gym about 45 - 52 weeks of the year. Conservatively, 45 x 4.80 = 216. That's at least two hundred and sixteen dollars in ADDITION to the membership fee. Lockers are, again, in addition to membership.

Including parking that makes a UQ gym/cardio/pool membership as expensive as any of the other fitness clubs in Brisbane, if not more so. Classes at UQ cost even more, but are included at these other places as part of the membership fee.

Considering this latest increase in fees, it is just as affordable for me to go to a franchise gym like Fitness First, Zest, or Goodlife.

I wonder what the extra fees are contributing to? Social sport prices have increased dramatically in just the recent years and yet often in netball there are missing referees, in soccer there is no official ball to play with - we sometimes had to play with a barely pumped ball that a team brought, and prizes for winning (if any) are becoming less and less special. It's not difficult to do the maths of multiplying registration fees times the number of teams in all social sports and wonder where all this money is going to. I do realise that staff must be paid and field's lights are expensive to run, but they are paid for by the teams playing on the fields while they are being used - I know because we have also paid inordinate amounts of money at nights for our soccer team.

I urge UQ Sport to seriously reconsider raising its prices, or at least offer more than it currently does: update the equipment and maintain it more regularly and seriously; install air conditioning into the weights areas; offer free parking to gym members at certain times; offer free lockers to gym members. All of these would be a good start.

Sincerely,

Here's the reply. You'll notice she doesn't address anything specifically. Clearly a stock standard email. I've gone to the website as suggested and can't see any "refurbishment plans and purchases" as mentioned, but I'll keep looking.

SPOILT FOR CHOICE!



Dear Will





We at UQ SPORT are committed to providing you with an enjoyable and satisfying customer experience. We were delighted that you took the time to notify us of your concerns. Your comments, feedback and suggestions ensure that we strive to maintain the levels of service that we aspire to.



2007 will be the first year where we operate under the full impact of VSU (Voluntary Student Unionism), meaning that UQ Students no longer pay a Student Services Charge. This funding was previously used to build and maintain our wide range of sporting infrastructure while subsidising services traditionally aimed at the UQ student community.



UQ SPORT has been faced with a choice, to either compromise on quality or raise prices. After reviewing a variety of customer feedback the decision was made to raise prices. We believe that compromising the quality of your experience at UQ SPORT is not an acceptable option.



We would like to assure you that value for money is still at the forefront of our thinking and UQ SPORT is committed to delivering this. We invite you to visit our website which highlights our refurbishment plans and purchases for 2007 www.uqsport.uq.edu.au



Once again thank you, should you require further assistance in the future, please do not hesitate to contact me directly. We look forward to seeing you at the venues of UQ SPORT.



Kind regards



Fiona McAlister



Customer Service Manager

UQ SPORT

University of Queensland

Union Road, St Lucia

Q 4067

T: 07 3346 7266

E: fionam@uqsport.uq.edu.au

what price have they gone up to for a year membership?

Is this as far as you're going to go with this letter or are you actually going to send it to them?

Thats quite emotional.

he's actually going to send it, i think you're being far to nice about the equipment, the few times i've been with you the weights i wanted were taken by others and it wasnt very busy.. they're old and crappy and not in a hardcore kinda way... paying for parking is a joke, and i know from my goodlife days its $495 upfront 12mths student, don't have to pay for parking, free classes and pool, can use the other goodlifes...etc..

that reminds me of my dear gmail letter:

hi Gmail,
you guys are awesome, i wrote to you before, but you never got back to me.

i use gmail so much, ive filled up my 2792meg of space.

could i please have some more?

love
dave

that reminds me of my dear gmail letter:

Yep, i can see the similarities.

That reminds me of Saint's "Dear Sherrif" letter, I'll let him tell you all about that one.

The benches are satisfactory, but again, old and sometimes difficult to adjust. There is also no air conditioning. Where does the membership money go?

You should also ask where the millions of dollars of student fee’s have been going.

I wonder what the extra fees are contributing to?

The loss of millions of dollars of student fee’s each year.

Yeah I sent a short email to them a week or 2 ago...one of their surveys or whatever. Told them to install aircon but they wont. It's a f***ing joke it gets so hot in there over summer. Downstairs actually has a/c machines which they used a few years ago, but now they never turn em on. Not that there's anything worth going downstairs for anyway...

The machines are all ass. The left and right sides of them arent even even ffs.

And yes a lot of the benches are s***. Some of them are friggin slanty to one side it's rediculous and unsafe.

Parking fees are also a joke. I'm gonna email them again and tell em I'm ditching their asses for the above reasons.

Oi billy - post the email address u sent that to and i'll email em too. Maybe we can get everyone to flood em with complaints

And yes, year long membership holders should get a parking pass. Would be a good incentive to get more members too.

the few times i've been with you the weights i wanted were taken by others and it wasnt very busy.. they're old and crappy and not in a hardcore kinda way...

That's just cause you're so massive and lift the big boy weights. The bars and weights are old, but who cares - they're weights.

I wonder what the extra fees are contributing to?



The loss of millions of dollars of student fee’s each year.

If that's the case, they shouldn't be charging extra for UQ Sport membership. Fees are ridiculously expensive if you're not a member, and to be a member it's $50. They can't raise the price AND charge for membership all with the excuse of VSU.

Le Cock, I sent it to reception@uqsport.uq.edu.au - it was the most fitting address I could find. I'm sure it will be forwarded to the right person.

It costs me like $120 to become a UQ sport member because i go to QUT. So then i pay for gym membership on top of that.

All UQ students used to be UQ Sport members for free, i guess that's changed now too. f***ers.

These kind of services use to be subsidised by union fees and now that compulsory student unionism has been removed and they are planning for it by adjusting their fees.

What the fees actually go towards is anyones guess. Maybe towards sports scholarships or uni sporting teams but by the sounds if it, they aren't getting spent on the services that they are collected for.

I sent them an email about six months ago when they raised their fees. That time I complained about the fees and they said it's to adjust for VSU, and they won't change in the near future. Unfortunately I sent it from my work account which I can't get to right now so I can't use it to make them eat their own words.

Dear UQ Sport Management,

I am writing to you inform you my postcount has been incremented.

Sincerely,

cry more n00b

put it in livejournal

also VSU FTW!!!

I liked your letter, but I doubt it will help.

I reckon you should look around for another gym with air-con. FitnessFirst ones are good if you can get a student or discount rate. A little crowded at peak times though..

TBH, I really don't care about all the flaws of UQ gym. I do care that they are putting their rates up though.

One of the reason's they brought in VSU was because a lot of students were being unfairly charged to subsidise services such as sport, clubs, etc. From what I understand, up to half of previous union fees used to be allocated to UQ Sport and its associated clubs. Hence why it was a lot cheaper a few years ago. Now they aren't getting that massive influx of cash (say $60-$70 per student twice a year, across say 40,000 students) then naturally they won't be able to afford to maintain the equipment upkeep. And yes, the parking situation has always sucked at UQ.

You may as well find a commercial gym, you will probably get better value for money.

If that's the case, they shouldn't be charging extra for UQ Sport membership. Fees are ridiculously expensive if you're not a member, and to be a member it's $50. They can't raise the price AND charge for membership all with the excuse of VSU.

They have lost thousands of un-willing members because of VSU. I have this number ringing in my head that UQ had 26,000 full time students, UQ sport got paid 120 dollars a year from each of those full time students (per year) to do whatever UQ sports decided was a great idea. That equates to $3,120,000 annually that they didn’t have to work for, they just magically got.

All UQ sports did to plan for VSU was cry. Personally, I say go to a good gym and let UQ Sports DIAF.

VSU idiots

Dear Coca-Cola,

I paid 50c for a can of coke 10 years ago you are c***s for putting up the price. I'm sure your staff are happy to remain on the same wages for ever and that your manufacturing costs will remain the same even though inflation forces everything else associated with your business up. While you're still cheaper than everyone else by heaps I'm still going to write you a letter and sound like a sandy vagina.

Yours sincerely,

VSU idiots

I'm confused, are you pro or con VSU?

Well apparently before VSU, UQSport was run by monkies. They always lost money, and money would just "dissapear". This is what one of the coordinators told me. So now with VSU there's all this new management trying to turn the place into an actual viable business but they've been handicapped by the previous c***s not keeping the place up to date I guess. Still, we shouldnt have to wait another 5 years until we actually get a value for money service.

If there was another decent option for a gym in the western suburbs I'd take it, but there isn't. Don't even get me started on Fitness First.

man, that was always the problem with the student unions

i remember back in the early 90s when a bros mates ran the student union at UQ

it was a total rort
they just totally abused all the money they had
partys, alcohol, pizza all paid for with union fees

compulsory fees were always a bad idea

Yeh I've heard some shocking stories. A mate's girlfriend knew one of the union reps. The union rep offered to fly my mate's g/f down to sydney and put her up for a night so they could "attend a protest", all paid for with student money.

Yep. Those organisations like SECS and so forth are all rorts too. All the people on team just spend the money on booze every time they go out every week. f***ers.

VSU idiots

Please explain.

Here's my situation: I've been going to QUT since 2001 (first year full-time, part-time thereafter). For the first year I attended classes and used the gym at Carseldine. I did not care about having to pay union fee's because I was getting something out of it (wouldn't have paid if they were voluntary because I was a full-time student aka leech with no money). But nowadays I rarely step foot on campus unless it is to hand in an assignent or do an exam (don't use QUT gym, Queer Club or anything else)...why should I still have to pay union fee's?

Yeah I like VSU.

I don't use anything at my uni (QUT). And it pisses me off that i had to fund the "queer club". Get f***ed. I like the user-pay system. The issue here is that at uq gym we are now paying for a substandard service. I would have no problem paying the increased fees and parking cost if we got a service that was value for money.

Yo billy, at the openning of the green bridge they were handing out UQ Sport voucher pages (a page full of uq sport vouchers). One of the vouchers is "20% off 12month membership".

Try and get your hands on one of these to save yoself $100+ or whatever it is

What sort of bitch needs air con to work out?

You're meant to be uncomfortable.

yer, there was uq sport peeps everywhere on both sides of the bridge

What sort of bitch needs air con to work out?

You're meant to be uncomfortable.

I'd rather be uncomfortable from the weights not the heat. There's a crazy old guy at my gym who insists on turning off all the fans in the middle of summer. f*** him. I'd argue you can get more out of a weight training session if you're not dying from dehydration and heat stroke.

this reminds me of my dear die hard movie letter

dear die hard, you rock, especially that time when that guy falls off the building

dear diary..

WHY WONT HE CALL?!!!!!!!!!!!

lol

I spoke to a girl I know at UQ sport today. She said there's zero chance of getting aircon, but if enough people fill out those survey's they have online and also in the gym complaining about parking fees, they might be able to sort something out. But they need heaps of people to complain first so they can take it to UQ. So get whinging!

I spoke to a girl I know at UQ sport today. She said there's zero chance of getting aircon, but if enough people fill out those survey's they have online and also in the gym complaining about parking fees, they might be able to sort something out. But they need heaps of people to complain first so they can take it to UQ. So get whinging!

They'd need a fantastical sum of people to complain, to make UQ stand up and listen. UQ's defence, and rightfully so, will be "Maybe you should have thought of that when you were swimming in students money".

Could we take it to the Union? Is that something they can help out on?

Take your $$'s to fitness first - that'll show em.

Could we take it to the Union? Is that something they can help out on?

UQ Union and UQ Sports are two different entities. They also lost millions of dollars worth of revenue because they spent the last 2 years running around screaming "DOOMED! WE'RE ALL DOOMMMMMMMED! YOU ARE GOING TO LOSE THE ONLY PROFITABLE ASPECTS OF UQ UNION SO WE CAN KEEP THE QUEER CLUB OPEN!!!!!! DOOOMMMMMMMMMED" instead of planning ahead and working out how to combat the losses.

Of course, that assumes that UQ Union really did *anything* worthwhile. You'd be better off writing to Chancellors office and tell them that UQ Sports used to be a prized asset of UQ but now it is a second rate gym and you'd rather go to a PCYC because it is as good quality but much cheaper. Really push that you, and a whole bunch of people feel that it really effects the image of UQ locally.

Yeah the union and UQ Sport are now completely seperate as I understand it. I think the only way to have a chance at changing things is via the senate and they're the ones that want to stop UQ Sport running at a loss.... so good luck.

But isn't the Union meant to represent students on all issues, not just the ones they run?

The gym will be more profitable if they give free parking because it will entice more people to join

hahaha

But isn't the Union meant to represent students on all issues, not just the ones they run?

How keen do you think they'll be to represent a bunch of gym junkies that aren't currently giving them any money? I'd suggest a half arsed effort is the best you can hope for. Even if they were to support you what could they do other than complain?

The gym will be more profitable if they give free parking because it will entice more people to join

But the uni expects that money via UQ Traffic and Parking so who pays for it? UQ Sport via memberships? Remember 6 or 7 years ago parking was $60 for the whole year. Now that's gone up exponentially so the uni giving out free parking would really be going against the trend.

What if I join the union first:O

thats just crazy talk billy

I just read in "the Clothesline" ( http://www.uqsport.uq.edu.au/index.html?page=54878&pid=7100 ) that they have budgeted to replace some benches and bars...

2007 will be the first year where we operate under the full impact of VSU (Voluntary Student Unionism), meaning that UQ Students no longer pay a Student Services Charge. This funding was previously used to build and maintain our wide range of sporting infrastructure while subsidising services traditionally aimed at the UQ student community.

That's not entirely correct. As I mentioned earlier, they put their prices up at the START of 2006, despite VSU not starting till halfway through.

I thought student unions were for squandering money and giving tiny minorities like the "Disabled Black Jewish Aryan Single Mothers for the Protection of the Cane Toad" Club a couple of kegs, not for representing the majority of students real wants and needs ?

Who cares about the benches and olympic bars. The current benches to the job except the shaped one that inclines is all slanty so u don't use it. I think there's 2 of them actually.

Hopefully they don't bring in some gayed up "ergonomic" benches like at FF indro which are complete s***.

They should be spending the money on getting rid of all the s*** useless outdated busted machines.

Whoever is in charge of running purchases at UQ sport is a knob. I mean look at that monstrosity of a cable machine they recently installed upstairs. U can bet your ass it cost a fortune by the size of it, and the money could have been better spent on more useful/needed machines.

Yeh those benches are crap because of the wide seat, rather than the tapered end I find. Their shape is quite good for incline bench/shoulder press, but the seat makes them pretty gay.

I went to do cable x-over on the new machine yesterday but it was in use, so I used the old one near the leg weights area. One of the cables had the inner metal exposed in two places (which I'm pretty sure means it shouldn't be getting used at all) and as you pull the cables the resistance increases...

The only thing bad about VSU is that it didn't come in when I was at Uni.

UQ Sports sounds like a regular business now Billy, and if you're not getting value from a business then you're a consumer, shop elsewhere.

If the people running it really want to be competitive they might make a good case for capital expenditures from whoever now owns it (the University itself?). That's assuming that the goal isn't to prove that UQ Sports just isn't salvageable and to run it into the ground.

UQ Sports sounds like a regular business now Billy, and if you're not getting value from a business then you're a consumer, shop elsewhere.

Thumbs up icon

The only thing bad about VSU is that it didn't come in when I was at Uni.

I didn't really mind paying student fee's until I found out how my fee's where spent. I mean, I really don't care if "Homo's with Hearts" has a private room on campus to jerk off in, GO HOME YOU DIRTY POOFTERS!; or if the "s***tiest Actors at UQ Socity" needs money because people don't go to their presentations - TRY NOT BEING s***!.

I activily laughed when UQ Union reps held their "RIP UQ Union" day. I think I made some hippie slut cry.

If the people running it really want to be competitive they might make a good case for capital expenditures from whoever now owns it (the University itself?). That's assuming that the goal isn't to prove that UQ Sports just isn't salvageable and to run it into the ground.

The university doesn't run it, they just own the land (and possibly the buildings) that it's in.

Oh yeah I forgot to mention, they're getting rid of the powerlifter's club and knocking that wall down downstairs to join it up to the main gym.