Max Fitness Aiken — Attraction in Aiken County

DO NOT BECOME A MEMBER OF GOLD'S GYM! I REPEAT, DO NOT BECOME A MEMBER OF GOLD'S GYM! I've had the worst experience of my life dealing with this unprofessional gym. If I could give it zero stars then I most definitely would. I am a student at USCA and I usually use our wellness center to work out, but unfortunately they were closed when I got off of work on Sunday. I proceeded to call Gold's Gym to see if they had a one day pass just for that day. While being impatient and trying to get my workout in before they closed at 8pm, I met an associate there named Micheal Knight. He proposed the week pass and then he proposed a 45 day trail for $1.00. I agreed due to the fact that I get off pretty late and I wanted to see if I liked the gym to become a potential a member. Micheal asked if I liked to pay the $1.00 now or wait because some people wait. I didn't wait and I paid with my debit card. When signing my signature I thought it was for processing my $1.00 as credit. A week passed and a total of $29.99 came out of my bank account from Gold's Gym. I was absolutely confused because I thought I signed up for the 45 day trail for $1.00. I called the gym and talked with Micheal and he sounded really concerned. He said he was confused on why it came out of my account and in the computer it says 45 days for a $1.00. He then said I will call the number and see why this has happened and he asked when would I like to make the payment. I said I didn't want to make a payment because I was unsure on why money came out of my account when I'm not even a member. He said he would have given me a call back, but I never got a call back. I continued to call the gym and I missed out on Micheal. A week later I called Gold's Gym and I talked to a young lady by the name of Jordan and I told her that I wanted to get a refund of my $29.99 and she said it was for my monthly membership. Again, I'm confused because I didn't sign up for a membership, just a trail. She then proceeded to inform me that I have a 2 year contract with GOLD'S GYM!!! WHAT!? When I did have the 45 day trail Micheal contacted me personally to welcome me into the gym. I texted him to inform him on what happened and I called him when he got in at 12 on Monday. Micheal said he never signed me up for a 45 day trail and that there was no such thing and that I knew what I was signing when I was signing it. He also said he never spoke to me on the phone. That same day I went in to talk to the General Manager named Mitch. Mitch asked me "When you saw that it was a contract why didn't you say anything about it then?" " It's nothing I can do about it, I will have to talk to Lauren who runs all the gyms in the Aiken-Augusta area. To clarify I didn't know I had a contract, I thought Micheal gave me just a regular membership paper. I'm only 18 I've never seen a contract a day in my life. The folder did have the contract and it had the gym's schedule as well as activities that were going on this month. Mitch also told me that Lauren's office wasn't in the facility and that it was located somewhere else. Micheal gave me a number to call, which was Lauren's number and it continued to go to voicemail, I did leave a voicemail, but she never contacted me back. The next morning I went into Gold's Gym and I saw Mitch inside of Lauren's office, which he told me that it was located elsewhere. When I did talk to Mitch he didn't seem concerned at all about how I felt being 18 years old and having a contract. Fortunately, my contract did get cancelled and Gold's Gym is behind me. Please think twice before becomeing a member at Gold's Gym. I understand everyone makes a commission at places like this and I guess I was a easy target for Micheal that day and they can keep the $29.99 as long as I'm out of the contract and never have to deal with Gold's...

I want to preface my review by saying my husband and I just moved to Aiken in December, and I initially purchased a membership at the O'Dell Weeks community gym as it's close to our residence. Someone recommended we check out Max Fitness, as they have classes, a sauna, a pool, etc. - Simply put, many more amenities than what the community gym offers.

In the handful of months that we've been coming to this gym, I see the same (and additional) equipment continually out of service, trash on the floor in the Ladies Only gym area, weights and workout equipment ALWAYS in a dissaray (I thought employees typically took care of this?), and even the paper towel dispensers and spray bottles of disinfectany are broken/non-functional 90% of the time. Yes, down to the spray bottles - which is pretty disgusting and unsanitary if folks can't even wipe their sweat from the equipment. Not sure if there's a health code or something associated with that, but it's really starting to gross me out. Additionally, I was out of town for a few weeks, and upon returning, it seems the A/C in the Ladies Only gym area isn't working. It feels like I'm working out outside in the 90° heat. Not sure how long that's been going on, but it's pretty miserable (but, on the bright side, I get a gnarly sweat on 😂).

Not to mention, some of the front desk folks can be really hit or miss - some are very friendly, and some look as if they'd rather be sleeping or fully absorbed in their phones. 🤷‍♀️

My husband and I have enjoyed Jody's classes (she's a hoot - two stars are for her!), and I'm thankful for the ocassional hot sauna (which also usually has trash inside and looks in dire need of a cleaning), but I definitely - and unfortunately- wouldn't suggest this gym to others.

The community gym may be small, but at least I feel like they take pride in their facility and keep it in clean, working order, and the employees are always kind and welcoming. The main reason my husband and I joined this gym is because they had an apparent "screaming deal" for SRS employees on a year-long membership for both of us, but it really makes me wonder... iif they're charging an arm and a leg for normal memberships, why are those funds not reflecting in the quality of their gym? 🤔

I really don't love leaving this review, but after bringing up these concerns to the folks at the front desk multiple times, I'd feel even worse not sharing it for potential gym-goers to read ahead of time.

I'll still come to this gym, but my experience has been far lower than my original expectations. Please, Max Fitness, do something about these issues, and don't keep brushing them off.

Quick Edit When I told the front desk gal (I forget her name but she's always nice!) that the paper towel dispenser and sanitizer bottle are still broken - since last week - she said she'd make note of it (as did the gal last week), and then she said something like, "I'm pretty sure he has those ordered." I'm not sure how that process goes, but...I'm pretty sure I can go buy those at the dollar store for super cheap. Like...I will LITERALLY go buy them for the gym if it means we all get to use sanitizer on a regular basis...Is that at all appropriate, or should I just...

On Friday 8/29/25, I decided to go to the gym around 8:45 am to do body pump. When I went into the gym I saw people I knew and was excited to see Ron the gym manger. Now I've been with gold's which turned to Max fitness a few years ago for 3 years as a member. The reason for this review is based on the unprofessional conduct the gym owner displayed. I asked him about the guest pass and asked him if the week pass is similar. I showed him the policy on the website, looking around left and right he says that's for those that never been to the gym. I told him truthfully that I already had another gym but wanted to come back because I've been a member for years. His response was, since I'm not a member and the pass that was given to me is not legit because it wasn't filled out properly. He ripped it in front of me said that I'm not allowed in the gym since I'm not going to join as member which the pass he ripped was good for another week then interrogates me asking me repeatedly who gave you this pass and I told him didn't know but made me feel uneasy because he continued to ask me and then said since I won't tell him then he can't work out anything with me. Then finishes by saying I've spent too much time on this and ignores me. So what I did to make the experience less awkward is ask him if he cares if I share why I'm here and he said I was done listening a long time ago so I said thank you and I reached my hand out for him to shake it. So I understand he's running a business but why didn't he take the time to care for me especially if the gym policy states that? I was not happy with the way I was treated because I was obviously interested in the gym to be there again but the experience made it rather difficult for me to consider going back. There was more to mention about how poorly I was treated, being a member for years means nothing I guess but I think my point is if you aren't trying to join or be a member then it doesn't matter what the situation is he will not listen to you. He's not interested in members satisfaction. I don't want anyone else to go through what I went through it was...