Chuze Fitness — Attraction in Denver

Overall, the employees here are nice and do a great job.

The main reason I’m leaving this review is for the execution of the lift lab.

It’s tag line should read “Designed for lifters by people that have never lifted or worked out” which is a shame as it has a lot of potential.

Instead of being a place for lifters, it seems like instead it was designed either by AI or a sales rep who needed to hit their quota. Every piece of equipment is overpriced and performs worse than things that would have been significantly cheaper.

For example, looking at the barbells they spent extra money on Olympic weight lifting barbells that require more maintenance to keep up with the bearings. But because there is no knurling on the ends of the bar, it’s useful for weightlifting-the main purpose of spending more money on the bar.

Secondly, most people use them for squats and deadlifts but because there is no center knurling and it has a higher spin rate, these bars are worse for those two exercises.

In other words, they spent a few hundred extra on barbells to get a worse product. They could easily have gotten cheaper (and better) barbells.

Next is the platforms themselves, which seems like wood slapped together with horse stall mats from tractor supply. The wood already is shifting under your foot when squatting and I doubt the mats will last long either.

Then there are the 3 in 1 boxes, which are absolutely god awful. I get the intent, for multipurpose, except they’re horrible at everything they try to do. Too tall for split squats and hip thrusts, too unstable for plyo, and the durability is questionable at best. It would have been better off (and a lot cheaper!) to get an actual plyo box set, a split squat stand, and a hip thrust bench.

Next are the issues with the 45 lb plates-or lack thereof. For 6 plate loaded machines there are a total of 7 pairs, I’ve seen all of them being used when just 2 of those machines are being used which renders a lot of them useless. Again, another example that the people that designed this don’t actually workout at all.

Moving on to the cardio section, the Climbr machines I can understand, a company HQd in Denver, the only thing I don’t get is getting a Peloton version of a Versaclimber and putting in the serious lifting section, most people who would use aren’t going to venture in that area, as a result I hardly seeing them being used other than for 30 seconds at a time.

The woodway treadmills are the only thing I can agree with, but I worry about the longevity of them being that within a week one of the belts is already off the tracks and has yet to be fixed (have already told the front desk about it multiple times).

Now on the assault bikes, and the ones they picked are probably the worst ones on the market today. They break constantly (within a week one of the arms is bent and the other has a screw stripped) and will probably be like that every day. Not to mention a better one that is belt driven instead of chain driven is literally half the price.

Overall the lift lab is a huge disappointment, especially with all the hype around it. If they convert the rest of the CO gyms to having a lift lab, they need to make major changes. Again, it could be done a lot better-for a lot...

EDIT - Final review: Chuz is unwilling to refund the month of billing that should have never been charged. They are not reputable, they are just like planet fitness in terms of how hard it is to get out of contract, they nickel and dime, they are not a good gym. High Road Gym is a great alternative if you like good honest business.

Canceled and I’m still getting billed for membership. Called to make sure it gets refunded and was told they ‘have a 10 day policy’ and that they start the billing 10 days prior to the actual transaction date. As someone who works in payroll & banking I know it does not take 10 days for the transaction, that’s just a ‘gotcha’ clause to drive more revenue from gym goers who aren’t aware of this policy. A 3 days policy here makes sense, 10 days is a ‘gotcha’ clause.

Juan the manager and I originally got off on the wrong foot about it when we spoke, but we did come to see eye to eye and have a positive conversation overall about the issue. He is running it up the chain to see what can happen, but he did insist that his manager, Jordan, will not budge on policy.

It is my hope that Chuz will do the ethical thing and reverse the charge as it’s still pending. I joined Chuz because it seemed better than planet fitness with the contract madness gyms enact these days, but I fear Chuz is planet fitness 2.0 but hiding these policies in a contract that is read and signed on a POS system.

Chuz is the first big box gym I’ve used in many years, the last time was planet fitness and cancelling was a nightmare. Generally I only use small local gyms and I am now being reminded why.

Prior to being charge for another month of service, my overall experience of Chuz was well enough that I’d potentially use them again if I were in the area of one. I’m hoping that they will see that I have been a customer of two years on the highest level of membership and that I shouldn’t have to pay for four more weeks of a membership that won’t be used, especially considering I haven’t used it in the last three weeks due to my relocation, meaning I’ve paid nearly two months of membership without actually being able to use it.

As a salesmen, I’ve seen many companies implement policies they say are for ‘xyz’ reason, when it’s really just a way to drive more revenue by taking advantage of customers in ways customers wouldn’t expect, like a 10 day cancellation policy.

Chuz I am asking you refund the month of membership I was charged today since I cancelled a week ago and let you know I no longer live in the area. Anything short of a refund is in my eyes bad business policy, and bad stewardship towards your community of gym goers.

I intend to return to this review to update with the final verdict, and let you know if you’re signing up for a good gym with ethical practices or if it’s Planet...

EDIT/Response: I tried booking before class time and checked into the gym on time for class. I can’t be on time, I have to be early? And stopping to alert the front desk of an issue and do the right thing penalizes members? Besides that, the class was not team training or studio so there was no reason to be turned away by taking 5 minutes to troubleshoot with your team. Nowhere does it state in your rules or communications just how early I need to book. I can’t get a clear answer. 5 minutes? 20 minutes? It says simply anytime up until class which is what I tried to do (10 minutes before class) and was wrongfully turned away due to a glitch with YOUR app. Why should I book a class days before unnecessarily and risk getting charged for not showing up when I can book on my way to class? Btw the glitch didn’t happen again other than that day and allows me to book 10 minutes before like I have been doing for a year. Your response attempts to point blame in my direction to save face and brush the issue under the rug (how your staff handled the situation) but sadly this further confirms your lack of accountability and customer service so may be more systemic than one person…

Original Review: I been going to this gym for over a year now and love the fitness classes. I am however disappointed with the customer service I received and want to share a fair warning. I sent an email with all the details 2 weeks ago and got no response so don’t feel confident this was taken seriously or addressed. The reservation system was coming up with an error every time I tried to book 10 minutes before and up until class time. Instead of walking into class on time I thought it courteous to let the front desk know. After taking the time troubleshooting it was past my class time and was told sorry it’s too late to book you, you have to reserve an hour in advance next time (not true!). I was taken aback and was like ok does that mean I drove all the way here for my class and have to go home? Expecting her to say of course not and wave me into class. The I assume was the female manager or assistant manager that works on Sundays at 10AM instead said without too much fuss “Yes you can go home”. I was so furious instead of making a scene I followed her direction not attending my fitness class that I pay for that had at least 20 spots open because I was now 5 minutes late due to me alerting them to their system error…..ridiculous. People go in 5 minutes late if there are spots open all the time and are welcomed. Don’t go to the front desk and just go to your class if the reservation system is not working. They are highly unaware of their own policies and have poor customer...