As an avid weightlifter and gym-goer of HAC for the last 5 years or so - Hereās a thorough and honest review. I have kept my mouth shut for years, and have stayed to support HAC and give them a chance through all of the hard times, but sadly the time has come to an end.
To whom it may concern:
Regarding the staff, the facility, and the environment at a high-level - it is clean and friendly. Generally no issues there, though thereās always going to be someone having a bad day or something going on. Some staff members are extra bright and even go above and beyond for you - like Morgan and Laura at the front desk.
However, the price of the facility is outrageous. They will advertise a lot to you included in the membership, but it is only partially true at-best.
Since the COVID pandemic, the demographics have changed. The amount of young and single gym-goers have emerged, while the amount of families has apparently reduced. The key takeaway is that the gym-goers is the population that is financially holding the place up. Yet sadly still, they are getting the short end of the stick. Even though they have voiced concerns for years.
The facility had āupgradesā and ārenovationsā - and they will surely let you know of it advertising the hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars they put into it. Although really there is not much of a difference in the changes they made. It was all a marketing scheme to combat the Edge opening.
They made the stretch area much smaller, added a bunch of new silly machines for stretching (a waste of money), and added a sort-of awkward turf and threw some new shiny equipment on there and sat back. They didnāt replace any of the real, much-needed equipment like the 8-stack down stairs, the benches, smith-machines, squat racks and more. They even got rid of a bunch of the more useful machines than of what they have now. It really makes no sense.
All of that to say, the equipment is limited in selection and mediocre at best - and thatās with every nut and bolt tightened, and every cable pully operating properly. The cable downstairs has been sticking for years and no one has done anything about it.
The message is simple : from a business perspective, the awful plan and decisions are not viable. The decision-makers are not competent and are very cheap. I truly feel bad for the place, and how bad the planning has been over the years. And all who will suffer from what is to come in the near-future.
If you classify yourself as an experienced lifter and are looking for a higher level training facility, this is NOT the gym for you. This is a family-first facility and will not meet your expectations for the price youāre paying.
In addition, there is a āgymnasiumā to be used. Though that gymnasium is occupied daily by children and classes, and even in the evenings by basketball and soccer. I even found on saturdays around noon the gym is being used by staff. That is HORRIBLE as thereās rarely ever a chance to even play basketball or anything (though itās advertised as included in your membership). Also, while thatās the case, there is not a single properly-inflated basketball to be used, and the equipment manager would put weighted items on all of the nice basketballs to ruin them. On top of putting too much air in them (heās silly and so is the person who decided to hire him). The solution is simple, add a sign-in or sign-out system with the nice basketballs behind the front desk.
Itās really sad what it has come down to - as I donāt know anyone at the top personally, but I have my sources of information and what the whispers behind the curtain. Itās almost as if it comes down to ego. Refusing to open perspective, refusing to listen, refusing to adapt to the new world, social media, and the demand of your people, is incredibly asinine as the owner of the ātop facility in DEā. Itās not 2010 anymore. If you donāt want to listen to the people who are holding your business up financially, you will face the consequences eventually. I wish HAC...
Ā Ā Ā Read moreMy family and I have been members at HAC since it opened. We have been very happy with the place. I have 3 children and we have been participating in the bundled classes for 6 years. They have gone through gymnastics, karate, and dance as well as have been members of the swim team for as long as we have joined. My kids also go to camp there every summer. Carla Lenderman and her camp staff are wonderful. My kids have tried other camps but LOVE HAC camp. This year they refused to go to any other camps than HAC. This year my daughter joined the dance team and has absolutely loved it. The instructors have been excellent. The dance instructors demonstrate dedication to not only the kids on the dance team but the kids in the bundled classes as well. Miss Angie and Miss Jen are very approachable whether by email or in person. I always get a response from them within a few hours. The gymnastics instructors are also excellent. Not the place to go if you want your child to be a competitive gymnast, but definitely the place to go if you want your kids to have fun. When my kids did karate they also had a great experience as well. Dave Mulvena who runs the youth sports is awesome. Great personality, loves kids. This year the swim team has a new coach, Steve Early. He is a great addition to the swim team. Great role model and instructor as well as encouraging coach. So now 6 years later we are still at HAC. Paln to stay at HAC as long as my kids...
Ā Ā Ā Read moreWe've always considered joining HAC -- many friends are members, but it is a bit of a hike for us (20 minute drive), so we never joined. However, we have enough friends who are members that we thought it was about time we check it out. We made plans to meet friends and even registered online for a day pass so we could see the facility.
As it turned out, when we arrived our friends were not there. Rather than return home, we thought we would check it out anyway -- after all, we were in the lobby with swimsuits, we had registered for the day pass, and we thought a customer service-oriented organization would want to put a good foot forward for potential customers.
Well, we were wrong. From the beginning the front desk was extremely condescending, as though we didn't belong. My wife tried to explain the situation to the desk (who didn't bother to check on the free pass), but apparently the front desk didn't think we would even consider membership. They gave us an ultimatum -- have our friends walk us in, or join. We weren't interested in joining immediately, especially not after this treatment, and this may just convince us it's not worthwhile. We have heard stories of the cliquey exclusivity of HAC, and this just confirmed the stories.
I suggest the front desk should receive training in customer service as well as be prepared to escalate a problem if they can't resolve it with a potential customer...
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