Princeton Club - West — Attraction in Madison

I have been a member for about 4 years now. I would have gone with something slightly cheaper like Anytime Fitness, but PC has three things combined that most other gyms and clubs in the area don't have: pools, hot tubs, and 24 hour access.

If you don't need or want those things, I recommend the slightly cheaper membership to Princeton Club Xpress. Those locations have a decent selection of equipment and very nice showers/bathrooms. They also typically save you a few minutes on just getting in and out.

If you want a full membership that includes a pool at each of the main locations plus hot tub, steam room, sauna, and (at this location) a current pool, a PC membership is probably your best option in the area.

The good:

The equipment selection is pretty good overall. It is fairly well maintained compared to other places I've been.

The pool is a foot deeper than the pool at the East location and usually 1 degree cooler (82 degrees vs. 83 degrees). For those who worry about internal temp or dislike scraping the bottom needlessly, those two things are positives. Having the current pool is nice in case all the lanes in the pool are in use. The jets in the hot tub are pretty strong, so you can get a very good water massage while using the hot tub.

The men's locker room is spacious, with plenty of urinals and bathroom stalls. It's nice having full size lockers, but they also have some that are 2-up half size.

The bad:

There are only two "bad" items over which I think they can have some control.

First, I think management and staff could be a little more proactive in enforcing rules and encouraging good etiquette. Perhaps include that discussion when new members sign up? I am sure some of that is in the membership documents, but I doubt anyone reads any of it.

The second bad item is the scheduling of classes in the pool. It is a bit challenging to get my swimming in when all classes occur at the time I would prefer to be in the pool. Most classes at both locations take place between 8 and 10am and 6 and 7pm on weekdays. Between other classes and the family swims on the weekends, the pools are usually a no-go from 9am to noon on Saturday and noon to 3pm on Sunday.

The rest of these bad items are things I am sure one would have to deal with anywhere - they are the result of the generally poor etiquette and lack of common courtesy that exist in our society today.

Free weight and weight machine etiquette is terrible at this location. If you are centrally located or find yourself on the east side, I recommend going to the East location or an Xpress location if weight training is your only goal for the day. It seems that the people who lift at East are much more serious and more assertive about getting everyone to use proper etiquette.

At West, people leave plates on without making it obvious they are finished. That lack of etiquette extends to not wiping equipment down after use. It makes it very hard to know when equipment is open. This leads to people getting annoyed when you do start to use equipment you know has been abandoned for a period of time. Are they saving the equipment by leaving plates on it? Another common occurrence is people playing with their phones/iPods for extended periods of time - difficult to tell whether they are resting between sets or just being oblivious and rude. Dumbells, clips, and weight plates are just left strewn about.

The next "bad" item is pool, hot tub, steam room, and sauna etiquette.

Relatively few members bother to take a shower (or at least rinse off) before entering the pool or hot tub. When it is obvious, I will usually call people out on it. Many folks will hit the steam room to generate a nice sweat before jumping right in the pool or hot tub. There is an elderly douchebag who does this 6 or 7 times in sequence. He'll hit the steam room for 10 minutes, then belly flop/dive in the pool (diving is not allowed), then repeat 5 or 6 more times without rinsing off. I thought he at least showered before entering the area, but I realized later he doesn't...

Women, girls, and families are not safe from criminal harassment, photography, video recording or worse at Princeton Club. My daughter and I were criminally harassed and video recorded by three boys, relentlessly, in the Princeton Club pool room. Not only was this situation intensely disturbing and poorly handled by the lone Princeton Club employee present at the Princeton Club west-side facility that evening, but the Princeton Club Vice President and General Manager, Peter Gary, has done nothing about this situation since

These three teen boys began with verbal harassment and continued by video recording us reacting to their harassment in the pool. It took 3 phone calls by me to the front desk and a threat to call the police if Princeton Club did nothing, before Brandon, the only Princeton Club employee on the entire premises, came to the pool room to address the situation, leaving the front desk and the rest of the facility unattended. He asked the boys to leave the pool room (he told me later) and then he walked away himself without making sure his request was honored by the boys. Bolstered by effectively getting away with their criminal behavior the boys continued loitering in the pool room, not using the facilities, instead staying there with no purpose other than to stand around harassing my daughter and I further. My daughter left in tears, in fear of the boys' posting videos and pictures to social media, and I left to inform Princeton Club of their failure to rectify the situation. The boys followed me, continuing their harassment, until they realized I was going to the front desk.

It took a week for the General Manager to even call me about the situation. I emailed him details and then talked to him at length about what occurred. He confirmed to me he saw this in the security footage of the pool room. He promised to investigate and talk to the parents and get back to me. I told Peter I wanted a clear confirmation from the parents through him that the videos and pictures the boys took would not be posted to social media and had been deleted. No phone call, no email, and no written letter have ever arrived from Peter. No contact whatsoever. No follow-up, no assurance about the videos and pictures, no indication that the boys were disciplined.

Women, girls, and families are not safe from criminal harassment, photography, video recording or worse at Princeton Club. Princeton Club does not have adequate staff at its facilities to enforce its own club rules to keep patrons safe, or to address the situation when they are notified of violations of the law or club rules. And Princeton Club's management does not take the resulting problems seriously enough to address them and to learn from past failures to keep their...

I have been extremely frustrated with the helpfulness of the Princeton club staff over the last few years. After moving from the west side to the east side I have reached out to them multiple times asking them to send me email updates and closures about the east side, but I still continue to only get updates on the west side. They also don't post all of their special events on the website, so I can't know about things like court closures unless I call before I go. They post the closure only a week ahead of time by the front desk which doesn't always fit in my schedule. In addition there have been multiple times I have been told the courts would be open at a certain time after an event the previous night only to drive to the gym and find it is still closed. This happened again this Sunday morning. I called at 630 am and they told me it would be open at 730, 8 at the latest. I arrived to be told it wouldn't be until at least 1030, so now I can't do my planned work out and have wasted part of my morning again. The front desk staff told me that nobody else is available for me to talk to about my concerns and that she is the only one there. I have spoken to east side management in the past and they have told me I can't cancel since I enrolled at west side and thus need to talk to them. West side tells me I can't cancel unless I have a medical reason and that they are sending me their updates via email. Very poor coordination for what is supposed to be a shared membership, that was supposed to be part of the value of the membership. I will be calling again to see if I can cancel after this latest occurrence. Beyond frustrated.

I shared this review with the east side and they again told me they are sorry but can't do anything since I enrolled on west side, again showing the lack of coordination. Not even an attempt to help the situation or talk to me. As I left on Sunday I was given a number to call and left a voicemail, but nobody ever called me back about my concerns! I was told the person would be available at noon. Part of the contract was that there is shared access to all of the Princeton club gyms, but they continue to do this and make it hard for me to use their facilities. No action other than them saying "I'm sorry" has yet been done by them to hold up their end of the contract, but they have no problem taking my money every month. I will repeat here that I want to cancel my membership! Princeton club is not holding up their end of the bargain, and there is no good faith effort to remedy...