LA Fitness — Attraction in Paramus

Stay away from the personal trainer sessions. Their lack of integrity and honesty is shameful. This is why so many businesses end up going out of business.

I'll be as specific as possible to try to save others from being bamboozled by their sales tactics when signing up. My family and I signed up for the personal trainer 3 months ago. And at the moment of signing up we said we would sign up for 3 months to get us going and we were assured that cancelation would not be an issue. I specifically mentioned how we wouldn't want cancelation to a problem because we knew we would not be with a trainer for 1 year.

The counselor (sales) assured us no it won't be a problem and that our contract ia month to month. Today, 3 months later when I went to cancel, the manager says you cannot cancel unless it's for the following three reasons.

Medical condition You moved Financial hardship.

Or you have to pay half of the remaining contract.

I explained how we were not informed of these conditions for cancelation. He proceeded to tell us that it does not matter what the counselor told us because it was stated in the 12 page document we signed. He stated that the fact the counselor conceled those 3 details for cancelation does not mean he lied, simply he retained information.... how silly of me to think honesty and integrity were fundamental to business success. I shouldve read the fine print. This is on me.

The manager then offered a work a around. He said. Get a prepaid card and ill update the file so you can't be charged anymore. I said but I would still be responsible and my credit would be hurt. He assured me they don't report to credit agencies. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me type scenario.

The 2nd option he gave was to claim financial hardship and send a letter saying my wife lost her job and he would submit my letter as proof... unreal.

The fact they have a deceitful solution to their deceit is even more astonishing and speaks volumes of their salesmanship and management.

I asked how often they deal with type of cancelation issue and he said regularly. I said don't you think this is a problem? And this reflects poorly on you as a manager. He said, everyone goes through the corporate training... makes me wonder if they are trained to conceal information, be deceitful and malicious in their intent to earn commission while they sign up folks looking to better their health.

Proceed with caution with such predatory way of doing business.

I'll update you all after I follow up...

This place has seriously gone down hill. I've been coming here two years now and the facilities and experience have gotten bad enough that I am cancelling my membership.

This gym is very, very busy. Even off hours there's greater than 60-70% capacity present, but at evening rush it's knocking on the door of 100%. You will probably have to wait for a bench, a machine, easy bar, or whatever it is that you need at that moment. If you're doing warmup, all of the pad space in the warmup studio will be taken. If you just want to do a run, every treadmill will be taken. Is this the gym’s fault? Yup. Most memberships are sold with a generous guest policy which means there are a lot of tag-alongs. I understand now why many other gyms don’t have guesting privs or severely limit them to one or two entries per month.

Aside from the crowding, the general clientele are extremely rude. There are a lot of early college aged kids who act like this place is their friend's dad’s gym basement, crowing up the bench area and very very loudly cheering on their friends as they do 1 rep. The staff make zero effort to stop this or enforce the rules generally. I have been asked to “work in” with someone many times, only for them to throw a temper tantrum when I say no (sorry, I don’t even know you?). I have had machines stolen from me numerous times when I made it clear I was waiting.

The facilities are not well kept. They recently re-did the carpet, but honestly the entire facility needs renovation. The ceiling tiles are stained from years of water damage (especially in the warmup studio). The locker rooms have a perpetual wet, humid smell that other gym’s I’ve been to don’t seem to have. The pool and spa are very frequently closed all day for maintenance. The filters on the water fountains are never changed so they flow rate is nothing more than a trickle. Many of the strength machines are missing weight pins, rendering them useless. Every treadmill cupholder has either trash or a nasty layer of grime in it. Again, other gym’s I’ve been to (even major chains) don’t have this level of oversight.

Lastly, sin of sins: no weight is ever in the right spot. Gym management make no effort to reset or tidy the weight sets. They always looks like the lost baggage claim at a major airport. Again, pretty much every other gym in the area has this figured out.

Would not recommend. Do what I should have done to start with and find a local, independently owned gym. They seem to do a...

Before joining LA Fitness I've heard through others that it was a great gym. When I signed up, I realized this place falls way short of great. First, there are no controls in place from people stealing the pins for the machines and I've spent 5-10 min at times looking for one and ultimately cooling down. That is a major distraction to a workout. Then, there are times when there are no paper towels at any of the stations. Other times you can never find the weights or triceps ropes you need. I began carrying a small bag on the gym floor with my own pin, towel and tricep ropes. BUT the last straw was when I became disabled. I haven't been able to workout since March due to multiple surgeries so in May I put a freeze on my account which I was told would be for 5 months. In Sept I had another surgery and then LA Fitness tried to bill me in Oct. Turned out I got a new credit card and it didn't go through. Now I receive calls, emails and texts daily telling me to pay my balance. I never did receive a reminder notice that my payment was coming due nor do I have the capacity to worry about my gym membership when my health is a concern. After calling my the accounts team, my local LA Fitness and finally member services, they tell me that I have no choice but to pay. I must pay them the monthly $47 in order to cancel my membership or I can refreeze the account at $10 per month! That is an awful business model. I'm medically disabled, have a reduced salary at the moment and rather than keep me as a member when I return in the next few months they rather unethically squeeze out every dollar they can. So either I freeze my gym membership or I pay the $47 otherwise I will continue to incur $47 charges every month for something I'm not using. LA Fitness, FYI It's better to just cancel my membership and cut your losses because I will NEVER pay for something I don't use. Save yourself the time! Oh and after reading other reviews, I completely agree that the men's locker room...