Mountainside Fitness Happy Valley — Attraction in Phoenix

The gym is organized and clean. The staff is friendly enough. The classes are where they lack. There aren't consistently good classes. Additionally, the way they schedule classes makes no sense. They will have classes starting at weird times and they will have other group exercises classes start before these classes end. If they would put the classes on top of the hour, it would allow everyone to go to whatever class they wanted. Additionally, if the classes were 55 minutes, it would allow time for the switch between one class/instructor and another. Same as the Carefree location, no one cares to listen.

During popular classes the group exercise room is always out of 8 lb, 10 lb, and 12 lb weights.

The spin instructors are ok. There's only one instructor who doesn't try to break your ear drum. Her class is actually decent but she is on the shy side and maybe new. She doesn't seem confident to rule the class and tell us what to do. She can really take her classes far if she would change her mellow demeanor and if she would create planned courses for the class.

The studio cycle classes aka soul cycle are not worth the time. They can freely be replaced by regular spin classes.

I don't understand this lanyard business. They start handing out lanyards for cycle classes 30 minutes prior to start of class. For some classes, there's a line near the front desk waiting for the 30 minute call. It's a waste of our precious time and disrupts the flow of the day. If we're in a class prior, we have to leave in the middle in order to pick up a lanyard. If we're in the middle of a workout already, same thing.

There is a better way. If their computer systems/apps aren't yet capable of taking reservations as they do with peak performance classes, they should have a list where we call in to reserve the class 24 to 48 hours before. In other gyms, you call and make a reservation and you have up until 2 minutes before class to show up and pick your bike. Traffic or a minor issue in the morning can stop a regular attendee from being able to take their class and someone who was just lucky gets to take their place. You have to rush to get there 30 minutes before and then waste time either on machines you don't want to be on or chit chatting like most people do.

One muscle instructor is actually good.

For the money we pay, they should make the instructors, especially spin instructors, attend regular training by top instructors so that they can be up to date.

In the past I've had instructors who worked very hard on their class plan and made us work so hard that each time we asked each other if the class was actually harder...

Do not sign up for training services here! My wife attended this gym and received training services, which she enjoyed, for many months. She, unfortunately faced some unrelated health issues that was going to prevent her from continuing. The fitness manager, Stephen, convinced my wife to sign up for a new agreement with a start date 3 months later by offering a reduced monthly payment plan, in hopes she would be over her health issues. One month prior to the start date of that agreement, my wife submitted the cancel request form to the gym, which they lost...fortunately, we had a copy. We were still charged for the first month of the agreement (they originally tried to say they never 'approved' the cancellation request, therefore service was never cancelled). When I requested a refund, they told me, per the agreement, we were responsible for 25% of the remaining value of the agreement. I reluctantly agreed since it was stated clearly in the contract. The total value of this agreement was $720; 25% of that would have been $180, I was charged $240 for the monthly dues. I expected a $60 refund. When I asked for it, they changed their story and said the first month was charged and the 25% fee would be for the remaining two months of service, an additional $120 on top of the $240 BUT they would consider the $240 as the buyout payment. Keep in mind my wife received 0 services on this agreement. After spending way too much time and energy on this, never getting a call back when I was told and continually having to follow up and leave messages, I decided this wasn't worth $60 and told them to keep it and we wouldn't be back. Terrible customer service and a terrible experience! Mountainside, please don't try to respond now to make it better and ask for 5-stars. ...

I had a major surgery that compromised my immune system as well as would keep me from any type of major activity (working out) for an unknown length of time. Since March 2020, I have called over and over, left messages and given the run around where the Happy Valley gym said I needed to contact Corporate to cancel if I couldn't come in personally. Corporate said they were freezing accounts during COVID anyway, so no worries they would contact me again to discuss after COVID. I never received a call, however, they did start charging me again. I called Corporate again only to be told that I needed to contact the Happy Valley office where I signed up. This run around went on until I was told by the management of Happy Valley that they would review a letter from me IF I mailed it certified mail, which I would need to go in person to the post office, or sign up for an in home service with the postal service for this one letter. In the meantime, I was told by a military friend that they had no problem cancelling their membership. I'm STILL being charged. This has been going on since March of 2020. I have also reported them to the BBB but they have yet to respond, and had no problem charging me again! Do NOT sign up with this place! -- Then I get a response that says they are SHOCKED to hear my review yet they STILL give me the run around when I contact them, they STILL charge me for a membership I've been trying to cancel for a YEAR! If you look at the BBB site there are many comments just like mine. Once they get your membership they won't cancel it! Also, they make the auto charge show as a phone charge so the credit card company can't stop the payment for the auto charge so you have to...