Mountainside Fitness Desert Ridge — Attraction in Phoenix

As a prospective gym member, I have never been treated so poorly by staff. Extremely rude, unwelcoming entitled teenagers with no common sense, no customer service skills with a “manager” title, or so they say. My husband belongs to the gym, I just moved to the area and now that we’re married I was thinking about changing my gym membership. I’ve been in as his guest a few times, however if I’m changing my gym membership I need to go on my own time to see if I like it. I went in 1 night & staff was talking about the election which I thought was inappropriate & unprofessional. The girl working took my information then told me I can workout while she does “research” & she needed to keep my ID. They act like they need to run a federal background check. I came back & she forgot who I was. I had to say I need my ID and I was trying to get the week pass. she goes “oh yeah you can’t get a week pass bc you’ve already had one” I said “no I haven’t been to this location, only as my husbands guest a few times” she said that I’ve had a passes at another location. I said “the last pass I remember having was in surprise about 10 years ago” and she nodded her head and said it doesn’t matter. I thought I’ll just call the general manager tomorrow, I’m shocked a gym wouldn’t give a prospective member a trial. Before I left she offers to upgrade my husbands account. I thought that was odd because he’s not even there with me to authorize that. Any girl that knows him could have come in and claimed him as her husband. Also, I don’t know who would feel comfortable just joining a gym that they haven’t been able to go to. The next day, before I had the chance to call, I was texted & emailed a QR code for a 5-day pass. I thought okay maybe the manager looked at it and had some common sense. I went in two nights in a row, scanned the pass, no issues, just worked out. On Saturday morning I went in with my husband, scanned the pass and the front desk said it’s not registered and I need to talk to member services, so take a seat until they are ready. This kid comes up to me, he seemed put off and not interested in helping. Barely greeted me. he asked for my drivers license, I didn’t have it bc my husband drove me and they’ve already seen my id what on earth would I need it for? Told him I didn’t have it and he gives me ideas to go check in the car. I sarcastically told him “I thought it was racist these days to ID people.” I’m here to workout why am I getting such a hard time? I ended up being able to find a photo of it on phone, and this kid is looking at it INTENSELY! Like zooming in and reading everything on it. Hilarious. Then we go to his desk and he sits down & he tells me I can’t get a 5-day pass since I’ve had one years ago at another location, then he proceeded to say “we can just upgrade your husbands account now.” Again, my husband wasn’t at the desk with me so why they would authorize that without his presence is shocking to me. I laughed & said “no I need to talk to my husband and I’m not joining a gym I haven’t been able to try out.” The conversation was useless, he was nothing but rude. He said I can do a day pass as my husbands guest day but that I needed to go find my husband who was already working out so that this kid “manager” can double verify that he’s here. We literally walked in together and this kid had my husbands account pulled up, he couldn’t see that my husband scanned in?? If I was alone or if there was something else to do in the parking lot I would have just left and waited for my husband to finish his workout. I was actually sick to my stomach from how rudely I was treated. You lost $40 a month on someone who was looking to sign a membership. The club is decent but there are plenty of other better gyms out there for a better price. Also very limited lighter weights for the gym girlies. If you look up the mountainside corporate office there’s a TON of terrible reviews, they don’t care about...

We spoke with multiple staff members over the course of several weeks expressing our concern and frustration about the overall lack of cleanliness of the facility, access to cleaning wipes for guests and confusing signage in regards to what the Arizona Requirements are for Indoor Gyms/Fitness Clubs /Centers. It was suggested by one of the employees to email the general manager, Danielle H. I emailed her twice within a 2 1/2 week period; zero response, zero acknowledgment. I emailed corporate with a general inquiry on who I could email regarding our concerns about the facility. After receiving a fairly fast response from Megan M, I proceeded to thank her for the quick response and included the same email that was sent to Danielle H. After not hearing anything for over a week from Megan M, I emailed her a second time. Once again, no response and no acknowledgment.

My email is as follows.

We have spoken to multiple staff members over the last several weeks expressing our concern and frustration about the overall lack of cleanliness of the facility, access to cleaning wipes for guests and confusing signage in regards to what the Arizona Requirements are for Indoor Gyms/Fitness Clubs/Centers.

For the cost of our monthly membership and annual fee, we should see staff cleaning far more often, ensuring guests have access to cleaning wipes and/or supplies in addition to more cleaning stations. There is only one wipe station for the entire west wall of the free weight and squat section. This particular cleaning station and quite a few others are more often that not empty. When the cleaning stations are empty, guests generally don't wipe the equipment.

In regards to the health and well being of your guests, the signs posted throughout your facility need to be clear, consistent and accurate according to Arizona State Law. I have attached the Arizona Requirements for Indoor Gyms/Fitness Clubs/Centers for your review; specifically, page 5, section "Protect yourself while visiting gyms", bullet point "Your are required to wear a mask while at the facility". Reads as follows;

In accordance with CDC guidelines, individuals who are engaged in high intensity activities, like running, may not be able to wear a mask if it causes difficulty breathing. If unable to wear a mask, these individuals should not participate in activities conducted at indoor gyms and fitness centers.

After canceling our memberships today, we received 3 emails that had your Membership Cancel Request Forms attached. This form has 3 questions that I should have been asked by Garrett when canceling. The answers are filled out as if I answered them myself. I find this bothersome as I was not asked or informed of any questions or cancellation survey at the time I was canceling our membership nor did I authorize anyone else to answer them for me. Correct answers are as follows;

My experience - 4 Return to MS - low probability unless changes are made Keep us as members - low probability unless changes are made

We had previously enjoyed working out at the Desert Ridge Mountainside and are disappointed that we had to cancel our memberships after feeling we were not being...

BEWARE of Personal Training Contracts. Let me start by saying that I had been a Mountainside member on and off for 7 years. I even kept my membership during Covid while I wasn’t going. I struggle at times getting to the gym and don’t always prioritize it I typically keep the membership so it gives me incentive to go.

With that said, I tried a Personal trainer to help with my motivation. I don’t remember getting a copy of the contract when I signed up . I think it was done on their computer. And I was never emailed the contract. I committed to 6 months of personal training and I was never told verbally about the termination conditions. I struggled with it and probably only used three months of sessions. I assumed that they would bill me for the other 3 months that I committed to. BUT, they billed me for another 6 months after that. I was never called and never notified that I was going to be billed after my 6 months commitment.

They sent me the contract after I finally cancelled. Their contract says it goes month to month after the 6 month period and I would have to cancel in Person in order for the billing to stop. It didn’t matter that I wasn’t using the sessions or that I wasn’t aware of this condition in the contract.

I contacted the Manager of personal training and he was unwilling to do anything different or provide any concessions.

While contractually they may have the right to continue billing me, it just isn’t good business to try to bill for services that aren’t being used. I could never join Mountainside ever again. Here I come Lifetime.

Just a note. They responded and said they were shocked and wanted me to call them. So I did. The number they gave me was the number for the club itself and they said they would have the manager of fitness call me. He never did. I'm...