LA Fitness — Attraction in Pompano Beach

ZERO-STAR REVIEW FOR LA FITNESS: NO COMPASSION FOR THE DISABLED & POOR PRICING

If you are considering gym membership at either YouFit or LA Fitness in Pompano Beach, I urge you first to spend five minutes and read this detailed review of both gyms.

I know five stars is the limit, but I’d give Pompano Beach YouFit General Manager Sean and his assistant Lilly both TEN STARS if I could!

I have an overweight adult disabled son, Brett Jr, who insisted on obtaining and using a gym membership. He must workout with a caretaker being present (I displayed legal guardianship paperwork, proving this requirement). Medicaid provides Brett Jr with a caretaker, Dajie, for 30 hours a week. I told Sean and Lilly that either Dajie or I would bring Brett Jr to his workouts, and asked if the person accompanying my son could also workout right beside him. Sean agreed. In addition, both Sean and Lilly said they would be extra kind to Brett Jr when he was at the gym.

It’s been nearly a month now since my son began his membership, and he and Dajie go to the gym five days a week. Brett Jr lost five pounds so far. Both Dajie and Brett Jr tell me that Sean and Lilly couldn't possibly be any nicer to them. Brett Jr now looks forward to going to YouFit, working out, continuing losing weight and seeing Sean and Lilly!

By contrast, I had first gone with Brett Jr and Dajie to the LA Fitness in Pompano Beach. LA Fitness’ General Manager, Joan, was incredibly ice cold and very pushy. I haven’t experienced such a classic high-pressure salesperson in decades, until this meeting with Joan of LA Fitness. She repeatedly told us to hurry up, because she had others waiting to see her. In fact, she rudely left us several times to address other situations. Joan told me “you can read the details of the contract AFTER you sign it, because we need to finish this up”. Joan also told me, “I will not treat your special needs son differently than anyone else who comes into this gym. There is no special treatment for any of our members” (I believe there are laws that state otherwise). In addition to the ice cold treatment of Brett Jr, Dajie and me, LA Fitness costs more than TEN TIMES the up-front cost ($161.30 at LA Fitness vs $15.90 at YouFit). Additionally, the basic LA Fitness membership monthly fee for Brett Jr and Dajie was going to cost $85.59 per month, as compared to YouFit’s deluxe membership for only $44.79 per month. At YouFit, they also assist Brett Jr with nutrition and allow him (and Dajie or me) to participate in any group event that is scheduled. In summary for LA Fitness of Pompano Beach, I give them ZERO STARS for their compassion for the disabled, and one-star for pricing, as...

DO NOT TRUST THE SALES STAFF HERE! These scumbags lied to my face and tried embarrassing and tricking me in front of my guest in an attempt to overcharge me something already on my membership. I brought a guest and was told I needed to pay extra each month on my membership to bring them even though I was certain I already had guest privileges. I signed up at another club in PA but I have national access. They would not budge and kept saying I didn't have it. I started getting pretty angry and the sales people just let us go for the day. They still didn't agree I had it on my membership.

The next day I found the agreement on my computer. GUEST PRIVILEGES is checked on the agreement. I went to another club nearby (Plantation) and the front desk just scanned my phone LA QR code to see it. I didn't even need to see a salesperson to sign a guest in (like the useless dude @ Pompano front desk directed us to). I didn't need to show the agreement. I have guest privileges already and I didn't need to pay extra on my membership. They just need to sign the waiver (the LA Fitness website also says this). I was shocked when they told me and they were confused when I told them what these people here tried doing.

How did you not know? The person in Plantation scanned my ID and it was right there. They knew I had it somehow. Being I was directed to a sales desk to someone who operates on commission they looked at me and determined I've never signed in a guest before, and didn't know what I was doing (which is true, and I definitely let on at first). Then, they decided to see if they could make me look cheap in front of my guest to see if I'd give in to make a quick buck for themselves. This is why they just let us go when I started getting mad. THEN they didn't even make my guest sign a waiver. So not only are they scamming scumbags, they are also negligent.

Don't believe the good reviews. Take note of the very large discrepancy in review counts of this location compared to other (older) ones nearby. As if they weren't already enough of disappointments as humans, they go even lower by asking people who signed up just that day/temporary members to leave good reviews for favors (statistically this isn't even the people using the gym). There's absolutely nothing special about this one. It's usually just more crowded and weights more...

Absurd that there are so many recent 5 star reviews for this place.

1. It's not clean. Nobody cleans the equipment properly. The carpet feels sticky.

2. The tools for patrons to clean up after using a machine or bench are just not available. I've worked at gyms before. I'm a gym rat. I also sweat a lot. When I finish an exercise, I expect to be able to find paper towels and cleaning supplies within 100 feet of the equipment I just used so that I can clean it. At this gym, I have never been able to find what I need to clean the equipment I've used.

3. Competely disorganized free weights. Nobody reracks here. Not the patrons, not the trainers, not management. Nobody. It's impossible for a patron to rerack properly because nothing is where it's supposed to be.

4. Attachments for cable machines are strewn all over the floor. This creates tripping hazards and makes it imposible to find what you need without sniffing around every machine looking for the proper grip for your exercise.

5. Kids club is sad and unprofessional. The first time I brought by kid there, there was one staff member. She asked my wife and I to 'watch the kids' while she went to the bathroom. She had never met us before. The room is small and overfilled with play structures, which means that the kids have very little space to run around.

6. This place is hugely overcrowded. Good luck getting a squat rack, a bench, or even some space on the floor to deadlift. And extra good luck finding the weights you need. They've got dumbbells from 5 pounds to 100 pounds, but seems like only one set of each, and most of the reasonable weight ranges seem to always be missing.

7. There's no real turf area. They have a small corner for 'stretching', but like everything else, it's always crowded when I show up.

I have been a member of many gyms, lots of them were pretty grimey martial arts gyms. Every single gym I've been a member of was better equipped, better staffed, and cleaner.

I'm willing to give this place another couple attempts, but it's looking like I'm about to enter the nightmare of trying to cancel an LA...