Portland Rock Gym - Northeast — Attraction in Portland

I have been a member of PRG for several years. 90% of the staff are amazing, super friendly and helpful. The routes are pretty fantastic. The community is wonderful and some have become my closest friends.

I have been quite disappointed the last many months. The owner decided to build another location (Beaverton) and that it just had to be the largest climbing gym in the country. I don’t know why, I suppose for recognition or bragging rights, but to me that sounds like the goal of a narcissist. The original location (Portland) has completely taken a backseat in the last year while the 2nd was being completed. There aren’t enough setters to work both places, (not their fault) hence Portland waiting months on end for old routes to get changed out. The cleanliness of Portland has really gone downhill; in many places it looks as though the carpet hasn’t been vacuumed for weeks and the locker rooms are constantly dirty. Some of the walls were resurfaced a while back while others have spots exposed down to the wood. I have gotten splinters due to this and witnessed the same happening to other climbers. In exchange for all these wonderful things at the Portland location, we now have the luxury of paying $20 more per month than we were paying earlier just this year! I had heard around the gym last year that membership rates were going to increase due to the owner needing the means to pay for the new location. I was discussing this with some of the staff and the owner’s son overheard and said, “Where did you hear that? That is absolutely not true. That is not happening.” He straight up lied to my face.

They just had a Black Friday special if you purchased an annual membership. Even though they offered it in the past, mine did not qualify because I have the early bird membership (before 3pm). I was informed this is because it’s already discounted. Yep, because I only have access to the gym half the day. So on top of the huge increases over the last several months, I was not offered the Black Friday special.

The Portland location is very accessible to me since it’s about a 15 minute walk from my home. I have not been to Beaverton yet and plan to go rarely, if ever. I don’t have the time to fight 26 traffic yet I’m paying for a gym I will probably never use. They really should have more options for memberships; one for each location alone or both if you like. I’ve chosen to write this publicly because no email, suggestion card or discussion with staff (which is absolutely not their fault, they simply can’t do anything) is going to change anything. I doubt this will either, unfortunately. I’ve spoken with countless members about these things and many of us are unhappy, disheartened and feel incredibly disrespected. It’s time for PRG to start showing that they care about...

The worst customer service experience that I had in years. Went there in the early morning to get a permanent belay card to be able to belay my kid. I am certified at two other main Portland rock climbing gyms but not at Portland Rock Gym. I introduced myself and stated that I only want to take a belay test, so that I could bring in my kid and belay him The girl at front desk started by saying that why don't I come with my son some other time and get a test and a card then. I said, I am already here, I came specifically for this test, why can't I get it now? It felt that she just did not want to do it. I could not get a reasonable explanation from her why the test could not be done today. Next, during our conversation, I revealed to her that I have my own Grigri and intend to use it during my visits. She said, if you plan to use grigri, you have to take a test every time you come and we will only give you a day card because our philosophy is to use and test with ATC. Great! I am paranoid about safety, but I expect the gym to be just as pananoid. They are the only gym in town who not only do not provide grigris, but also apparently discourage their use. Why would I use an ATC to belay my kid if I happen to own a grigri with vastly superior safety features? I can accept that a gym may have its own standards, and if I would fail the test because I was not aware of some of their gym-specific requirements, I would accept this. If they would say, if you plan to use GriGri, we would have to test you on both, GriGri and ATC to make sure you can operate both, fine. But I cannot accept the unwillingness to give me a test and even more so clearly expressed discouragement of GriGri - that I cannot even get a permanent card if I plan to use GriGri.

All my experience in climbing gyms so far, until this encounter, was that people and staff there are extremely nice. Apparently, being nice and welcoming is not a part of Portland Rock Gym philosophy. Driving paying customers away is their philosophy. One star rating,...

I came into PRG and told the front desk I was interested in a membership.

I had been a member at Planet Granite the winter before, but this place was closer to home, and less expensive, so I figured I'd make the switch, but just as a caveat, that's really the only thing I have to compare PRG to.

I was politely shown a pamphlet with a list of options. I used to work in gyms, and I found it odd that I wasn't offered a tour of the facility or told anything about it. No: "have you been here before?" or "want me to show you around?"...Just a pamphlet.

I didn't think too much of it - I figured it had everything that Planet Granite had, just maybe on a slightly smaller scale, hence the slightly lower monthly fee - but it was sort of off-putting just being handed a pamphlet.

I chose a membership and got signed up.

I walked through the facility but had to go ask the front desk where the locker rooms were, then had to ask them if I have to do a belay test, then find out members have to bring their own belay-devices...That's when I realized I could have avoided wasting everyons time, including my own, if even a little bit about the facility was explained or shown to me when I walked in and said I was interested in signing up.

I ended up canceling the membership right after I signed up because my first experience in the gym just wasn't good at all. The staff wasn't rude at all, but they weren't welcoming at all either.

Edit/Update

My original review of PRG was for three stars, but after writing my review, I recieved an email from the GM, Erik, about my experience at the gym.

He was extremely apologetic, and took care to ask about the situation in a way that welcomed feedback so that they could imrove their quality of service.

The way a business handles an unfortunate situation should definitely count for something, and I definitely felt listened to and validated for my frustration.

I'm hoping that my experiene was just an honest mistake, and I think I will be back sometime to give...