Crunch Fitness - Chevy Chase — Attraction in Washington

Long story short, while the staff here are all good folks who are always pleasant and helpful, and are doing their best to maintain cleanliness and keep things sanitary there, my experience there is that cleanliness and sanitation is a problem such that I contracted fungal skin infections twice from this place. There have been other cleanliness issues that I have simply tolerated; wiping down a stretching mat and seeing the wipe come away brown, seeing the same exact dirty footprint in the stretching area 2 days in a row leading me to wonder if the place had even been swept on a daily basis, and almost never witnessing members wiping down equipment before or after they use it. I was willing to tolerate these things because I'm not a nit-picker. But ringworm? That's a deal breaker. And after the second case (letting the first one slide was a mistake as it is), I don't feel comfortable walking in there again.

The way I see it, when you enter into a contract with a gym, they too have to meet the terms of the contract. And it's a reasonable assumption that taking the necessary precautions to prevent the spread of infections and maintain basic cleanliness falls within their responsibilities to that contract. If wet-wipes are coming away brown after wiping down a stretching mat, what else isn't getting done? Can we say that they are upholding their end of the contract?

As I said, the staff are all good folks who are just doing their jobs. When I approached management about this, and informed them that I no longer felt comfortable working out there and wasn't interested in paying for time I wasn't going to be there, they said they needed a doctor's note before they would cancel my contract - which I understand, it's their job to uphold company policy. However, I don't have insurance, and I'm not going to spend $125+ to have a clinic tell me what I already know, and prescribe an OTC clotrimazole cream, which I already have. Things like athlete's foot and tinea are not the kind of things you go to the doctor's office for. It would have been a nice gesture of goodwill if the company were willing to make some reparations in light of this, but based on other customer experiences of things like continued billing for months after memberships were canceled, I'm not surprised. Bottom line, I don't feel comfortable working out there anymore, and I won't be returning.

I'm not a "yelper" and I've never left a review about any place because I generally keep my opinions to myself. However, cleanliness and sanitation is not a matter of opinion. And I felt people should know about my experience when considering membership...

I am writing on behalf of a friend who is a regular patron of Crunch (he goes a few times a week). He recently tried a new work-out regime (Turkish Get-Up) in a class and didn’t do well with it. A few days after this experience, he was stunned to hear a different instructor of a different class that he was in announce to the class that he (my friend) had done poorly with Turkish Get-Up. The obvious conclusion is that Instructor No. 1 was indiscreet enough to gossip about my friend with Instructor No. 2 who was doubly indiscreet enough to make fun of my friend in front of an entire class. Instructor No. 2 apparently thought she was making a light-hearted joke (at the expense of my friend, an over 60, regular patron of Crunch). Coming from a chain that claims to have a policy of “no judgment”, this sad incident is nothing but inappropriate judgment and lack of professionalism. My friend has been upset for days and the incident has affected his long-established exercise regime: he is now avoiding classes with these two instructors, both of whom he had liked and trusted. Let’s hope Crunch...

• Please note: I wanted to provide this feedback via member survey or comment portal; however, those resources were not readily available (easy to find). *

What once felt like my home away from home—vibrant, welcoming, full of life, spirit, and energy, while also being a space for members of all ages—has undergone a change in management that has, quite frankly, ruined the club I once loved by introducing a much more corporate feel to Crunch's environment.

The warmth and sense of community that exemplified Crunch’s client-first mentality and set this gym apart have faded since new management stepped in place. Longtime staff and members who knew each other by name are no longer present, policies now feel more rigid than supportive, and are clearly focused on the bottom line rather than the club’s members.

While the equipment remains solid and the facility is clean, the atmosphere lacks the energy and personal touch that made it special. I genuinely hope Crunch Chevy Chase finds a way to reconnect with its roots and restore the spirit that made many of us feel like...