LA Fitness — Attraction in West Orange

A friend and my son encouraged me to join the gym a week ago. We made an appointment and went for a visit and a tour. I was excited to be able to incorporate workouts out of my home. I met with Jared, he gave my son and I the tour and signed us up. During our tour I asked him if someone could assist me with explaining to me how to use the weight machines since that’s what interested me the most and he advised me that when I met with the trainer for the first free session, he would show me and explain things to me. He made an appointment for me to meet with Nick.

I met with Nick a week later, which was today. I walked in and was greeted by Marie at the front desk. She was very polite and inviting. I asked her if my special needs daughter could just go to the kids club for today as my son was nervous about her being there. After explaining to her my reservations yet my reasons why I was ok with her going, Nick came over to tell me that it would be $10 for her but never explained the reason why. Al from Sales came over and right away I noticed he was very professional and explained that for liability purposes I would have to pay and further explained that I could add her to my account and if at any point I wasn’t comfortable I could cancel it and so I agreed.

I then went and went and met with Nick however, I was confused as I was under the impression that he would be showing me how the equipment worked. Instead he gave me a fitness assessment and then proceeded in a very obnoxious and pushy way to sell me the personal training programs. After I repeatedly explained to him that I needed to think things over before making a decision, he continued to pressure me. I then explained to him that I just wanted to start with a program using the weight machines, he basically told me that it would be useless without an instructor and a program. After my discussion with him, I felt that opening a membership with LA Fitness was a mistake. I walked away feeling very discouraged and almost wanting to cancel my membership and asking for a complete refund.

When I walked over to the Kids Club to pick up my daughter i was happy to see how much she was enjoying herself. The lady watching the kids at the Kids Club was the same one that greeted me, Marie. She asked me how everything went and I honestly told her how disappointed I was and she and another gym personnel, Jean, both encouraged me not to cancel and to give it a try. They were so professional and polite and I told them that Al like them was very sincere and professional.

After talking with them, I decided to give it a try even though right now I’m feeling very misguided. I will find my way and will give it a month and if it doesn’t work for me, I will...

We came to this location hoping to change gyms from where we are currently members. Luckily, we took advantage of the free three day pass before committing to anything. On our first day, the first two treadmills my spouse stepped on were broken. On day 2, the first two treadmills I stepped on were broken. We did notice a lot of signs on other equipment saying that it was broken. It definitely seems like the maintenance at this facility is lacking. On top of the broken machines, the locker room was rather dirty with several stalls appearing to be out of toilet paper. I discussed all of this with the club manager on our second day and he let me know that he recently had been transferred to this location and he was going to try his best to fix all of these issues. In the clubs defense, it appears that people do not report the broken equipment so that it can be repaired in many situations. We also spoke to other members who made comments such as “it always seems like everything is broken here.” I overheard another member reporting that the vending machines weren’t working properly.

We were really excited about joining here but unfortunately will not be at this time. Hopefully things will improve in the future but until that happens we won’t be wasting our money here. There are other LA fitnesses in the area that I would check out, instead. I also recommend that if you’re considering joining that you use a free trial like we did before making a financial commitment to join.

Update: I signed up at a different location closer to my job as my home club but still come to this location here and there. The pool has been closed for a week. This club is horrible. Don’t use it as your...

They are running a scam to get memberships through their stores. I did a 3-day trial and decided to get a membership through Active and Fit because my employer helps with the cost. When I went in to activate my membership, the guy at the front desk said he couldn’t find me in their system for Active and Fit. Active and Fit personnel called the gym while I was there, but he continued to tell them I wasn’t in the gym to confirm my identity, so they couldn’t share my information. I confronted him, but he kept lying, saying he didn’t see me. Active and Fit called again and offered to get me a day pass, but he told them no one was there to activate the day pass and wanted me to pay $20 for it.

So, I left. Fast forward to today, I called the gym before going in, and the same guy told me the same thing—that I wasn’t in their system. I immediately called another store in Newark, and the guy there found me in the system and activated my pass. Everything went well. I went back to the West Orange branch and asked again if they could find me in the system. He continued to say I wasn’t in the system and that I had to contact Active and Fit. I confronted him again, told him the Newark location had confirmed my membership, and showed him my activated pass. He continued to lie, trying to deceive me.

Please investigate this LA Fitness! These sales reps only want to get memberships through their branch and are not upholding company policy. They are running a scam. I was there on June 22, 2024, at 6 PM, and June 21 at 8:30 PM. Please find those employees and investigate what is going on at this branch. I will also be contacting Active and Fit to investigate their partnership...