Wheeling Park District — Attraction in Wheeling Township

NOT RECOMMENDED -- I CANCELLED MY MEMBERSHIP! THE OTHER REVIEW IS A FAKE!

I used to give this gym a favorable rating, but with how incredibly poorly I was treated, I've downgraded this place to the lowest star rating and am going to another gym. Here's an updated version of my original review:

POSITIVES

-- Very clean gym.

-- New cardio and weightlifting equipment (from 2008-2010).

-- Not overcrowded

-- Decent location (right in the Wheeling Park District)

-- Cost is reasonable if you sign up for a year plan, either as a full payment or monthly payments. (Residents are only charged $31/month for the base price.)

-- Good building facility with lots of parking.

-- WiFi access

-- Excellent front desk help. (Very nice people)

-- Rave reviews about some of the trainers.

-- Not the stuffiness and impersonal nature you get with franchise gyms.

NEGATIVES

-- Hours are VERY limited. Only open until 5 pm on Sunday, and 6 pm on Saturday!

-- No jacuzzi or sauna

-- No group fitness classes included. (Those are all extra cost. However this can make sense if you don't want to pay extra for that. And they do offer single punch card payments as well as a for everything. So that can be a plus.)

-- You have to walk out of the gym and through a building hallway to get to the regular locker rooms. (Their "private" locker rooms are an extra cost.)

-- Top management is extremely poor on guest feedback and customer service. I was encourage to submit my suggestions, which I did via both the suggestion box and emails over the 15 months I was there. All I ever received for my suggestions and questions about using social media and online video was a form response from the Park Director, Matt Wehby. (The standard "we'll take that into consideration," which is really a complete blow-off. When I asked again if I could have a reason why they weren't getting involved more with social media, he refused to give any answer.) An important lesson: Don't ask your members for feedback if you aren't actually willing to be genuinely responsive.

-- Very restrictive on doing any social media. Park District Director Matt Wehby is an extremely rude individual when you ask him about this topic. He was actually clueless that the Park District has it's own Facebook page (albeit just for trivia). He won't allow staff to connect with members via social media, or do how-to videos, or testimonials -- even though commercial competitors are doing it.

FINAL REVIEW

It's way too expensive for all limitations compared with what other options are available, and the top management is not responsive to customers. Even by the standards of a being part of a community center, they're really not as much into the "community" portion as they should be. I can only recommend this for the person who lives really close by and doesn't want to go a couple extra miles to another gym, doesn't care to work out at home, and only wants a small clean gym with no interest in group classes. But even then, I'm seeing a decrease in staff and classes, so this gym may go through further cutbacks due to the Park District Director's fear of progress.

My spouse and I have since joined the Buffalo Grove Fitness center, and I would encourage other Wheeling residents to strongly consider that place instead of the Wheeling Park District...

If I could give less than 1 start I would.

I had heard great things about the newly renovated Wheeling park district and was looking forward to hosting my daughters birthday party. Unfortunately, things could not have been more mismanaged turning what should have been a fun day into an extremely frustrating one

1. I called an booked early in January to ensure I get the day wanted in March. Apparently, while money was immediately deducted, no notes were made on the district calendar about my event

2. I went in a day before the party to check out the facility and was ensured that a party helper would assist with setting up the room

3. Come party day, I check in- no party helper. I haul everything to my room and it wasn't set up. I ask the front desk and am told party helpers don't check in at the front desk and I just have to wait. My guests are enjoying the pool and I can't enjoy seeing my daughter and her friends having fun because I'm stressed out. It's now 2:15, the pizza's have arrived, still no party helper. I'm frustrated and asking the front desk to help me. I tried reaching out to the onsite supervisor who does not respond. Finally, the front desk is able to get in touch with her and she tells her that due to a scheduling error on their part, nothing was assigned to my party. The front desk helper (Rosie) steps up and comes with me to help set everything up 10 min before my guests start entering the room.

4. I was told the kitchen would be accessible - it was not. At the end of the party, I'm looking for garbage bags to clean up the room. I finally found one in a closet, and use it to clean up the room, haul everything downstairs where I'm told the Aquatic supervisor (who has yet to show up) is waiting to speak to me

5. I'm letting this aquatic supervisor know what happened and he appears to to barely be able to contain his laughter at the situation. Needless to say this leads to a very unproductive conversation.

The follow-up was I got my money refunded but it was not worth the trouble, the mad dash and the frustration that I entailed to ensure my daughter had a wonderful birthday party.

DO...

The whole organization sucks, they take are tax dollars but provide nothing for the community. No sports programs are offered to the children for free . They claim the park belongs to the community, but are children and adults are not allowed to use the ball fields only if you want to pay . But they cater to kids from as far as Antioch to Oak Park. So my question is this a private facility? All the industry in Wheeling and they cannot find 10 sponsors to back baseball,football,basketball or soccer league for our children. Where do are tax dollars go then ,for other individuals who don't reside in the boundaries of Wheeling to enjoy our park but for residents stay out, you are not welcome . Neighbors that back up to the park have to deal with noise every Saturday and Sunday morning at approximately 6:30,with it coming from people in their car's ,or it coming over the loud speakers ,the lights are so bright you can read in backyard without turning on any additional light. So we have noise pollution and light pollution from the park the lights stay on past midnight . You can't open your windows for fresh air because the lights and the noise will just come blaring through, it would possibly be a little more tolerable if the community was benefiting by using the facilities. Does any member of the park board live in the Meadowbrook community?if you do then you should care more about your neighbors, even if you don't live here you should care, but it appears that the only thing Wheeling Park District cares about is the almighty dollar and not...