Planet Fitness — Attraction in Whitehall

If you asked me to review this gym a week ago I would have had nothing but great things to say. I come in at 5:30 every morning, I am always greeted with a friendly smile and always get a "have a nice day" when I walk out. I have never had an issue with the staff until this past Saturday. My dad, Fiance and I traveled to the gym 20 minutes from home only to have to turn around and head home. My fiance was accompanying me as a guest and for the first time was asked for an ID which he did not have on it. I am my dad have taken many guests to planet fitness before and an ID was never requested. When I was talking to the employee, Josh about our questions on why we suddenly have to show an ID, he stated it was a "new" policy. When I tried to ask him then why wasn't members notified he ignored my question. My dad came to the guest and tried to talk to him as well stating that we just drove 20 minutes and have never had this issue before. Josh then proceeded to laugh in our faces as we requested for a manager and continued to stand there laughing at us until the assistant manager, Miles had to tell him to leave. After telling him the issue, he proceeded to tell us it was illegal to go anywhere without a license.. not true. Secondly said this had always been a policy as what if the guest hurts himself or someone else. Honestly, if I am checking in someone as my guest it is my responsibility for that person, this is not a person just randomly walking in from the streets that isn't signing in with someone. I was highly disappointed that the employee had no customer service or respect and decided to treat us as a "laughing" manner. I was also disappointed that the manager didn't try and accommodate the situation or apologize for his employees behavior. If this is a company policy, I can understand but do not pick and choose when you decide to enforce it. Since this experience I travel to Pickerington or Newark to...

Computers and equipment are shut down too often. The tanning and massage beds work about half the time. Staff can be rude, and not attempt to help when there are issues. "Open 24 hours a day" is a gimmick. They are only open 24 hours a few days a week and when they are, the night staff does not keep things open and maintained. Other than that, it's not a bad gym for the money, but you get what you pay for. (Not all the staff is bad, just a few. Some are very polite and helpful)

(UPDATE 6-21) Since speaking with the general manager, a few moments ago we have decided to cancel our memberships. I asked if we could get some type of credit since the equipment was not working (that we pay for) the last couple times we went in to use it. Her response- "I'm sorry, but we can't offer you a refund or credit, you could have just went to another PF location". That is a pathetic excuse. Who wants to drive to a different location to use a gym when the reason they have said gym is because it's local. We are going to cancel our membership today. I will update this once it is completed since, naturally, they won't let us cancel unless we are both there or send a form via Certified (😂) mail. Real professional Planet Fitness. Zero attempt to keep a loyal paying member.

(UPDATE TO REPLY BELOW)

We will not be a "partner" anymore with a company that clearly has no clue about customer service or professionalism. The reply was placed at the same time as the call above, and I'm sure if you check, that reply is a canned response that they use for everyone. Way to make your "partners" feel like they matter to you. Follow @theCliffC on Twitter if you want to see how this goes over with corporate. I'm not...

While yes I understand that a lot of people of fond of this location, I've come to believe that many of those high reviews - not all, but many of them, are from people who had that one visit where everything went right, and that in turn made them ecstatic about this location.

This location reminded me of why I came to loathe Planet Fitness, as a whole. Asking to speak to someone, only to be immediately shut down, and told I have to wait until the next day to speak to someone, that is very clearly there, and can make time to talk, is insulting. Being on the receiving end of staff members conducting themselves as if they don't want to be there, or are "above" others, is hypocritical of planet Fitness' "Judgement free zone" mentality.

There's so much more than can be said; state of the locker room, the bathroom, unclean tanning and hydro beds, among other things, but that would be beating a dead horse.

The ONLY reason why this is not a 1 star review, is because this location has a Fitness trainer. However, that is ruined by the fact that trying to speak with him is difficult, not because of his schedule, but rather because the staff don't even try to communicate to the trainer(I know this very well). It amazes that the owners of this organization care so much about money, that they'll turn a blind eye and ignore the very sad state of their locations(and I've been to other locations as well).

Thank you Planet Fitness, for making it financially more difficult to work out, as I will be looking for other places to go, and bite the financial bullet. Thank you for continuing to...