1Rebel St John's Wood — Local services in London

Today was my first time trying a class at 1rebel, I bought three intro sessions with the sights of continuing but I definitely won’t be back because I had a horrible experience beginning to end.

I arrived at 8.25 for an 8.30 reshape class and checked in. Immediately the person at the desk wasn’t very welcoming and seemed impatient when she was describing details about the class I was unfamiliar with.

Just as I was about to head downstairs I realised my parking app wasn’t working. I quickly ran outside and sorted it. When I came back two minutes later, a member of staff very rudely shouted over the desk “you should’ve been in the class 30 seconds ago”

Her approach was unnecessary, but in the interests of time I put it aside and headed downstairs. Once inside it was all a little disorientating, but I tried to join in and very quickly pulled a muscle in my upper back. I stopped the movements and tried stretching but I was in pain, the instructor was on the mic going at a fast pace, it didn’t seem like there was an opening to interrupt and ask for help, so around 3/4 mins later I left.

Upstairs at the front desk. I explained I’d hurt myself and needed to leave, I enquired if it’d be possible to use my credit on another day. I didn’t receive an ounce of compassion from either of the staff. Not once did anyone ask if I was okay. The first person looked at me with irritation before turning to the other who flippantly said “did you tell the instructor what happened? this is why you need to come 5 minutes early, to speak about injuries”.

Further along in the conversation she also implied that because this wasn’t a new* injury, and id just exacerbated an old one it was unimportant. I explained that regardless, I was in pain and this isn’t how you treat people.

In the end I came back and requested to be refunded for the entire block - waiting for confirmation on that. The entire environment felt elitist and uninviting. And I don’t want to work out anywhere where I’m talked down to and there’s zero duty of...

UPDATE: The head office has reversed their illegal position and will now allow me to bring my assistance dog. I didn't appreciate, however, Michelle lying in her email and pretending she never banned my dog from the classes. Her ignorance of Equality Act 2010 laws was reflected also in her calling my dog a "service dog" instead of an "assistance dog", because service dogs are a completely different type of working dog in the UK and assistance dog is the legal term. The upper management of the business is very unprofessionally run. However, the team at the local SJW branch is so great that I will keep coming back provided that this doesn't happen again. Not a great start to a gym membership, though!

1Rebel has illegally discriminated me by trying to prevent me from attending classes with my assistance dog. It's a shame to give them 1 star, because the staff at this branch were wonderfully accommodating, but it was 1Rebel's head office who are untrained in the Equality Act 2010. I brought my perfectly behaved and clearly labeled assistance dog to a class on Wednesday, where he slept in a carrier the whole time and bothered no one. I signed up for more classes and got a phone call this morning saying that I couldn't return due to "hygiene" reasons that, under British law, only apply to hospitals and restaurant kitchens. They were not willing to work with me. I would not recommend this discriminatory and ableist...

Went to my second 1rebel class in St John’s Wood with my mum. It was her first time and therefore was new to the reformer equipment. We arrived 15 mins early and went into the room 5 mins to spare. We were rudely greeted by the instructor Libby, it was as if she was doing us a favour and didn’t want to be there. She refused to help my mother as apparently we were “ late” which we weren’t as we were politely stood waiting to be given instruction. She told us we had to leave the class to which we said absolutely not as we had been waiting all day for the class!

Then when the class began my mother and I were so confused on the reformer having barely used it and was terrified of injuring ourselves… I tried my best to help her use the reformer from my prior knowledge as Libby the instructor definitely wasn’t going to. Then Libby approached me and told me to be quiet which I was shocked by as if she gave the support I wouldn’t have had to help my own mother.

We definitely will not be using this instructor again, my mum has come out with an aching pain in her back as there was no correction on her form. We were so excited to have a mother daughter lesson to which she completely ruined it. My mother is a big advocate for the St John’s Wood area and will not be recommending this place to any of her big following....