X3 Sports - West Midtown — Local services in Atlanta

DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING WITH THIS GYM. I joined x3 (west midtown) back in February 2016 when I signed my lease at a nearby apartment. I was adamant that I did not want to do a 2 year contract (as I did not know how long I would be living nearby) and was assured that I was only signing for a year. This was done by the manager at the time. Fast forward to this month. I have been a member for WELL over a year (which is what I had been told I had signed up for) and had to cancel my membership due to moving out of the area. When I went to cancel, I explained my situation to the front desk girl. She said my membership was actually for TWO years. I was shocked as I had explicitly signed only for year. She asked if I had signed up under a previous manager and I said yes and she said she would speak to Lael (the current manager). I stayed up front while she spoke to him in his office. She then came out and proceeded to tell me I was fine and that Lael would contact me to let me know things had been taken care of. I thanked her and left. Lo and behold I get an email from x3 today stating that I had to finish out my contract because I had signed up for two years. I called Lael directly to re-explain the situation and I told him that I had been told by previous manager that it was only for a year and he essentially told me that this was not his problem because he is not the one who signed me up and the manager that was is no longer there. Wow. Amazingly poor treatment from a gym that I brought 2 new clients (signed memberships after visiting with me) into. I now feel terrible for talking them in to joining. The practices here are shady and not upfront. I also asked to speak to the co-owner (Tony) about this situation and Lael refused... so here I am.

As far as the gym itself (if you do not heed my warning and go ahead and want to sign up anyway) it's ok. I joined it more as a convenience to being within walking distance of where I lived. The classes were ok. The instructors, trainers, and stuff rotate a lot (do not expect to see the same faces..high turnover for the most part). They are all very friendly generally but also pretty indifferent when it comes to actual training. I took a lot of powertrack classes and honestly I could have just used a phone app to get the same results as I did here. I just used the class for access to the weights. Fasttrack and Kickboxing were ok too for getting your sweat on.

Overall, the gym itself is not bad but the management is TERRIBLE. They do not account for any mis-dealings and are only out for your money in the end. Heed my warning based on my mistake of joining and...

Wish I had read the reviews before signing up! Very nasty business practices. I've been a member for over 2 years - when I signed up I informed them I traveled for work very often. They said no problem you can freeze your account anytime. Fine print...for only 3 months at a time - regardless of whether you have been to the gym or not - also $10 a month to freeze. I've had several injuries and haven't been in Atlanta since February. They charged me 4 months - $480 before I caught it on my credit card and asked for a fix. The answer was no - twice. They refer to "notification emails" that your freeze is ending which are non-existent in email or the app. I'm taking this to the BBB.

They are a one star on business practices alone but if you are crazy enough to sign up I'll speak on the gyms as well. Mostly Muy Thai for me. West Midtown has the best MT trainers and a big group (although the trainers move along often). The Inman location is nice but the trainers are more "fitness" oriented. The yoga is anemic/non-existent (understandable since it's a fighting gym) but I was sold on that at the beginning as well. None of the employees that where there when I signed up are still there. Sure that speaks to the working environment as well.

There are far better gyms that treat you more like an appreciated member than a contracted money machine. Do your research....

**Queue the canned response from the "services" team saying how sorry they are for my experience without actually doing anything in 5..4...3...2....

12/01/23 UPDATE: There was never any resolution or contact from them so I was forced to cancel their access to my credit card. Not only did they never try to help me resolve this in any way or reach out, they sent my account to a collections agency for more than $3,500!!! That is more than my entire contract value by far - which I had already paid over a year into. These folks are as bad as it gets. If you join here you are asking for trouble. Much nicer gyms around with a family feel and ethical...

I loved attending X3 sports for the year and the trainers/classes are absolutely fantastic. I had a great time. However, I think a little work could be done with the management. They have changed management, but I feel that there is lack of communication between the employees and the right information is not provided to the members. I have gotten different answers from different employees. For example, Perkville points.

I was told that with my points I could get a free month and I went ahead and did just that. My contract had come to a year and I canceled it and was told that the free month is actually added to your contract and therefore instead of 12 months, it was 13 months and I was not eligible for the end of the year cancellation, but early termination. Bottom line, you are actually paying for those "free months". I actually was eligible for 2 free months, good thing I didn't use it for the second.

I just wanted to go ahead and share that information with the other members. If you have the choice between the free months and getting items, get the items. If you need to cancel, it takes 2-3 days for X3 to process it so take that into consideration so you don't get charged an additional month if you cancel towards the end of the month. Overall, great experience, and again the trainers rock and are incredible, but lets work on that...