Chapel Hill - Carrboro YMCA — Local services in Chapel Hill

A mediocre membership for a premium price. I would have preferred to have rated them 2.5 stars, but that option is not available. I wish for the day when I can speak of my community Y with words of high praise, but to recommend them without warning readers about several significant problems would be misleading. My life circumstances often dictate that I work out later in the evening. This Y is not well-harmonized to this need. Evening staff here have always had the annoying tendency to want to close early (up to 15 minutes early) and to be unpleasant about it if that doesn't square well with your needs. Weekend closing times are far too early. Holiday hours are inadequate and involve very early closing times that are not advertised on the on-line activity schedule, or even available on their telephone message that lists hours (i.e., expect to gear up and drive over only to find the place closed--after you called and checked the website).

Aerobic machines are always quite inadequate for crowds earlier in the evening and are often in poor repair. Weight machines are often broken for long periods of time. The machines they have cover only large muscle groups and are insufficient for a complete muscular workout. Courtesy is poor in the workout room. Time and set limits are very frequently broken, resulting in frayed nerves and unnecessarily lengthy workouts. It is not uncommon to wait for 10-15 minutes for a weight machine, or for someone who has been violating the one-set rule to become testy and territorial if you ask to work in with them. Attendants are disinterested in encouraging rule-abiding machine usage and won't intervene when someone wishes to dominate a machine.

I think prospective members need to know that aggressive encounters in the parking lot are not uncommon, especially following basketball games. Some of the encounters I have witnessed would make many people uncomfortable and feel unsafe. Staff often seem disinterested when incidents are reported.

In my experience, concerns memorialized in telephone e-mail messages are never returned. I wish my perspective of staff here was as sanguine as one of the earlier reviewers. There are certainly nice people working there. There are also plenty of folks working there who are not yet well-suited to positions involving customer relations. In my experience, the ratio is about 60/40.

In the final analysis, if you are looking for a place with a pool, a basketball court and a racquetball court under one roof, this might be the place you have to go. If you are looking for a good place for weights and aerobics, go...

I’ve been going here for about 2 years. Now that it’s hours, services are back to normal, it’s been great.

I have a kid and I take advantage of free child care, especially Saturdays. It’s not all the hours I’d like, but I’ll take it. They offer 4 days of child care at different hours. You get up to 2 hours free. And the staff are great with my energetic kid. They also have family swim times as well.

They’ve recently updated both weight and cardio machines. A wider selection and mix.

The place is/has always been really clean thanks to amazing and attentive staff.

I always feel welcomed when I check in.

Can it get crowded? sure. This isn’t a Planet Fitness. Let me repeat that. This isn’t a commercial fitness center. YMCAs serve their communities, so if you don’t like to be around kids going to summer camp, preschoolers taking swimming lessons, older folks doing water aerobics, GenX doing Zumba, or respectful teenagers lifting weights, it’s not for you.

But if you like to be in a space where people of all shapes and sizes are welcome, please check it out. You can also hang out and chat with a friend over coffee. They have coffee, too.

I’ve also found that if something’s missing, I tell them and they look into it. Like child care during an evening Zumba class. But this not a make or break issue.

Parking can be a bit difficult during the weekend and afternoons, but I’ve always found a space. They have parking in the back. And I also remeber to just get there 15 mins earlier next time.

I haven’t taken many classes but they are usually full, so these instructors are doing something right. You can use the app to reserve spaces.

I have a personal trainer I meet with for 30 minutes 1-2x month. She’s professional,knowledgeable and hard working. And a UNC undergrad! Highly recommend for kickstarting your routine. I’ve been working with her for...

Front desk staffs are very rude. Had a particularly bad time with a young woman name Delaney. I came in for help with my membership, and explained that I was frustrated because I've been paying for membership for 2 months and haven't been able to use it because scheduling system is confusing. My tone was showed that I was frustrated, but I was not rude or did not raise my voice, just frustrated and assertive (rather than pleasing, sorry for not being pleasing while I was frustrated with their janky system and customer service...?). She then said that if I didn't change my tone, she doesn't have to help me. She stated that I was disrespectful. I asked how have I been disrespectful and she said that she "can feel it" from the way I was talking to her (with my frustrated tone).

This was not the first time I had bad experience with their front desk staff. There was a previous time where I came in for help with signing up for membership in person with an infant. The older lady asked me to step aside while she helped other people. She helped like 10 other people check in before addressing me, I waited around for 20 minutes while I watched her help other people. She could have just deferred me to another staff that handles memberships, not sure why she had me stand there with a fussy baby just to then tell me that she can't help me with...