Crunch Fitness - Ballantyne — Local services in Charlotte

If I could give a zero star I would. Been a member at this Crunch location for the better part of 4 or 5 years. There are several things about this gym that I have disliked over the years. The main things is they seem to go through cycles of trying to up sell you on Trainers. The trainers will flat out interrupt your workout to try and sell you their services... very rude and annoying. They always approach you like they want to be your friend... no thanks. I can put up with that though. What unfolded in the past three weeks has been nothing short of the worst customer experience of my life. I have had a series of charges show up on my bank account from Crunch Fitness Ballantyne that I didn't authorize. It happened a total of 3 times over the past three weeks. The first time I went into the gym to address it. Talked to Zander (a manager). We were both cordial about it and he said he would have someone higher up reach out to me because he couldn't see the charges on his end and didn't know what was going on. I never head anything from the "higher up". A second charge showed up about 3 days later. Brought it up to Zander's attention again in the gym. Again... "you'll hear back from my higher up". Never heard anything. I disputed the charges with my bank and moved on. Then today I get a third charge. Now I'm getting irritated.... No one at the gym can tell me what's going on or how to stop it. And no one is willing to look into it deeper. Called the gym and talked with manager Justin. He actually accused me of lying about the charges on the phone. Told me to come in and show him my bank account with the charges. Told him I would be there in 15 minutes and he said "ok, I'll be available until 10". Everyone at the front desk was busy so I found some other employees near the front to ask for him. There was a group of 4 standing together and when I asked for Justin the one girl cracked a joke "He quit this morning". I responded back "I not in the mood to joke right now". Then the trainer she was standing next to, Kevin, started berating me for being "rude" saying “you can’t come in here with that attitude” and told me to "go find him myself". Like seriously? Stating that I don't' want to joke triggers you that much? It was really weird and incredibly arrogant. I responded by saying "I'll be cancelling today and mostly because of what you just did". His response was, "ok, good, I don't care." Like am I in the twilight zone?? One of the other guys standing there did direct me to Justin who was sitting at a nearby table in a public area near the front. Justin actually did get to the bottom of where the charges were coming from... not sure why Zander couldn't. Their system was allowing a member who I don't know to charge to my account (not really clear how). During my talk with Justin I went into further detail on my treatment when I arrived and he actually portrayed me as the bad guy and his trainer as the victim. Stated that the trainer felt threatened" by me.. uuhh.. My statement was directed to the girl next to him explaining that I didn't want to joke around with her. That is threatening to the guy standing next to the girl I was talking to? Guess explaining your mood to someone is threatening? And threatening to all individuals anywhere with in ear shot? Bizarre. Justin would not apologize and actually stated, "I will always defend my employees" and then accused me of "invading his space” when I approached him… Ummm... your the manager of an open establishment that I am a paying member of, you were in a public area of the establishment, you knew I was coming, you said your were available, and you were on duty...... Beyond me how approaching him was is inappropriate. How about all the times my personal space was legitimately invaded when your trainers interrupted my workout to try upselling crap that I don't want? I cancelled my and my daughters membership on the spot. Will be spreading my story as much as I can on social media. I have never been treated so poorly and so unprofessionally. It was truly...

I love this gym. I first became aware of Crunch when I lived on the west coast, and it was my favorite gym out of 24 Hour Fitness, LA Fitness, the YMCA, and Planet Fitness. I liked it because it was actually a friendly and knowledgeable environment. If you’ve spent any time on fitness social media, you’ve likely seen many jokes about PF, and I’m here to say they’re all basically true. It’s problematic. 24 Hour and LA fitness are basically on the same level to me, they’re great gyms, there’s nothing wrong with them, they’re just less personal and the staff seem immature. I used to work for the YMCA on the west coast and I thought it was fantastic as well. I love a company that also puts back into the community. But the YMCA was the same price as all the other gyms on the west coast. When I moved here, I joined the YMCA and it was $75/month. Yes the gym was nice, but it wasn’t an elite gym and wasn’t worth that kind of money.

I randomly drove by Crunch Fitness here a few months ago and wondered if it was the same place as those out west. I went online and sure enough it was! I showed up at the gym at 7am the next day and someone was available to give me a tour. The gym is exactly like I remembered. I signed up right then. And I’ll tell you exactly why.

It’s affordable and there are different price points depending on if you want to use specific amenities.

It’s a gym that’s friendly. Yes, there are some pretty muscular guys here, and they all congregate in one area. But it’s not a problem. I’ve been out on the floor and seen a huge guy doing an exercise I’d never done before, and I asked him if he wouldn’t mind showing me how to do it. He got all excited about it and was glad to help. People here are also just considerate and don’t hog a space or they’ll let you work in. As someone who went from having 4 gym memberships at one time that I regularly used, to someone who felt like getting out of bed was enough exercise for the day, I’ve never felt uncomfortable in this gym. I’m currently the heaviest I’ve ever been, I’m considered obese for my height. And yet I feel just as welcome as the Adonis with 3% body fat. I don’t feel embarrassed about what I can and can’t do here. I don’t feel like I have to apologize for taking up space, or using a bench when I can only handle 5lb dumbbells. I’m not made to feel less than here, and for me that’s huge.

The trainers. I’m the type where I really benefit from having a personal trainer. I work every week with Jerry B. and he’s great. He listens to my goals, what I’m comfortable with, pushes me just enough, and helps keep me accountable. The trainers here in general are very nice, and are often out on the floor. I’ve seen them approach a person to help them correct their form to avoid injury, give words of encouragement, and then just leave. No sales pitch, no pressure, just helpfulness.

The staff. Everyone that works here is friendly. There are even a few people that know my name and greet me before I’ve had a chance to scan in. And I’m not there every day. But they still make the effort to remember me.

The cleanliness. I’ve never seen this gym, the bathrooms, or changing areas dirty. Every area is well maintained. There are cleaning stations everywhere that are always well stocked and many gym members wipe down their machinery once they finish using it.

The classes. They don’t have a ton of classes here, but I feel like they provide enough variety to suit most people’s interests. I’m looking forward to trying a dance, barre, or yoga class in the future.

The hours are pretty good. I do wish that they were open later on Sundays. I usually find myself wanting to go to the gym at 6:30pm on Sunday and they close early so I can’t. I don’t know if the hours will change as they hire more people or as we get out of the pandemic, but I’d definitely like later hours. Overall though, I’m satisfied with the times and would just consider later hours a bonus.

If you’re on the fence about this place, please consider coming in for a tour. You...

BEWARE. DO NOT SIGN FOR A MEMBERSHIP AT THIS GYM. ITS A SCAM AND THEY’RE ONLY HERE TO TAKE YOUR MONEY!!! THE CUSTOMER SERVICE IS LOUSY! I had a similar experience as Despacito 99. I signed up before the gym opened. I was promised a few items just for signing up (tee shirt, bag etc.) which, I never received. When I went by a week after they opened no one seemed to know anything about the items. That’s was fine. The young lady at the desk handed me a signing pad. She explained A couple of things and asked me to sign in agreement to what she stated. Never did she state there was a 30 day cancellation policy and that I’d be charged twice before my membership could be cancelled. She didn’t offer or give me any paperwork at all. I left the gym after speaking with the young lady at the front desk. A week later I found out I was going to have surgery and I wasn’t sure what my total recovery time would be so I went in the gym and spoke to the front desk clerk (a different lady). I told her I wanted to cancel my membership and why. The assistant manager MJ, as she called herself was standing there also. The clerk told me I could cancel my membership without a 30 day notice and that I’d also be charged the $49 annual fee. Since that was not what I was told upon sign up and I’d never actually used their facilities I was confused. MJ agreed with the clerk and said I needed to give them $30 notice. I asked for the manager. I was told he wasn’t there and MJ would call him as soon as she finished with her customer. She said she’d call me back. The clerk wrote down my name and number. This was at 3:00 pm. At 8:30pm, when I hadn’t heard from her, I called her back at the gym. MJ claimed the clerk didn’t take my number but she still called the manager, Marquis Sanders. He was not available at that time. MJ said she’d leave s note and have him call me Monday. (That day was Friday) After not hearing from anyone all day Monday I went to Crunch at about 8 pm. I spoke to Marquis who said he couldn’t cancel my membership because I was behind in my payments. I told him that was impossible the place hadn’t been open for a month and they’d already charged my card $29.99. He checked the computer and replied well you still can’t cancel your membership until after we get a 30 day notice. Since you’re informing us today then we’ll charge a second payment in February and then after 30 days we’ll cancel the membership, he said. I asked for contact info for his boss. Marquis replied, talking with him won’t do you ant good. I guess it won’t. Marquis gave me a bogus email address. I don’t know why these people think they can come into our neighborhood and blatantly scam people. I highly recommend you not go here and visit...