Anytime Fitness — Local services in Charlottesville

I held off reviewing Anytime Fitness until I had actually been there long enough to both commit to health, and form a true opinion of the gym and the staff that I work with. I then came to Yelp recently to post a review and I saw a negative one. I was shocked and my experience is not consistent with that at all; and many other members seem to share my viewpoint. I thought I would share my review here on Google as well. I am thoroughly satisfied with Anytime. Below is my detailed review-

Location and Hours: Perfect for our rural community and easily accessible. It's always open and I never find it difficult to get an open machine, floor space, or shower. It isn't always staffed but someone is usually there until 7 or 8pm in the evenings which is nice for the after-work crowd who may need extra help or have questions.

Staff: Amazing. Amazing. Amazing. I was terrified walking in the door for the first time in January as an extremely overweight person with a long road ahead of me. The gym is family owned and managed. Both the owner and manager have been caring and helpful and always work to make people feel welcome and comfortable. This has been the case with me and with others I have witnessed with working out. I also pay for personal training, which is separate from regular gym membership. I am able to work one-on-one with a trainer ( the gym manager ) and make progress that I can't make on my own on a treadmill. Again, working one-on-one with someone who is physically fit can be scary but I am always made to feel comfortable. My trainer is caring, professional, accessible, encouraging, and pushes me to do things I could not dream of doing six months ago. Even the other gym trainers with whom I don't work always encourage me and ask how my exercise and weight loss are going.

Pricing: Both the monthly fees and personal training prices are far more reasonable than any gym within 40 miles of our town. Tanning is also far more reasonable than any tanning salon nearby.

Gym Set Up and Cleanliness: Ok, the last place that I want to sweat in is a place that is already unclean. This is NOT the case with Anytime. The floors, equipment, tanning bed, and bathrooms/showers are always clean. Trust me, I look. With such a small staff I am always please about how clean and organized the gym is. I looked at quite a few facilities in Fluvanna and Charlottesville and many were not nearly as clean as Anytime.

The space is somewhat small, but they have done really well with the space they have. There are ample cardio machines and weight equipment and it is set up to give us the most usable space possible.

I'm very happy I decided to join and have stuck with it. I would recommend the gym to anyone and plan to stay with them for...

Cramped and dirty is un understatement! This place is small, The Manager and Owner are interested in bottom line money and how much money they can make. I contacted corporate about the problems with the trainers taking up the whole free weight area during peak hours and have heard nothing back from corporate. However, I was told by the Manager that he could ban me from the gym if I continued to contact corporate. He also aked me to leave then but was unable to make me leave because I was not causing any problems. He then stated that he has had complaints on me. When I asked to see something in writing he could not produce any proof. My suggestion is use Zion X roads or Pantops and you still have the ability to use this gym during the slower times before boxing and crossfit classes are crowding the Weight floor. If you pay the trainers you are more valued than the regular members. This club is new and has changed dramatically after the Paynes left :( Trying to address any issues with the Manager will be met with intimidating words and borderline threats. This business is in no way what I feel is a good representation of Fluvanna County! I will not renew my membership! Sorry that I didn't know when I joined what I know now!

BEWARE!!!

Shawn, I'm glad you like some of my other friends have decided to go elsewhere. I know you from the last gym we used and I know that you would be even more disappointed in this place. Zions X Roads location is by far better. Less crowded, Cleaner and offer all the same benefits and also hold boot camps at a seperate location so that they don't have to interfere with you while you're trying...

Beware - The the owners engaged in shady practices with me. We signed up three years ago at Palmyra Anytime Fitness because we travel out-of-country often (over half the year) and the owners said that they would not charge us if we notified them of this travel (actually, the contract specifies that you can put your dues on hold for $5/month for health/medical, and they to that for extended travel as wwell). Turns out they never honored the rate reduction to $5 over the last 18 months. Silly us, their staff said they would talk with the owners and things would work out -- that never happened.

So, now we are bringing them to small claims court. Note -- we never once heard back directly from the owners despite our emails, letters, then formal letters. Once we knew that we would have to go to court, we cancelled our membership -- and took a picture of our cancellation form being received by their staff in case they continued to charge us after our cancellation.

Alfred (co-owner) - I can't believe you are in the Army Guard, our nation's military, and yet your ethics are so low. I'm very disappointed in you. Signed ALM -...