FFC South Loop — Local services in Chicago

After years at FFC, I am done. On October 1st, 2025 at 4:15 pm at FFC South Loop, Fitness Director Ria interrupted my workout to tell me my small magnetic fanny-pack-sized bag (smaller than a water bottle, attaches to equipment so it cannot be tripped over) was not allowed. This same bag had previously been approved by the GM because it was clearly safer than leaving sweatshirts, bottles, headphones, and inhalers scattered across the floor. In fact, I’ve personally seen inhalers broken, headphones kicked, and bottles spilled — all tolerated. But my objectively safer solution? Banned. In a follow-up phone call with the GM, Ramie Reed, the experience was worse. She was combative, dismissive, and repeatedly interrupted me. Her words: “I’m not here to go back and forth with you. I decide what is ok in my club and a fanny pack is ok. But not anything else.” She admitted the floors are cluttered with member belongings but took no responsibility beyond saying they “need to do a better job.” Not once did she engage in good-faith discussion, show customer service skills, or even attempt to understand why a long-term member was frustrated. The conversation was hostile and condescending — my partner, who overheard, now also wants to cancel our membership. Policies aside, this is about arrogance and a complete disregard for logic or member experience. If FFC cared about safety, suspending items off the floor should be required, not prohibited. Instead, leadership enforces rules selectively, ignores their own inconsistencies, and treats paying members with contempt. Loyalty means nothing here. Unless leadership overhauls its approach, I cannot recommend FFC to anyone who values logic, fairness, or basic respect.

Update 10/3/2025: Despite the public response here promising a call from GM Ramie Reed, more than 24 hours have passed with no outreach. I also submitted my concerns through FFC’s corporate “Contact Us” form and have not received any response there either. This lack of follow-up only reinforces what I wrote originally — dismissive at the local level and silent at the corporate level.

Update – October 7, 2025: After multiple follow-ups across both South Loop and West Loop, not a single FFC manager handled this situation professionally. The South Loop GM was openly combative and dismissive, then told me to contact West Loop since that’s my “home club.” The West Loop GM eventually called days later, equally argumentative, admitting the South Loop GM behaved unprofessionally while defending the same irrational policy. Hours after that, the Member Experience Manager made a single late call and sent a templated “we tried” email. Corporate still hasn’t followed up despite promising to do so days ago.

What started as a reasonable question about a small, safe gym bag has revealed something much worse — a management culture built on arrogance, avoidance, and zero accountability. My partner and I have now cancelled our...

As someone who's frequented about nine gyms across the Loop and South Loop, I decided to take the plunge and spend the extra money on an FFC membership, hoping for a premium experience. Unfortunately, my time here has been largely disappointing, riddled with issues that fall short of what one would expect from a gym costing around $200 a month.

Firstly, the gym's temperature is often uncomfortably warm, particularly in certain areas, which can make workouts less enjoyable. The wear and tear on accessories and machines is often highly visible, suggesting that replacements aren't happening as proactively as they should. In terms of fitness classes, only one of the three instructors I've encountered has been diligent about walking the room, correcting form, and ensuring injury prevention.

However, my biggest frustration by far has been FFC's slow and inadequate communication, and the direct impact it has on member service. A prime example is the revolving door at the entrance. A sign clearly states it's "out of order," yet members are actually required to use the app for entry. This crucial information is never communicated to new members or first-time visitors from other locations. As a new member, I innocently followed someone in and was immediately profiled before even attempting to approach the turnstile. While they did apologize, this entire disheartening incident could have been entirely avoided with clearer communication from the outset.

Another significant issue arose with their personal training services. It took a frustrating two weeks for the gym to connect me with a personal trainer. When I finally got to work out with him, he presented a new member offer for training packages. To my dismay, the gym wouldn't honor the special because I had to commit within 30 days of joining. Despite my complaint that their slow communication had eaten up half of that crucial window, they wouldn't budge, causing me to miss out on the offer.

My final grievance came when I needed to pause my account due to water damage at my home. I was going to be out of town for repairs and requested a pause. Their response? It was "too late" to process before my next payment, which was a full 11 days away. It's truly baffling that 11 days isn't enough lead time to pause an account.

Despite these significant frustrations, the only reason I haven't canceled my membership is Anthony Brown. He is an amazing personal trainer who consistently pushes you, educates you, and shows genuine care and concern. Having worked with six personal trainers over the past five years, I can confidently say he's my favorite. His dedication and expertise are a true...

Unfortunately, I found that it was easy to start a membership at FFC, but very difficult to change it. My wife and I were members; I attempted to end my membership after about 18 months, while continuing hers. At first I heard from three successive South Loop employees that I would have to come in because this type of change was too complex to handle over the phone. Since that seemed odd, was not a viable option for me to meet when the right membership employees were present, and definitely was not what the guy who signed us up as members said we would have to do ("just call me" he said; yeah, right), I kept elevating the question. I finally received an email from "billing" with directions that I would have to cancel and my wife would have to establish her own membership. A few days later, she visited the club, heard from an employee that my membership had been cancelled, and provided a new credit card number to bill. However, two days later we received another email that explained that, in fact, her visit (and the South Loop employee's stated understanding at that time) was not good enough, that my wife had just managed to change the account billing, not the account itself. We would have to try again, and apparently select from the inconsistent voices at FFC the correct path to make the very simple change we sought.

It is hard for me to believe that this sort of customer-unfriendly system exists. It seems pervasive in the health club sector, even as it is fading from view in all other areas. Even cell phone companies don't require contracts or onerous hoop-jumping efforts to change the type of service an individual receives. Yet FFC does. Eventually, health clubs will change too. Disappointing that it hasn't...