Central Parkway YMCA — Local services in Cincinnati

Unfortunately, my recent membership at the Elm Street YMCA left me very dissatisfied with the pool facilities and customer service. On May 18th, I paid $83.46 to join the YMCA at Elm and Central Parkway. I looked forward to your “saline” pool because I understood that it had health benefits. After swimming in your pool for only seven days my bright, blue, $80 bathing suit turned some shade of grey and the elastic is gone. Another swimmer said her black suit had faded dramatically, too. Then, I learned that the water also, contained chlorine in high concentrations. It not only fades suits, dries hair and skin; but, inflames the linings of the respiratory system and can provoke asthma. This concerns me because I use a maintenance inhaler.

I mentioned the problem to a very, disinterested woman behind the check-in desk, who said to talk to the lifeguard. After she brushed me off, I spoke to a man in the member services office. Then, I talked to the lifeguard, who said “not to pass the buck,” but talk to someone in the front. He checked the chlorine at 5 ppm and said levels between 1 and 2 were normal. He texted the pool services manager/director and; surprise, the same woman from the desk came to the pool. I thought she could have shown some concern earlier since, she is responsible. Three of the seven days I swam, the pool door was locked. Not only I but, other swimmers had to walk around and down. One especially angry member, who had double hip replacement, could be heard all the way to the front lobby. I had to smile at that because she was hard to ignore. I think she got someone to unlock the door. On Sunday, a lifeguard (who apparently had the only key?) failed to show and the pool opened late. The last time I swam there in the afternoon, the pool was forced to close early because the lifeguard (same one?) again failed to report to work. So we all had to leave.

Initially, I tried to gain an understanding of the problem by talking with the staff. When, I asked if chlorine was added automatically or if the levels could be adjusted; no one knew. All the conversations with staff were evasive. No one showed any awareness that a problem exists. As far as when this might be resolved, staff would not give me an answer. Then, I might expect it to be done. This is extremely poor customer service when the pool does not operate during posted hours. I think because of the high levels of chlorine, and lack of commitment to safe operations –locked doors and missing lifeguards, that the pool is unsafe. It should be closed until these issues...

There's a lot to like about the YMCA and there's also a lot to like about this facility in particular. The biggest part of it is the restorative work that's been done on an old iconic building. It doesn't look like a traditional gym, the people that designed the place struck a nice balance of creating a classic modern vibe while also putting in an abundance of first rate exercise machines. The lengthy cardio, stretching, low impact, and exercise machine room near the entrance faces Central Parkway, offering stellar views, while also separating you from the city.

There's also a nice and under utilized lounge area with nice leather seating. A good place to do a bit of work or to make some end of the day phone calls.

The Y offers an exceptional value. If it weren't a non-profit memberships would likely be around $100, so it's also a gym for everyone. That's the good part.

Now, the other part. Although, they have their own connected parking lot they don't offer a membership which includes parking. The cost of parking is $5 for a couple of hours. If you're going in three or four days a week, well, its no longer a stellar value. The place is largely unsupervised. The men's locker room, the sauna and steam room needs to be upgraded. Important services, that could increase their revenue, like massage therapy and personal training aren't really featured.

The place closes at 9P! The place closes at 9P on week days. Nobody should be rushing to the gym after getting out of work at 6Por 6:30. Open at 6A and stay open until 10P. Members should be able to enjoy...

Update: There are so many broken machines on the main cardio floor that it's become unreasonable. Out of the 6 treadmills on the right, 3 have issues where they won't start at all or the screen on the machine is glitching out and flashing so it's not useable either. Membership dues here are high... why don't they fix and maintain the equipment???

The night front desk workers keep locking the front door significantly before the actual closing time. Like they close at 8:30 pm during the week, and the door is often already locked at 8 pm!

This facility already has extremely limited hours in the evening and night. It's a real PITA to show up for your workout during business hours and find the door locked, and then see the night front desk worker just sit there ignoring you trying to get again, because someone wants to get off work early or whatever.

Please keep the hours that you advertise and stop locking the door before you're actually closed! This is very maddening as a paying member to not be able to use the membership during normal hours just because some front desk worker is cutting corners trying to get off early! Management please address this...