Anytime Fitness — Local services in Cromwell

If you go to the Cromwell location please be weary of the manager Lynn. After arching up my concern, I was ensured she would receive training. But I am leaving this review in case she does not choose to change. Please see the email I sent the area director regarding my experience:

On March 6, 2024, I and a guest went to work out at the Cromwell location. We had gone to this location before with no issue. Because I had a guest, we came in through the unlocked entrance as it was my impression my guest would have to sign in to work out.

The manager Lynn came out to “greet” us and ask if we were members. I told her I was a member with a guest. She said she hadn’t seen us before. And I asked if she wanted me to use the member entrance. She had me leave and reenter through the member entrance. I only obliged to show her that I had a working key fob.

I then asked if we could work out and she let us in. My guest was not asked to sign in. After I started working out, my guest came to me and told me the manager Lynn came to her separate of me and told her there was no guest policy and offered her a membership. I was upset because I am the paying party and she should have said something when we entered instead of approaching with the wrong attitude making my guest feel unwelcome.

I finished my workout and went to the office to ask Lynn if the guest policy had changed, or if it is franchise specific. Lynn could not answer my question. I told her if she works there she should be able to tell me the guest policy. I then explained to her that I’ve been a member for years and the guest policy was explained to me that I may bring a guest during staffed hours and they have to sign in. She then told me it was $10 for my guest to work out. Not really a big deal, but 1. That was not the policy explained to me 2. That’s not what my guest is telling me you told her and 3. You mentioned nothing related to this when you let us in.

She then explained that because we came through the general entrance that “triggered” her to greet us. And after our initial exchange that “triggered” her to look up my account. That was her choice of words. That’s when I was completely upset because why did she feel the need to look up my account when my key fob worked? To see if I pay? So I told her that was out of line and that she would not do that to anyone else.

If you guys want to earn members, you should not be giving a subpar experience and making guests feel uncomfortable. Yes gyms have regulars but this is a franchise and anyone who is a member may walk into any location any day. The account check was completely unnecessary. I told her I had been to many other AFs and have never been treated that way with or without a guest. I also told her I would be leaving a review online which I still plan to do.

Overall, I wanted to bring this to your attention as there are ways to speak to people and ways to earn business. All this experience did was make me want to 1. Never go back to that gym, and 2. Leave the franchise completely. This gym is not the cheapest and to have such a negative experience was...

I Been coming here since 2015. I didn’t think the front desk person could get any worse than the first few but I was wrong when Fred came here. It has been good for years up until November of last year when we got our new guy Fred. The place has sadly gone down hill. The paper towel are never replace even when staff and doing nothing.i know they train people to do travel paths every so often because Everyone else did except for Fred. I would love to wipe down the equipment n dry my hands once and awhile. The equipment was all rearrange in ways that don’t make sense and not very safe. Other member and i have come close to being hurt with it being so close to each other. I hate for someone to get hurt n they come after anytime. The evolve scale that was on the floor for years for all member to use is lock away in one of the offices for only clients to use. I would love to use it again n keep track of my progress like i use to when all member had the chance to use at any time of the day n not just clients at certain times, we all pay good money to use these perks. I brought all this up to the Fred few months ago. I was given the run around and felt intimidated about my concerns which is not very professional I hope someone from cooperate can contact me and look into the situation or we can bump up the time for The next new front desk guy to come in.

Edit: still haven’t been contacted by area manager or owners. Texting isn’t a professional way to contact someone especially when the whole review is about that person. Going to have to write these review on other platforms now. Also over hearing Fred tell potential new members that want to sign up that you have to pay extra and sign up with trainers to use the Evolve biometric is wrong. This is the whole reason he moved it to trick people into paying more to use something that is included for all Members. We had 3 bars to squat bench but one bent and was never replaced months ago. It’s also crazy how I keep getting texts for group works outs since the put this bad review but a owner or manager hasn’t...

Signed up for the 6 week challenge. They say free during advertisements, but ask you for $400 deposit. They tell you, as well as have you sign a contract, that says if you meet your goal you can get your money back or use it towards your future membership. I didn’t care about the money because 1) best case scenario, I love it there and want to continue. 2) I don’t like it, I can get all or part of my money back to use at another gym.

I did not want to continue with the gym because I did not like it for a few reasons. For 150-400 a month, the quality was not there. The challenge itself was disorganized, I needed more direction than I got. Ex// my first personal training session was actually a group session, and I spent more time trying to figure out the app I was suppose to use vs. work out with the trainer. I wasn’t told until 2.5 weeks in that I was suppose to be using that app at the gym. I also hated that the scale is right in front of everyone. They ask you to weigh yourself once a week.. but what if your self conscience...? I can’t be the only one that feels this way..?

It honestly reminded me of planet fitness which is what, $20 a month? One of the treadmills sounds like it’s broken. For the cost of their membership they can fix it.

Oh and when I told them I was not continuing on, they refused to give a portion of my money back. They said it’s in the contract, but it’s not because I took a picture of it. NEVER sign anything without keeping a copy for yourself. They tried telling me that it was in there. They said it clearly states that they money can be only used towards future membership. I’ve literally had to ask my friends and clients to look at it, just to confirm I wasn’t insane.

Load of crock. I’m sorry, but I can’t believe the employees stand behind this program when it’s so clearly a marketing scheme. They fooled me! So I guess money trumps...