Amped Fitness (Doral) — Local services in Doral

Amped’s service seems like a total scam. A few months ago, I went to the location in Doral, Miami, Florida, and requested a three-month membership because my regular gym was under repair. They were very kind, and I signed up for the Plus membership. Behind all that goodwill, they convinced me to hire a personal trainer, even though I told them I didn’t need one. They kept insisting, and when I finally accessed the prices, I realized they weren’t affordable for me since my salary didn’t allow me such a luxury.

Nevertheless, they insisted again and offered me a special plan that included nutritional supervision, virtual training plans, and personal coaching twice a month for $90. They kept trying to convince me it was the best option and even told me I could use it just for the three months I would be at the gym.

Two months later, my trainer left the gym, and I no longer saw the need to keep paying for the service. The plans they sent me through the app were unsatisfactory, and the complementary diet was just a general document, not personalized as they had claimed when offering the service. Additionally, many machines at the gym were broken and in poor condition, which made me increasingly dissatisfied.

I decided to cancel my personal trainer service, but to my surprise, they told me I had to pay a $250 cancellation fee. They never informed me about this fee and took advantage of the fact that I didn’t speak English. They told me to “sign here” and “initial here,” handling everything without explaining the terms properly.

I explained that paying a $250 fee was ridiculous and that I would have never signed up if I had known about it, especially since I was only planning to stay for three months. I could have chosen YouFit or Planet Fitness instead. I felt completely misled and scammed.

The supervisor at that time told me I could only cancel the service once the debt went to collections, which would damage my credit. Since I couldn’t afford to pay the $250, I agreed, even though it would destroy my credit score.

Three months later, I went to the location to cancel my membership, which I had not been using at all—neither the gym nor the trainer services. I found out the person I had spoken with had been fired, and the new person in charge said there was no solution except to pay $270 for the pending months and $250 for the cancellation fee.

In summary, for just three months of using the gym under false pretenses and misleading information, my credit score dropped by 200 points, I now owe $520, and I’ve had the worst experience with the staff and service at Amped Fitness.

I can only hope this nightmare is resolved by someone who understands the situation with fairness and sensitivity. Let this serve as an example to correct mistakes and poor practices, not as an opportunity to foster opportunism.

I do not recommend this place, and if the rest of the gyms in this chain follow the same policies and behaviors, I would not recommend...

I don’t recommend going to Amped and especially if you’re going to sign a contract with them for personal training.

I’ve cancelled my personal training in April but whoever was front desk either 1. Scammed me and made it seem like as if the cancellation went through or 2. Wasn’t properly trained.

I realize then that I was being charged $220 after signing a cancellation contract for personal training, so I called in March and spoke to front desk about it and they stated that the person who took care of me before to cancel the contract didn’t do it correctly. So they refunded me with no issue which took 3-5 business days. I then asked them if I could be sent through email the documents I signed in person when I canceled the personal training and they claimed that there was “no document” and that they couldn’t find it in the system which I found interesting.

Later again, I was charged AGAIN the $220, I called back again and now I’m upset because 1. I’m being charged for a service that was signed and cancelled 2. Once I called them the 2nd time about the $220 they would ignore my calls and hang up.

Their manager is either always in meetings or he’s not there at all. Which is frustrating because who am I able to talk to if their front desk isn’t even properly trained for payment issues involving a cancellation contract.

I had to reach out to my bank after countless of days of trying to reach out to then about this issue and cancel the $220. I had to involve another amped fitness (the one in St Pete) to see if through their system they could send me the contracts I signed because I legally have the right to have them. The manager in St Pete had no issue finding the contacts which once again, I found interesting since the Amped I attended here “couldn’t”. Thankfully I have now the personal training cancellation document and the membership cancellation document as well.

Months later, this week I’m being charged for the THIRD time the $220. This has been the biggest scam I’ve ever heard of because how come after cancelling months before, I’m still being charged for a service that’s not being used. Not once, not twice but THREE times. I tried once again calling them but the first few times my call was ignored and the last time I called, front desk picked up and told me the manager is in a meeting.

These are the main key issues in this gym:

Front desk isn’t properly trained when it comes to cancellation documents (sending to client or even knowing how to cancel a membership) and answering phones. (their phones also always have issues)

Even if you have cancelled a contract with them, you’ll still be charged.

Side note: the equipment there is worn out and could use some...

I've been coming to this gym for roughly 2-3 years now. I was initially attracted by (1) the compelling price tag, (2) 24/7 access, and (3) what I initially thought to be well maintained equipment and facilities. Unfortunately, the reality of this gym has failed to live up to my expectations though not entirely due to their own fault. Allow me to elaborate:

Pros: (a) 24/7 access, however due note that this does not mean 24/7 guest access. Guests are only permitted during staffed hours.

(b) relatively cheap, roughly 20 dollars a month for my basic plan

(c) centrally located for the Sweetwater/West Flagler area, however this can also be construed as a con. See below

Cons: (a) Poor maintenance. I'm not sure who is necessarily at fault for this within the company, but it is frankly beyond unacceptable how often and for how long, machines remain out of order and unable to be used. This problem is exacerbated by another issue below, namely how packed the place gets, as well as the the gym simply not having much equipment to begin with depending on your requirements (e.g. only 4 flat barbell benches and 1 decline bench)

(b) Crowding. This is NOT the fault of the gym itself, moreso being a consequence of the central location and the fact that this is Miami which has a robust gym culture. That said it should absolutely be mentioned for anyone who thinks they're going to go during "regular" hours, the only times the gym is not borderline unusable due to crowding is the middle of the night or late morning/mid-afternoon.

(c) Lack of equipment. I didn't realize just how irritating this would be when I first signed up, but it is one of the most infuriating things to wait 20+ minutes for a bench/rack and once you get there you're now missing the actual plates. Again, not necessarily a problem unique to this gym but it is worse here than it ever was at my previous gym (LA Fitness) which I attended for 5 years at multiple different locations. This problem will obviously be worse/better depending on the specific kind of workout you're trying to do and the time you go.

I've stayed with this gym as long as I have because the price is hard to beat and it's in a convenient location, however with more disposable income and not being in post-graduate school, I'd 1000% devote more money to a gym more committed to maintaining its premises and more exclusivity to mitigate crowding.

If you remove con (a) above I'd make a good argument for this place deserving 3-4 stars since it can't really effectively mitigate the other 2 issues. But as is now, it really only deserves 2 stars...