Blink Fitness — Local services in Evanston Township

TLDR: If you are using this gym as a cheap option to workout while traveling, you may end up paying more than double what was advertised when it is time to cancel.

Blink offers adequate equipment for a fair price, however, my experience with the front desk staff is responsible for the 3 star review.

I was assisted by an attendant when setting up my account and received a lot of information that turned out to be wholly incorrect when it came time to pay fees. I explained that I wanted to use this gym for the 2 weeks that I was in town and wanted to know if I would have to proactively cancel to ensure that I only paid for the remainder of the month, and not be locked into the following month. The attendant assured me that I could cancel any time and would not be responsible for additional fees at the time of cancellation. I clarified that they meant that I would only need to pay the prorated fee for the remainder of the month I was signing up, then I could cancel and not have to worry about the following month. The attendant said "yes." When it came time to cancel, Blink charged for the following month, in addition to the month I had paid for. When I explained this history to the desk person attending at the time, he said "This is a prorated fee, not a cancelation fee" and that there was "nothing he could do."

On some level, I should have expected the original attendant to unintentionally misrepresent key billing information - they were not knowledgable about basic gym information such as holiday hours and content of the equipment and facilities. However, I found it frustrating that a Blink employee can so confidently tell me key information that is entirely false and would have changed my decision to give this business my money, only to have another employee dismiss my issue without offering any type of resolution.

The gym is adequate, the front desk staff I worked with are not. If I had been charged what was advertised, Blink represents a great barebones option for people trying to get a good workout. However, the price I actually paid puts it is the same category as an upscale fitness club. When viewed through that lens, Blink...

I was a member for close to four years. Within that time my membership remained at the same level. For two of those four years I was randomly charged amounts other than my monthly membership and annual fee (example: $61.99, $22.99, $123.98...). I spoke with multiple managers regarding the unauthorized charges and was told time and time again it wouldn't happen again. Unfortunately, for the past two months I have been charged over $100, each month. After leaving messages for Tracy to help me resolve this and not receiving a call back I took to Twitter, Instagram and even called the 800 number in hopes of having the charges reversed. Finally, I disputed the charges with my bank only to find out someone within Blink's billing office contested my dispute saying the charges were authorized. I am currently out hundreds of dollars for unauthorized charges that I was assured would be reversed. Even after suggesting they delete my current account and re-open a new one in an attempt to separate myself from whatever software/ id10t issue is taking place on the back end, they have done absolutely nothing. I suggest anyone signed up with Blink check all their bank statements closely to avoid going through this nightmare of...

Beware of predatory billing practices.

When the temperatures hit -15, I went in to get a day pass so I could use the treadmill. I was instructed to sign up for the orange pass at $17/month and cancel. That's not how it worked at all.

I was charged $17 for the first month, and then the following month was charged $59. I had to pay that $59 to cancel and "buy out" my membership. I sent multiple emails to customer service explaining in detail that I just wanted a day pass and that I only used my "membership" once as I was back to running outside. They gave me the most unhelpful run around, sending me generic answers that didn't address my original query. It was as if they didn't even read my emails at all.

All in all, I paid Blink fitness around $80 to use a treadmill once. Their customer service completely refused to correspond in a personalized manner, sending only canned responses. Beware of their deceptive marketing, their business model, and the employees and customer service reps who seem to be in the dark about how the billing...