LA Fitness — Local services in Houston

BEWARE OF ULI, JEREMY, AND THEIR PERSONAL TRAINING PROGRAM: I, FOR NOW, am out of almost $800 for no training due to being tossed off to a trainer, Samuel, "that day," who knew nothing about what he was to train me for; then Jeremy tossed me off to Celeste who wanted me to train one day at 2 pm although I had to work, so could not make that PAID FOR schedule (considering she changed her schedule), then I'm getting into my car to head to the gym and receive a call from an unknown number, which was Jeremy telling me Celeste had a family emergency so he'd now be training me for that day, and as I walked in, he's eating at and then I'm in their parking lot and receive a text from Celeste telling me she's running late (no wonder the feeling of her mind being elsewhere), and then I find out I can't schedule any sessions with her because, according to Jeremy, "She's not coming in. I need to find out what's going on with her," only to later learn from Jeremy after walking into LA Fitness, that they fired her due to issues she had with other clients, but they chose to pair me up with her despite all of this and my being adamant that I wanted to work with the same trainer and no one else. I'm fighting for every dime I paid for. I paid $600 for personal training when I only received two classes; they deducted their annual fee two weeks later. I paid for the gym and the room for the compression pads. It's a scam. They beg you to give them a chance, and then they rob you, and my emails will substantiate this. I am beyond disappointed and pissed. Also, they're so overcrowded, so expect to pick a number and wait for a phone call when a machine is available for you to work out. We'll hash this out in court. LA Fitness is a scam against hardworking Americans, including their corporate headquarters, Fitness International, which is headquartered out of California. This was NOT a Celeste issue; however, this was an LA Fitness issue. To tell me she was fired, to me, was a moot point, a low blow, and it had nothing to do with the promise Jeremy made but utterly failed at carrying out.

I failed to do my due diligence; however, if I had read the reviews, there is no way I would have wasted my time. I will get a personal trainer and achieve my goal of becoming physically fit. However, LA Fitness won't be a part of this journey. I did everything in my power and gave them a chance after chance and got to a point where I was all out of chances, and...

Beginning of the year, I found out I would be traveling a lot more for work so I tried lowering my personal training visits from once a week to once a month (which I was told was very easy to do and could be done) in lieu of cancelling my membership on the advice of LA Fitness employees/trainers.

For the month of January, I was told they hadn't changed it yet so I should work out once every week to use what I was paying for. In February, I was told they couldn't switch it from their computer and would have to contact headquarters. I told them that if it couldn't be done I would want to cancel the membership. In the beginning of March, I was told that headquarters didn't approve it. I asked to cancel personal training and gym membership. They told me it was resolved, but that I would still be paying that month for the weekly training. In April, Coronavirus closed the gym, but I didn't get charged so I figured finally it was resolved. No.... in June, they charge me for the personal training and membership. I talk to Brandon, the manager, and he says he is gonna resolve it.

At least twice a week I call to check if it has been "resolved" and every week I am told that Brandon can't come to the phone because he is training a trainer (regardless of the time of the day). I always leave a message and a call back number but never got called back. I stopped by the gym twice, once I was told he wasn't in the gym and the second time he told me he had already sent in the refund request. In July, yes you guessed it, they charge me again for the personal training and gym membership. At this point, it is beyond ridiculous, I go to the gym and wait 45 min for Brandon to finish talking on the phone, being on his computer and talking to one customer (no, not training personal trainers...). Brandon tells me he has sent the refund request that day already. I go home and check and immediately I had received a refund for July. But not for June. I go back to the gym the following day, wait for Brandon again... He tells me he will have a meeting later in the day with his PVC or PRC or some other bs acronym he made up and that this will get resolved and my refund will be processed. It never did.

Days later, I talk to some of the staff and personal trainers I know, and I am told that unofficial LA Fitness company policy is to not refund more than 1 month, regardless of the reason, even if, like in this case, it is...

I've been going to this gym for a few years now. It's a functional gym, for the most part, and will generally meet the needs of someone trying to workout regularly and have access to enough equipment to vary their routine. There are some drawbacks that I think should be mentioned:

The gym is now prohibitively crowded. I like to try and keep muscle groups engaged by doing back-to-back lifts, but this is basically impossible after 5PM. I find myself now regularly walking in circles looking for some open equipment on a day where I'm trying to do multiple exercises for the same group. I now don't even bother going right after work if I show up even 30 minutes later than I'd prefer (~5:15PM, you will be severely delayed). Despite this, they of course continue to contract more members! Experience and quality are now backseat to quotas.

Communication about maintenance is generally poor. Machines are out of service for long periods of time. This may not be the gym's fault, but communicate when we should expect a fix, otherwise it just looks like you're not attentive. (A perfect example are the ellipticals--about 7 or 8 have been down for about 6 months, perhaps longer. What's the deal?)

Etiquette on the part of a smaller number of gym goers is pretty low. Weights are discarded and not replaced, guys in the sauna are doing kickboxing or taking obnoxious calls, even leaving weights in there. Courtesy and community is lacking among enough people in the lifting groups that it seems problematic. Employees are either not concerned, or more likely, don't want to get in a confrontation with someone large or who seems somewhat unstable. This is just a theory.

Of course, none of this matters if you can't even get a bench, cable machine, etc.

For what it's worth, it seems like the basketball folks are having a blast, as are the racquetball and fitness class people. It's not a horrible gym, but it does leave a lot to be desired. Were it not for my cheaper rate, I would likely go elsewhere.

Edit: They’ve now instituted a new policy so the hours of closure no longer apply if you aren’t there an hour prior to closure. I showed up at 7:04 today and the doors were locked so that I couldn’t use the membership I pay for in the hours stated on their own web page. Revising from...