Orangetheory Fitness — Local services in Houston

I have multiple friends who work at Orange Theory’s in Louisiana. So of course, when I moved here I joined one in Houston. I’ve really enjoy the trainers and it is a great work out! A few things you should know before you sign up at this location would be:

1.) If you have an Apple Watch don’t buy their traditional heart rate monitor for now. They released a new heart rate monitor that syncs to your Apple Watch. This location does not have them in yet, so hold off.

2.) Don’t do unlimited. They charge you extra each time you miss. No show cancellation fees are stated in the contract but are up to the franchise owner To enforce depending on the situation. If you want a studio that does take in account of life happening, there are other locations in Houston. Personally, I have now down graded to the 8 classes since I would rather pay $18 for a class I want, rather than $12 for one I don’t.

Example: I was stuck in traffic and waze told me I would be there at 5:35, 5 min late. Knowing they will not let you in, I called them 30 min in advance to let them know that since this was a waitlisted class that I did not think I would get in, I didn’t not plan an extra hour in my day fighting houston traffic to get there. Unfortunately, they let me know they would still charge me. That being said I was still there at 5:35 but instead of working out I downgraded my membership.

3.) Parking is the worst at this location. Spots are very small and fill up quickly so you have to park in the metered parking lot. If you park in the metered area I don’t think that you actually need to pay. I did the first time and a girl in my class said she never pays and hasn’t been towed. So that’s up to your digression.

Over all I love orange theory and I always will but these are just some points about this location...

I realized I was charged a membership fee after expressing that I wanted to leave the studio. When I spoke to one of the representatives she was very kind but informed me that whichever manager was on staff said that the charge could not be rescinded even though it happened the day before I called. My issues are that (1) the terms of the monthly contract were not communicated to me well so I didn’t realize that I was being charged for three months as I had not been in the studio at all since the trial week and (2) I think for this charge the store manager could have at least tried to look at my history with the studio and considered the fact that I hadn’t been at OTF for three months and let this last charge go. I was made aware that if I left the gym and wanted to return my rate would be higher but afterwards there was no reminder or follow up requesting a cancellation form. If anything, someone from the gym could have reached out to tell me the status of the form as I thought I had completed it and forgotten about it entirely. I was out of town assisting a family with post-op care and the gym membership and was not a priority. I wrote to the studio manager and they didn’t care to respond. As someone who’s recommended orange theory to friends and family who are current members, I really didn’t appreciate this and think leadership needs to do a better job of...

I attempted to go to this location today, but when I put in the location in Apple Maps, I was directed to a downtown location rather than at Midtown. I spent 20 minutes running around frantically downtown looking for the location (thinking it was my fault since it was my first time at this studio). I called the Midtown studio and I was told this was a known problem and to use Waze instead (which I don't have). Then, I was "courteously" reminded that I needed to be there in short order to keep my spot. Long story short, I missed my workout. I have since cancelled my membership with Orange Theory Fitness. They really are quite poor at some very basic things (e.g., where is the studio located) and I've had nothing but issues with unhelpful staff or their truly horrible fitness app. I am done. There are many alternatives in Houston and I would recommend anyone to look into these instead of Orange...