LA Fitness — Local services in Irvine

My first review ever!

I went through your website (LA Fitness) and printed a 2 week pass and spoke to John on 2/21 or 2/22. John went over the 2 week pass, if after 2 weeks I decide to join the initiation fee would be $99.00, plus first and last monthly fee of $29 or after the end of the first week I could join for $5 initiation fee and first and last monthly fee a total of $64.98 with no cancellation fee and no contract. This would apply only to one facility, which is fine because I chose the Michelle and Jamboree location. Was very excited to try out the free 2 weeks, since I had told John that I have carpal tunnel on my right hand and had try several other facilities that did not have the customers services or the right exercise classes for me. I was very interested in the group classes such as the body works plus abs and zumba. He stated how a personal trainer could guide me in seeing what exercises would be best for my upper body. Wow, I like said I was extremely excited since I have not joined a gym in over 20 years, I have been working out in my own gym at home.

I went today ready for my first 8:30 class and was told I needed to check in. I went to check in with Juan and told me I couldn't use the 2 week pass because it wasn't theirs and it didn't have any of my information on it. I told him I printed the guest pass directly from their LA Fitness website and my name was on the pass. How could this not be their pass? He stated they have been having problems with passes being from google? I again told him I went through their website and follow the steps for the free guest pass on 2/19/14 at 1:22 I printed this pass. The print out pass has all this information as well as the email I received directly from LA Fitness.

Juan said again I could not use this 2 week pass and he could give me a 3 day pass. I told him I could not take this 3 day since it make no sense when I have one in my hands for 2 weeks. I told Juan again I spoke with John and the details of the initiation fee, he said no way would the initiation fee be $5 at the end of the first week. That it would be $99, he even stated there was no one there by the name of John, we went over this several minutes and when I realize I was not getting anywhere, I said not to sign me up for the 3 day or any guest pass until I speak with John. Juan stated I needed to go home and give John I called. I said to him this is why I stay away from gym's because they say one thing on the phone and another in person.

In any business I have learned that you never let a new or establish customer leave frustrated and Juan just let me walk away feeling this way. This is a horrible way of doing business and feel very disappointed in LA Fitness.

I arrived home and contacted the Michelle/Jamboree LA Fitness and ask to speak to a manager, guess what they transferred me to John. I spoke with John and told him what happened. He said he was sorry, but there is no way of keeping track of these guest passes since they come form a 3rd party and prices changes almost daily. John said my initiation fee could be $45 after the first week and he would activate my 2 week pass.

I told John I was very disappointed and can't understand how LA fitness cannot manage their guest passes that are coming directly from the website, 3rd party or not. The customer should not have to suffer the consequences for bad communication with their operations dept. This being my first interaction with LA Fitness says a lot of how I will be treated as a customer in the future and I could not sign on with a facility that couldn't help me in my first visit, I advise John.

As of now I will continue looking for another facility that can make it easy for me to be a guest and to ensure we can partner up together for my goal to be in better shape and healthier and for the facility to...

John. Didn't catch his last name or initial. I had to ask another employee for his name since he didn't even bother introducing himself while "helping" me. I'll start by saying I know LA Fitness is a big company, and hourly employees can only do so much when they have to follow LAF's rulebook on what they can and can't do. That wasn't the issue I had. I went in trying to bring my brother and my best friend in under guest passes, one that I was given by a worker for free, and another was my account "VIP guest pass". As I asked the front desk about guest passes, we were directed over to the offices where "John" was supposed to help us. So he was pretty obviously airpod-ed in, scrolling instagram on his phone on the center of the desk not even trying to hide it and not looking up as we walked to him. Had to basically tap him on the shoulder to get him to look up at us and he seemed bothered that we were disrupting his happy phone time haha. Long story short, my best friend had used a guest pass at LAF last June, so according to LAF guest pass rules, you can use another guest pass for a 12 month period. Was disappointed and kind of stuck since we didn't want to pay $20 for a single day guest pass (he has a 24 hour membership and there's one down the street). The main "issue" if you could call it was that this worker "John" didn't seem to care or have any emotion at all. As he was telling us that my "VIP guest pass" can't work since we used one last June, he just started at us blankly waiting for us to say something. Of course, my friend and I asked him if there was anything he could do. It was probably 2 weeks away from the pass "renewing" and we were literally just trying to get in an hour-long chest workout on a Friday. I wasn't sure if employees had the power to "swipe" people in once or give them a tour and let them in just by being nice. Again, I know employees have to follow LAF rules so I get that he didn't want to budge or "couldn't" help, but it was the LACK of emotion coming from this guy. I mean he literally seemed like he was annoyed that we even came to the desk. Eventually after having a silent moment with this guy, we started to walk away from the desk and said bye to my friend. I take a quick glance back at the desk and mind you, it was maybe three steps. "John" already had his airpod back in, his phone back on the center of the desk, and was already back to scrolling instagram. Not even a "im sorry bro, its company policy I wish I could help", just back to his phone time. Not sure how or what LAF tells its workers about the phone time they get while on the clock, but "John" here seemed like he was contempt with the amount of effort he was putting into his job. Overall just sad that "John" was at the front-most desk and was the first face of this LAF when being helped with memberships or guest passes. Could have caught him when he was dealing with something or was just having a bad day, but I can't lie and say that I wasn't disappointed by the lack of "employee...

I would like to First say I’ve been a member of LA Fitnesses for over 9 years and I have never had such a horrible experience than I had with Fitness Sales Manager Andrew V. Andrew V try to use his position as an excuse to overuse his authority. Andrew V accused me of trespassing and was trying to cancel my membership for no reason.Andrew was upset that I asked him if my cousin could get a guess pass and if we could come back to him for a membership at a later time. Andrew did not like the fact that he wasn’t making commission so he started to come at me very aggressively. As a man I know when to walk away from a situation so I left to the basketball court. After he had gotten my cousins situation situated he requested that I come back and give him my phone number or he wouldn’t let me in. I had told him that I had scanned my barcode and that he could look at the cameras or the computer logs. I would of scanned my barcode again but he kept asking for my phone number at the sales computer. I felt uncomfortable giving it to him at that point because he was coming at me very aggressively and was making the situation very hostile he kept clenching and staring at me in an unprofessional manner and kept saying is there something wrong looking to cause problems. It is quite obvious that Andrew V has little man syndrome and must over use his authority as a La Fitness Manager to get a sense of accomplishment in his life. Andrew is so scared for taking responsibility that I asked him for corporate’s number and his name to which he gave me a fake name and fake phone number which is totally unacceptable by an employee who is supposed to follow company policy. I had to ask another employee for his name. This just goes to show that Andrew V knew that what he did was wrong and did not want to get in trouble for representing LA Fitness in such a bad manner and for accusing a paying customer of 9 years for trespassing. I am completely appalled by this situation and would like La Fitness to take a further look at employe Andrew V for his...