Ozark Iron Gym — Local services in Johnson

I really did not want to have to write this review… I was a member at Ozark for 3 years. I am rating this gym 1 star. I am taking the average of two categories to derive this rating. 1. The gym and 2. The Management. The gym gets 4 stars, and the management gets -2 stars. I took the average to get a 1-star total.

The gym is cool and has everything you would ever need. I have enjoyed working out here for the past 3 years. I began my membership here because I wanted to support a small business. I could have easily taken my money and joined another gym for about ¼ of the monthly membership cost but then again, I wanted to support a veteran owned small business. Unfortunately, the sunshine and rainbows end there.

The management at this gym heavily lacks professionalism and business ethics. You would think a veteran owned business would prioritize these qualities but that unfortunately is not the case here. You can see the lack of professionalism and respect in the Google Review responses from the owner as well as many of the Instagram posts. If you’re not a member of the small powerlifting circle at this gym, you can kiss all respect and kindness goodbye.

My last straw with this gym stemmed from my latest incident. Long story short, I was charged a $15 late penalty for an error that was beyond my scope of control and occurred on Ozark’s end. I have all of the proving transactions through my CC. When Ozark changed billing software’s, my payment info was switched to an old card of mine that expired. It was not the card on file prior to the software change. I called Ozark and after some investigating, I was informed that it was a late penalty for my card getting declined (due to an OLD card that hadn’t been on file prior to the software change.) To my surprise, I was told that they could not do anything about it nor offer me a $15 credit for the following month. They did mention it is a fee charged to them by the billing software agency and they do not collect the fee charged, but I’d expect them to make it right and at least offer me a credit since it was beyond my scope of control. Now, I am being charged $15 from Ozark due to an error on their end and beyond my personal control. Personally, it’s not a money issue but more so a matter of business ethics and principle. I contacted the Better Business Bureau regarding this transaction. This must’ve made Will (the owner) very upset because this resulted in him cancelling my membership altogether. It is comical that they receive a complaint, then cancel a customer’s membership, especially after 3 years. No big deal though, I would rather give my money to a business that respects their clients.

A business’s customer base is their single most important aspect of their business. A successful business shows respect and tries to work out solutions with their customers. Unfortunately for Ozark, this is far from the truth. With Crunch being so close, one would expect them to keep their customers happy. With many new gyms coming to the area (The Forum Barbell in early 2024), Ozark will be a small fish in a big ocean. They need to get their act together if they want to stay in business. I know I am not the only one that shares the same complaints. If you’re a college student, I would advise looking elsewhere. I am sure the owner will leave some arrogant and smart aleck response, but to...

I was a member of this gym for four years. Early on in my time at the gym I saw an awesome strength sport community (powerlifting, strongman, weightlifting) and I wanted to be part of it and develop as an athlete.

However, over the past two years, I’ve watched as the gym has slowly mistreated and displaced the larger strength community. There were instances of significant amounts of strength sport-specific training equipment removed, refusing to hold meets/competitions that the owner was previously in support of, cancelling peoples membership without proper notice, unwillingness to directly communicate with members, and hostility towards members who had inquiries of the direction the gym was going. I was generally not treated respectfully as a long-time patron or human by the owner or employees.

If you train for general fitness or bodybuilding, this gym is still ideal for you. There is a wide variety of equipment on that front. However, if you are looking to become a strong athlete and find a supportive gym community that stands out in Northwest Arkansas, I’m very sorry to say that this is not your spot anymore.

Edit: In response to the owner. It is very disappointing to be reminded that when women are direct and confrontational that we are then perceived as “threatening”, having an “attitude”, or “entitled rotten egg”. If someone had informed me that my inquires on equipment had been hurtful to them I would have welcomed the opportunity to apologize and talk it through. Your adamancy of your willingness to talk to members about gym decisions and rectifying behavior is not truthful, as I never received direct correspondence from you or staff about my communication.

I would never have spoken down to or “cussed out” a child. This is severely inaccurate. Again, if I had known that my inquires were hurtful to anyone I would have been happy to apologize and have a honest discussion on intentions. I continue to be open to offering my apologizes and clear up any hard feelings. I sincerely apologize for any bad blood and that my comments have caused. I am also sorry that my questions were perceived as a personal attack, as that was not...

I had previously given this gym a bad review on account of the fact that my membership was terminated by an employee because I had left weights out on more than one occasion; having grown up in a private gym, this was a habit which I had formed, and I did it unconsciously. I would have corrected the habit if I had been made aware of my actions on more than one occasion -- of course, being unconscious of doing something means that one does not know when he is doing it. This is why it would have been nice if it had been brought to my attention more than once.

I still think the termination was unjustified for the following reasons: [i] I was only approached about it once; [ii] I was given no warning leading into the termination; [iii] if either (i) had occurred again, or if (ii) had occurred at all, I would have been inclined to correct the habit. Instead, a particular employee used every violation in order to accumulate evidence against me (taking pictures, etc.), which he used to justify the termination. I do not know if the evidence was authentic (because, as I said, if I left weights again, I did so habitually and unconsciously). So, I think that the gym would benefit from a "warning system". After a member violates one of Ozark Iron Gym's three rules, they receive a penalty (maybe more than one for the third rule); after a set number of penalties, their subscription is terminated. Otherwise, the choice is the whim of an employee such as the one who terminated my own subscription.

Notwithstanding, after exchanging emails with the owner of the gym, I do not think he made the decision, or else was convinced by the employee who gathered the "evidence". Seeing as the employee is likely only working here temporarily, and is the only person responsible for the premature termination, I will leave him out of account. I would rather support a classical style gym (as rare as they are) that allow an expendable employee to shed a negative light upon it.

The subtracted star is for the lack of a proper "warning system". If I ever find out that one has been added, I will edit the review...