LA Fitness — Local services in Lake View Township

Today MARCH 20, 2017 I came in to sign up for my membership. I paid $179.00 CASH for my membership today. I worked with Donald and Eirv to get me going. After I paid my money, most of it in singles because I'm a server for red lobster and I get paid in tips, Greg came over to Donald they both were standing, Donald facing me and Greg with his back to me, and whispered something in regards to my payment which Donald replied no no it's all there. I laughed and said sarcastically- verbatim: " Man you have to be careful with the side comments." Let it be known that Greg as the General Manager still hadn't even greeted me, said hi, thanks for your business, I'm glad you're here, my names Greg NOTHING AT ALL to me. It was alarming to them because it wasn't expected. EVRI was taking care of me sitting directly in front of me asked me what happened I said I was fine he pressed a little and I said everything was ok. We left it at that. By this time I signed contracts, I paid my money, I had a key tag assigned to me and everything and was about to go to the locker room. Donald came and caught me and asked me to come back to the desk, I complied. Greg was at the desk dealing with my money which he had laid out on the table. Apparently they didn't need me for anything and I go back walking towards the locker room. Please keep in mind I just paid almost 200 dollars in cash to become a memeber. Greg comes running after me and stopped me, this is the first time we had a personal interaction. Greg asked me was I offended by something that was said, I replied simply: " no everything's fine". Greg pressed me: " if anything was wrong I'm asking you now so that it can be addressed." I replied " no everything's fine I have nothing to say. Greg continued to press: " then what was with that comment?" I replied " nothing it's nothing to address it over im fine." Greg continued " it has to be something because you wouldn't have said it. I replied " it's nothing you can't make me say it's something if I said it was nothing and don't ask me again." Greg tells me to leave the location and get my money which was still laid out on the desk. This exchange happened near the locker room away from any of the employees so non of them can testify on what happened with me and Greg's exchange. I never challenged Greg, I never Cursed him or made a scene, I didn't belittle him, I didn't cause A disruption, I wasn't rude to him, I didn't even deal with him until that exchange and he put me out and embarrassed me in front of his staff and anyone else in earshot. I had a good experience with Donald and EVRI, Friday I was suppose to meet with Bret, who came over personally to greet me, for a 1 on 1 session. I met the guy at the protein bar Jay and we was nothing but friendly to each other. I'm a good kid and I come from a good family but I feel like I was judged and belittled and mistreated by Greg. If I did have a problem and felt offended that's definitely not how you get it addressed. After I got my money, I didn't make a scene I did exactly what he told me to and I left. I came back 3 mins later and asked for his mangers information, Greg instructed his staff to disperse and gave me his card and no way to get my complaint in. He told me verbatim " You are barred from this location and if you come back I'll call the police." I just can't fathom being treated the way that I was by someone who was suppose to be a professional. I won't stop until I hear from someone personally on...

For some reason I expect the gym to be clean when I go at 5am since that is when they open. Nope- Yesterday there was so much dirt on the bottom of the pool I'm not sure when it was last cleaned and 4 - yes 4- band aids in the pool area. I almost stepped on one. Disgusting. Also when I go in at 5am the weight room is usually a mess with equipment all over, it looks like the end of the day. I'm not sure why they can't hire people to clean when people aren't there. I expect a clean gym. The whole reason I go at that time is because it's not as crowded. I've also had a few times when the person working was late, leaving me standing in the freezing cold for 7 mins until they decided to show up. This is also annoying because morning people are usually in a time crunch to catch a train after their workout so every minute counts.

Going back to the pool- apparently they don't use chlorine so it gets very cloudy and sometimes hard to see if you are going to swim into someone. They also need to learn how to tighten the lane lines properly because when it is really crowded they wave back and forth and you are bound to hit them even if swimming in a straight line. They also don't seem to know that tightening them will help reduce waves. I've asked for flags on the ceiling for backstroke and they looked at me like I was crazy. I've hit my head a few times cause it is hard to tell where you are if you aren't used to the pool and not counting strokes- good thing I have a lot of hair in my cap and I hit my bun... I also asked for kick boards and pull booeys- no luck... I don't think this is a crazy request but apparently it is. So be prepared to bring your own equipment.

It would also be nice if there was SOME privacy between the pool and the rest of the gym- if I need to bend over to pick up my stuff when I'm leaving I'd rather not be sticking my ass up for people to see, and I don't think anyone wants to see the cellulite on my thighs either....

Ok the gym part- the cardio area is extremely hot, especially when it is crowded. There is absolutely no air circulation and few machines have fans. I have actually started bringing my own fan and putting it on the treadmill, even though I must know I look like an idiot, but I've really almost passed out because of the heat in there.

They seem to have a plethora of these really annoying ellipticals that my body can't figure out how to use. Other people use them so I'm not sure if it's because of necessity because nothing else is open or if people actually like them. To me it feels like I am jogging slow motion through mud. They have ones in the last row that are able to incline- which I love- but they don't have moving arm handles! I used to use the ones with arms at Ohio state and it was such a better workout if you need a break from running. I also asked someone there if they could see about getting the crossramp treadmills with moving arms but no luck.

I think my biggest complaint about this place is that there is no comment box. Anytime I talk to anyone I have no idea if they are actually going to tell someone or if they are just ignoring me. At least a damn comment box would probably have reduced this review in half. I would probably look for another gym if this one wasn't next to where I live.

They have implemented one of my requests- there are now hair dryers in the women's locker room. I'm guessing everyone complained...

TL;DR: The most I've been ripped off in my life. They lied, ignored/didn't return phone calls, used fine print technicalities to steal around $1000 for services I am no longer entitled to do, and in order to cancel, there is a one hour window that you have to come in person to utilize so if you work at 1pm on Tuesdays you better call off work or just keep paying.

I signed up for a trainer and it was fine for a month or two until my trainer's scheduled shifted and I had to find a new one. After a month of calling and trying to schedule a new one with 0 of my 11 calls returned, I tried to cancel my $260 monthly payment. I was lied to about it being frozen so they continued charging me. I had to leave town for a month for work and when they charged me again I tried to cancel again but this time they told me that I had to come in person to cancel. I couldn't do that being out of town but the next month I drove to the gym to cancel. Surprise, surprise I was told I wasted my time because only one person could cancel my membership and she was only able to do it between 1-2pm on Tuesdays.

When I took off work to come in for this highly specific schedule she was very apologetic and said not to worry because I could still utilize all of the sessions I had paid for after I cancel. Just call to schedule a time with a trainer. I called 5 separate times on 5 separate days where I would be transferred to the personal training department and either get no answer or be told to call back at another time when they could find someone to schedule me. Then surprisingly I was charged the full $260 again despite being told it was canceled. I called to complain and was told my plan was not canceled as they had said before. After getting stern on the phone and threatening legal action they magically gained the power to cancel my plan over the phone.

After a few weeks of them still not calling me back I decided to go in person to schedule the training sessions I had accumulated. It turns out the fine print says I had 30 days to redeem those sessions and they were "sorry" that no one mentioned it but there was nothing else to be done.

So that's my story. This gym stole a thousand dollars through fine print shenanigans, never called back, made it as difficult as possible to cancel, and never cared in the least about anything...