LA Fitness — Local services in Livonia

So this might be a bit lengthy, but I've never been so upset before at this place.

Mario Tucker, apparently one of the managers there, has been extremely rude and his customer service skills are abysmal. Apparently guest passes are an insult to him.

Let me preface this by saying a couple things. I go to this gym almost daily. There are a lot of people that I've made friends with there. I am the type of person to re-rack my weights and let people join in between sets if I am using a machine. Since I started going here, I've been friendly with the staff and honest about finding lost items such as money, wallets, watches, $200 Bose earphones, keys etc.. I always turn it in to the front desk. Whenever I get tired of my protein, I like to spoil myself by getting a shake from there maybe twice a week. Not to mention, I managed to convince 4 of my family members to get memberships here.

Basically, I am the type of person you want at this gym. So I figured why not let my girlfriend join me.

Since we didn't want to commit to anything before signing up, I figured she'd use a guest pass. That doesn't cost the club anything. Best case scenario, they get a new member. Worst case, she just doesn't sign up. Literally no money lost, but the potential to gain is there.

She gets a guest pass online and shortly afterwards she received THREE phone calls in a row trying to get her to sign up. She reiterates that she doesn't want to commit to a membership before the trial period. He invited her to come down to the gym to check it out.. so we did.

So we walk up, she scans her QR code, and we wait to be seen by the staff there. There is a girl there that did her job. Asked the questions, but I guess it wasn't good enough.

Girl: "Do you want a membership?" GF: "No, not at this time" Girl: "Do you want a tour of the facility?" GF: "No, not really." Me: "I come here all the time"

So, the girl goes to the back desks and theres a guy with a platter of KFC just chowing down. Do your thing, I guess. Everyones gotta eat.

She comes back and said they wouldn't let her in unless she pays $15. So we're questioning why when Mario comes up to us and says with a twisted face:

"what're you trying to pull here?? There's a whole lot of unnecessary talking going on"

Am I being accused of finessing the system or something? Naturally, I get upset. I agree! There is a whole lot of discussion about this guest pass. It's VALID and she was invited to come here, so what's the problem? He responds with:

"I don't like you attitude or your tone. GOOD BYE"

I am baffled.. is he serious? It's a guest pass. I am not trying to sneak her in or steal something from the club. We're doing things the right way. The conversation with the girl was fine because she was being respectful, but this guy just marches over to us with an accusatory tone.

In the heat of the moment, I told him I am about to cancel my membership. He responds with:

"I don't really care, you can do that at the front desk"

He really wants to lose a member because I wanted to use a guest pass? You wouldn't lose one member, but five including my family members. That's $2040 a year because he didn't want us using a guest pass.

I'll be following up with corporate..

Anyways, we leave and went to a different LA Fitness. We scan our code, they offer her a membership, we tell them she want's to try it out first, they said sure, and we got our workout in.

That's how customer service works, Mario. You service your loyal customers, not accuse them of trying scam or finesse the system when they have a guest pass AND you invite...

March 4, 2015:

After seeing the gym today I felt obligated to add to my review. This gym is filthy and it doesn't appear anything will ever be done about it. The locker room floor is carpet and they clearly never actually clean it, when you head toward the showers there is lint/hair etc all over the ground. The shower curtains have mildew all over them and there are fruit flies filling each shower. It appeared the janitor cleaned the hallway in between the pool and locker rooms today and decided to leave all the filth at the entrance to the men's locker room. I wipe off the mats before and after I use them and typically am left with a wipe covered in dirt (before). I have worked out at LA Fitness in Troy, Birmingham, Royal Oak, Dearborn, Flat Rock, and Indianapolis and this gym is far and away the dirtiest. If not for the location right next to work, I would never use it. Looks like it is time for me to take the hit and work out at the one close to home and deal with the extra half hour of traffic it allots me.

7 months ago

"I have been using LA Fitness facilities around SE Michigan for a little over a year. I was mainly using the Signature clubs in Royal Oak and Birmingham until I started working in Livonia simultaneously to 96 being closed. Due to traffic I typically work out every morning around 6 to beat the rush.

I expected a drop off from the signature clubs, I was not expecting such a drop off in cleanliness. Every morning I wipe the mats before I use them and every morning I wipe off a considerate amount of dirt. It disgusts me that I use the same section of the mat every morning and I am able to wipe off that much dirt. Naturally, I clean the mat when I am done as well, to wipe off all my sweat.

My biggest complaint is that, sometimes I am using the mat after I witness the cleaning lady clean it with her mop; I still manage to wipe off just as much dirt though. Part of it is due to the fact that she uses a mop, part of it is because she never changes the bucket of dirty water she is using, ask anyone in the gym they will tell you.

This is one of the dirtiest gyms if not the dirtiest gym I have ever worked out at, and they would improve dramatically if they hired more help in the cleaning, because it's always the one lady every morning with the same old routine. I wouldn't normally write a review, since I would likely wipe everything I use anyway, but this morning this cleaning lady was actually cleaning the sidewalk outside of the gym, instead of the gym itself!

If somehow the workers there ever think they have extra time to clean something other then the gym floor, it would be nice if they would clean out the filthy lockers once in a while. They won't let you keep your locks on overnight, like most gyms, but it would be nice to put your clothes in the locker one day and not have to wipe the dust and dirt out so your clothes remain clean.

Other than that, there is not much of a fallout from the other clubs, besides the. expected, which is the fact that they do not offer towels. Which you know when you sign up.

Hope this review helps to make this gym a cleaner place, since I know complaining to the people that work there has not...

Shout out to the gym manager Yashica C. I was out of town for work and the first day I came here to scan in the lady at the front desk wasn't about to let me in because my membership right now is only "multi-club" and not "multi-state". You can imagine my immediate frustration because when I signed up at the local location to me in Ohio, I was told I had access to all the clubs (except for signature clubs) nationwide. Luckily, Yashica was at the front desk when this happened, and immediately diffused my attitude in such a calm, professional, understanding tone. I took a deep breath, recollected myself, and explained the situation without the attitude. She kindly offered me to let me come in that club throughout the week and had the front desk lady mark it on my account. She reassured me that she is typically at the front desk during the time I come in, and even if she wasn't, it was noted on my account. In the meantime, I successfully sorted out an agreement with the local location to me in Ohio so my membership can be "multi-state". Yashica C, thank you so much. I really appreciated this. Side notes to some of the other comments I saw. No, the equipment is not out-dated and old! It is definitely newer, robust, and state of the art. And you can't control what other members clean or not. But the gym is very well kept and clean. People break in cars everywhere. Redford Twp is not the greatest of areas. You can't blame the gym for that. Next time, call the cops and get a police report on file, and call your insurance to see if they'll replace the window and any belongings that were taken. No place of business is liable for broken or stolen property. One more thing- if you enjoy lifting weights and it looks like you do, then you obviously know NOT to join Planet Fitness. Yes they're cheaper, but their entire business model clearly revolves around people who need to feel comforted and protected from big bad weight lifters, instead of being pushed and motivated. And what gym has a bowl of Tootsie Rolls at their check in desks, and serves pizza once a month as a reward? That would be Planet Fitness - who judges the strong, in-shape, motivated and disciplined weight lifters, while pampering and hindering the weak's progress to a healthier...