Princeton Club - East — Local services in Madison

I spent 4 months with a personal trainer and $1205.50 for zero results. My personal trainer's communication was hit or miss. He was flirtatious in the beginning. And kind of a jerk towards the end. I often wouldn't get a response from him until hours later, if at all when I had questions or concerns. But he also wanted me to text him every day to ask what areas to work on. So, I became reluctant to even ask for his help. I asked for help putting together a workout plan, which never happened. Eventually, I started using the app Heavy just so I could have some general sense of what I should be doing and a plan. I still feel pretty clueless after 4 months of working with this guy. And we focused pretty much exclusively on weight training. He completely forgot my reason for why I wanted a personal trainer (basically trying to avoid gastric sleeve surgery after years of trying everything with a doctor and hitting a platue), My progress was never tracked, and weight didn't go down until I went from 1500 calories per day to 1200. And even then, it was only a couple of pounds. My personal trainer basically suggested I was lying about my calorie count and number of days per week I was working out ( 4-5 days per week)because "weight-loss isn't that complicated."

They also have a weird membership policy that if you need to cancel for any unforseen situation ( the option to pause it was never given), you have to wait 90 days before you can have your membership back. So I found myself in a situation where I was only allowed to be there if I was working with my personal trainer. Otherwise, I had to find another gym to work out at. I still can't renew my membership.

If you are a parent with a child who has special needs, I strongly suggest you look elsewhere because the daycare here is not ASD friendly, and they have absolutely no knowledge about autism in children. This is something I explicitly asked about since I knew it was something that would very likely come up. Eventually, my kid was kicked out, resulting in me losing a session with my personal trainer that I paid for. Overall, I felt that both my child and I were not welcome here, but my money sure...

After posting my original review, I had the opportunity to speak with the owner of Princeton Club East, who was kind enough to reach out personally. He clarified that each Princeton Club location operates as a franchise, which means policies, like Kids Club scheduling, can vary slightly from location to location.

At Princeton Club East, they intentionally don’t require reservations for Kids Club because they view scheduling as one more hurdle for busy parents. Their goal is to make childcare easier to access, not harder, which I do appreciate. I also learned that all Princeton Club locations (including East) have a maximum cap of 45 children in the Kids Club, which was something I hadn’t been informed of during my initial sign-up. Personally, that still feels like a high number, but I understand the policy better now.

With that said, I want to reiterate how much I love Princeton Club overall. The facilities are excellent, the classes are great, and the staff has always been kind and helpful. When I was pregnant last year and unable to attend the gym, the membership team was incredibly accommodating and made the process smooth during a tough time, something I’ll always be grateful for.

While I still believe the Kids Club could benefit a well known health policy for children/parents and from more structure or communication around staffing and ratios, especially during peak times, I feel reassured after speaking with the owner that member concerns are heard and taken seriously. The conversation showed a willingness to listen and improve, and that means a lot.

So while I originally rated my experience lower due to Kids Club concerns, I’m updating this to 4 stars because of the care, transparency, and overall quality Princeton Club provides. I’m hopeful they’ll continue to evaluate how Kids Club operates to ensure it’s as safe and supportive as the rest of the...

I have been extremely frustrated with the helpfulness of the Princeton club staff over the last few years. After moving from the west side to the east side I have reached out to them multiple times asking them to send me email updates and closures about the east side, but I still continue to only get updates on the west side. They also don't post all of their special events on the website, so I can't know about things like court closures unless I call before I go. They post the closure only a week ahead of time by the front desk which doesn't always fit in my schedule. In addition there have been multiple times I have been told the courts would be open at a certain time after an event the previous night only to drive to the gym and find it is still closed. This happened again this morning. I called at 630 am and they told me it would be open at 730, 8 at the latest. I arrived to be told it wouldn't be until at least 1030, so now I can't do my planned work out and have wasted part of my morning again. The front desk staff told me that nobody else is available for me to talk to about my concerns and that she is the only one there. I have spoken to east side management in the past and they have told me I can't cancel since I enrolled at west side and thus need to talk to them. West side tells me I can't cancel unless I have a medical reason and that they are sending me their updates via email. Very poor coordination for what is supposed to be a shared membership, that was supposed to be part of the value of the membership. I will be calling again to see if I can cancel after this latest occurrence....