Crunch Fitness - Malden — Local services in Malden

BE CAREFUL As we approach the time of year where we all like to sign up to the gym for the holidays or as our New Years Resolutions, please think twice before going Crunch Fitness! You will want to read this review all the way through!

I signed up at the Malden, MA facility…

Pros: facility looks really nice and they have a lot to offer! Personal trainer was knowledgeable and was probably the best part of the experience. Staff members appear knowledgeable and nice and make all the joining offers and perks sound wonderful… but its all sales pitch…

Thats where everything turns..

Cons: Brief background…. I am a teacher and was looking for something for the summer months to help aid in recovery post a car accident. I went to Crunch and explained my expectations. Upon signing up I was told they were running a promotion for the sign up fee and yearly fee which makes it an excellent time to sign up, especially since I was not sure if I could commit beyond the summer.

Sounds convenient right?

First couple months were fine, the trainer was helpful.. then at the beginning of August I gave my notice to cancel for September. I called several times and left messages. I was told to put my request in writing which I did. No response- emailed again a week later. Manager emailed me saying I was all set and my cancellation was processed for both membership and PT.

$ 3 separate transactions were charge after cancellation- random charges

I emailed with screen shots to the manager above asking for an explanation… NO RESPONSE

Filed a claim with my bank and put in a stop order

MORE MONEY WASH CHARGED TO MY ACCOUNT a couple weeks later from Crunch in in another city entirely. I called Worcester and spoke to someone on the phone who explained my account was still active and had never been canceled. I was also charged my year sign up fee (the one that was waved in the promotion… so I was told) AND AGAIN FILED WITH MY BANK

Called Malden Crunch to talk to the same manager who supposedly helped me before… She explained the turn over of management and could not guarantee that the staff was properly trained in procedures and policies. ( Mind you, she was the one processing my past cancellation - so who doesn’t have proper training?) She tried to get me to come in for personal training claiming I was charged and haven’t used them. NO KIDDING I CANCELLED A MONTH AGO. They were trying to make it look like I was using the facility so they could continue to charge me…. At this point I am furious!!! Manager claimed she was cancelling the membership (WEIRD SINCE SHE ALREADY SUPPOSEDLY DID WEEKS BEFORE) Knowing there “he said she said game, I followed up with our conversation in writing again summarizing the conversation.

NO RESPONSE

After discussing my experience with many others on social media I have learned that this is a common practice/ scam that Crunch runs. I was even contacted by someone who had moved states and was refused cancellation ad continued to be charged for months… and another person who physically changed her debit card because they were relentlessly taking out money….

Kills me that they are taking advantage of people… Imagine if I had fallen for the “discount for signing up withy your account number rather than debit card scheme”

I am in the process of still filing but I am out hundreds and hundreds at this point. Don’t let them do the...

If you would like a gym where the manager is useful and attentive to your concerns, don’t come to this one. The manager of this gym, Vania is unprofessional. I had a personal training charge to my account that shouldn’t have occurred because at this location because I transferred to another location. So I called this location twice in one day looking for the manager who is the only person that can cancel personal training, who was not there in the location both times when I called 2 hours apart. The second time I provided my name and phone number and was promised they would have the manager call me back who SURPRISE did not call me back. So on the next business day, I went into the gym and I spoke to the manager and she asked for my phone number to look up my account and at the time I had forgotten I had more than one account with my phone number [ I confirmed with employees from another location that if you look someone up with their phone number it will show all associated accounts and the status of the accounts ex if if is active or not]. The manager proceeds to go into the account that is inactive instead of going into the account that is active and told me there were no charges to cancel or history of me being charged, when in reality she could have gone back and checked the other account just in case. Regardless, I understand that things need to be done in person and there are miscommunications or maybe she didn’t notice it or ignored it, but if I’m vocalizing frustration to you and I inform you of this. Like 10 minutes after leaving the location I called back and informed her to check the other account, i was placed on hold for over 12 minutes and had to call back to remind them I was on hold and needed to speak with her. When I finally got her on the line, she brushed me aside and instead of apologize or stating that she had missed it or anything, she placed the blame on me saying it was because one account was with Samantha and the other was with Sam but ALL OF THE OTHER INFORMATION WAS THE SAME. She then proceeds to tell me to come in another day to speak with Alex who set me up with the trainer in the first place. When it shouldn’t be like that, if you are a manger you should be able to deal with the issue regardless of who opened the account. I have had no other issues with any other staff and really liked my trainer, Nate, he is amazing. But there is no reason it should be this complicated to cancel this. So if useful and attentive management matters to you, maybe think twice before coming to this location or just steer...

I was a participant in the personal training program. I had a great experience with the personal trainers but encountered a lot of issues with management and the billing system.

Whenever I approached the General Manager about my personal training program, he would tell me to email him and then not respond to my emails. Since many reviews stated they had billing issues, I wanted a written confirmation about the downgrade of my plan, but it was impossible to get an email response from Mike. I had to email and approach him multiple times about this issue. There should be an automated system that sends out email confirmations of downgrades/ cancellations without us even asking.

There was a particularly frustrating incident with Mike when I had a question about the contract for the downgrade of my Personal Training plan, and he told my Personal Trainer who was completely new to the gym to handle the issue and left the scene. My kind Personal Trainer tried to help me to the best of his abilities, but he was unable to answer my questions or confirm anything because he was new to the system.

When you downgrade your program, they make you sign the same contract you signed when you first enrolled in the program. The contract says you are obligated to a 3 month program, but they ‘verbally’ tell you because it’s a ‘downgrade,’ you won’t be beholden to the 3 months stated in the contract. They should have a separate contract for downgrades that specifically states that clients aren’t obligated to fulfill the 3 month plan and can cancel at any time with a 30 days notice.

Moreover, because they use a third party company to handle the billing, you have to contact ‘First Credit Services,’ a debt collecting company, yourself when you want to cancel your gym membership. (The receptionist gave me their name and number.) For some reason, each time I call, they are unable to pull up my account even when I provide my full name, account number, phone number, and email. They also ask me “how I heard about their company,” etc., which seems very suspicious. Thus, I am having issues canceling my gym membership.

There is a staff member who Mike relies on a lot because of her tenure, and she is rude. I heard her laughing about a bad review someone wrote about her. It’s not surprising that the gym has so many bad reviews when the General Manager and the staff member he relies on are so rude and...