Planet Fitness — Local services in Natick

I should have read through the reviews here before I signed up to this location. I’m had a series of disappointing interactions with the staff and Derek the manager of the location. I agree with the numerous reviews that take about the poor customer service and the apathy of the location manager in make any effort to help me. They were quick to upgrade me and when I wanted to go back to my original plan they said downgrades can only be made by the location manager - who is only in the gym Tuesdays till Fridays 9am till 3pm. I typically go to the gym early morning and this meant I needed to take time off work to go and change to my original plan! This in itself is recidivous. When I finally went at a time that he was around he told me my $10 plan is no longer available and that I would be on the $15 plan. When I signed up I specifically asked if I can go back to my $10 plan and the staff who signed me up for the upgrade said that I can do that at anytime. I only wanted to upgrade for a week since I had a guest who needed a gym during their visit. When I told Derek that this is what his staff told me he said he didn’t know who would have said that and kept repeating that this is the available plan now. When I told him that I’d like to talk to someone in corporate about that he told me go to the website.I asked him reach out to area manager to my back on my $10 plan as I was promised. I had to keep following up by phone and I couldn’t get hold of him. I had to go back to gym mid work day. When I met him he was very rude and very short and kept repeating that the only plan is the $10 plan. Today I went to terminate my contract and the staff were equally rude. When I asked to terminate they said I was too close to the monthly renewal date which is the 17th that I had to pay for another month on the current plan! I said today is the 14th. The monthly renewal is still in 3 days. They said it’s a billing cycle thing and it is too late to cancel without being charged for another month and there is nothing we can do about it! I ended up cancelling anyways. I definitely don’t want anything to do with that gym. Their lack of interest in help me as a customer is very disappointing and it feels they only care about getting more money from me. I certainly do not recommend this location in Natick to anyone interested in joining a gym with decent level of service. Very...

I have been a loyal Planet Fitness member for nine years. My experience has never been great, but it has been bearable at most gyms I have worked out at—something the low fees have somewhat justified.

Until now.

I was wrapping up a workout in the weights section when I saw in the mirror the reflection of the manager staring me down with a very threatening face. I finished my set and, in a bit of a daze because I had never seen this behavior before, asked if I had done something wrong. His response:

"It's 7 o'clock. Gym's closed. Let's get out of here!"

I was appalled, not because the gym was closing—even though I had just started working out at this location and was unfamiliar with its hours of operation. No, my confusion was with the attitude of a manager of a service business claiming to be a "no-judgement zone", a place where you can work out without worrying about nasty attitudes from other customers—or, worse yet, from a manager.

There are normal and decent ways to ask your customers to leave when the gym closes. Staring them down with a mean face as you stalk them behind the mirror is not one of them. Telling them to "get out of here" is not one either. On the other hand, showing some kindness and understanding—especially when they are new customers still unfamiliar with your hours—goes a very long way.

This experience was enough for me to cancel my 9-year long membership with Planet Fitness and simply use my corporate gym full-time going forward. The beauty of having options is that when a business treats you poorly, you can simply take your money elsewhere—or, in this case, save a buck, since a corporate gym is free.

If you are new to the area, there are good gyms with good customer service around. You can do better than this place. Give your money to someone who...

For $10 a month, I suppose it's okay. They have a lot of cardio equipment, but far too little free weight space - 3 bench/squat stations! They should take out the useless circuit area (which is just the same crappy machines they have elsewhere, but painted yellow), which almost no one ever uses, and double the weight stations. Their Ab machines are an abomination - putting an awkward, anything but ergonomic load on the arms and shoulders, that makes getting a decent ab workout almost impossible. They should dump those things and get some normal seated ab machines. The place is too hot. The A/C is on, but it's obvious they're cutting costs by keeping it uncomfortably warm for people working out. The water in the coolers is luke warm or cool at best. Never cold - another obvious attempt to squeeze pennies on cost. I'd rather pay 15 a month, and have better equipment, cooler air and cold water. They could also turn off or way down the overhead music, which is crap. Almost everyone that goes there wears headphones and listens to their own music, but the overhead is so loud you can still hear it even with noise-cancelling headphones. The employees are pretty friendly, but the...