Crunch Fitness - 54th Street — Local services in New York

My experience with Crunch Fitness at 54th street lasted 6 months. I love the trainers and friendly front desk staff, but the careless, defensive GM and and other management staff leave me unsettled. The facilities are lacking in performance and cleanliness. I have spotted cockroaches and other pests on occasion on the weights floor. Keith, General Manager, comments, "you are a liar... must be crazy or something." I asked specific questions about how machines were cleaned at what frequency a day and how the walkthrough procedures were conducted because I was a manager of a fitness center in SF, CA, and I was met with a long list of reactive comments of what I do wrong with my workout practices such as usage of chalk. I see no where on my contract nor any written rules anywhere prohibiting use of chalk. I was not heard. The response did not pertain to my questions, rather a petty childish conversation ensued in a he said she said fashion, regarding an interaction with my partner and a trainer. Look at the amalgamation of reviews attesting to poor facility maintenance and lack of cleanliness. Keith says, "Machines are cleaned once a day in the morning." Peak hours are from late afternoon until night time. My partner very well may have contracted conjunctivitis/staph infections from the dirty machines, and management is more concerned with us uttering the word "douche" referring to when my partner was followed around the gym by a trainer harassing us to re-rack weights before we were done with our circuit during the slow hours of the gym. There were identical squat racks 10 feet away not in use. My questions were halfway answered and the General Manager decided it was the best solution to have corporate call us and revoke our memberships. Not once did he offer to check in with staff or offer to have more routine machine cleanings. This was funny to me because he first told us during the beginning the conversation that there was no corporate number for us to call. Shady, we called our old Crunch in LA and we got the number right away. Corporate's HR department has a full mailbox, go figure. We will be charged for a whole month's worth of membership for something unused. Legally, that is called impossibility of service, which is grounds to terminate our contract. Seem like a...

I give it one star just because of the management. They don't know what they're doing. The men's locker room's steam room has been closed for 3 weeks and was supposed to be working today. In the three weeks I saw no change to the steam room other than it was just off. I was hoping they would take out the wooden benches that have nails sticking out the sides and on the verge of collapse, but no. Who puts wood benches in a steam room? A dry sauna, yes, but not when they are gong to be wet 15 hours a day. Anyway, I called yesterday and the girl at the front desk put me on hold and then told me that yes, the steam room would be on today, June 1st. I arrived today and nope, still not working. While I was there I called the front desk to speak to the manager and was put on hold for 4 minutes while the guy at the front desk (who spends more time on his mobile then doing anything else) tried to locate the manager. He said he couldn't find him and then he said he just walked in the door, I said great, I'm upstairs waiting to talk to him. Guess they guy at the desk didn't realize I was in the building because all of a sudden the manager had a client and couldn't talk to me. I tried to find the manager on my own because I want a refund because this is the only location that I'm a member, but no one knew where Keith was, it was like "Who's Keith?" This is just the latest issue. In the past month alone I've had the laundry lady take a break and watch the TV news over my head while I'm trying to work out and the older guy who teaches a spin class take a break and sit with his little computer and read and relax two bikes down from where I'm working out! For over two years that I've been a member there, at least 20 days a month I'll go there after work to find no towels in the locker room. That's ridiculous. They can't figure out how to keep the towels stocked in the men's room so the men don't have to go into the ladies locker room to grab a towel? I've had to walk out half naked, go to the laundry room in view of other members working out to get a freakin' towel. Way to treat your members. You guys are...

short: great location for people that love stairs and working out without air conditioning. The only reason I tolerate this poorly managed location is because Mitchell is an amazing dance instructor.

long story: My dance buddy Sam recommended that I go to this location for Mitchell's dance class on Sundays. Mitchell is a character. I don't agree with everything he says, but overall, he seems to have unlimited energy. He is great at making any person at any dance level feel welcome and supported. It's been several consecutive Sundays that the air conditioner is not on, and Mitchell is not able to turn it on because the management locks him out of the controls. At least Mitchell cares, and we all suffer through it as a team. It's ridiculous for the amount Crunch charges to members to not let the class instructors turn on the air conditioning. My personal trainer is out of town for the holidays, so I signed up for the boxing class on Saturday. I even purchased hand wraps that are required. I could feel from the start of the class that the air conditioning was not on. I assumed it wouldn't be much cardio, so I thought I could tolerate it, but the class turned out to be much more cardio heavy than I expected. I asked the instructor if the air conditioning was off. Unlike Mitchell, he told me to go talk to the front desk if I have a problem with the ac, so I left the class. I stopped by the front desk and asked them why the air conditioner is off every Sunday. The guy told me that the only person that has access to it is the operations manager, and when that person is out, no one can turn it on. WTF kind of operation is this? Crunch has classes seven days a week. People are paying over $100 a month, and no one can get an air-conditioned class the days that person is off? The management's practices are unacceptable. This is not Planet Fitness or Blink. I only go and recommend the dance class with Mitchell.

For anyone looking for great classes at Crunch I recommend the following: Michael A -...