Crunch Fitness - Ft. Greene — Local services in New York

I’m writing this review to warn others about abusive behavior by staff at this location. I asked the receptionist if I would be able to downgrade my membership from unlimited to just single location. I was told to wait for 10 mins for a manager, but an employee who I thought was a manager was standing right there. I asked the receptionist if he was a manager and they said no, but he said yes. He was the only person who was professional during the interaction. He ended up stepping in and beginning to process paperwork. While he was processing paperwork the receptionist made direct and aggressive eye contact with me and wouldn’t stop. I was very uncomfortable and I brought it up to the manager filling out the paperwork. The GM named “Eric” overheard what was happening and jumped in, but immediately directed me to “go over there and sit down” in an aggressive tone. I’m sorry… who is the customer here?! I’m also not the one glaring people down EVEN THOUGH there’s been dishonesty on the part of staff. I decided to wait and talk to Eric. When I talked to Eric I brought up being stared down (which the employee did again while I was sitting and waiting) and he immediately tried to gaslight and say that they weren’t staring at me, even though he didn’t see what was happening at all. He was with another member facing the other direction. I asked if we could move somewhere more private to try to de escalate while this was sorted out. We walked over to a different area where I expressed how I was feeling about the interactions. This time, Eric decided to believe that the receptionist had been staring me down, but now said that they had a right to do that. Really? You have a right to stare down your customers? At this point, I had gathered that this was not going to be a productive interaction going forward and asked for a contact above Eric. Eric said that he was the top person. I asked if the club was a franchise. He said “yes”. I asked if he owned the franchise. He first said “yes” I asked again to clarify and he said “no”. I asked for an email to contact someone higher up and he said “I don’t need to give you than information”. At this point, I decided to ask about just cancelling my membership. We walked over to an iPad where he had me put in my barcode number and begin to process the cancellation. I asked if the Park Slope location was under the same management. He (Eric) said “yes”. I asked for the contact information of the person who oversees both locations and he said once again, “I don’t need to give you that information”. At this point, I let Eric know that I had recorded him saying that I would not be able to get the contract info. I did not intend on cancelling my membership, but as a result of gaslighting and abusive behavior by staff, that is what happened. Ultimately, this gym is in a convenient location and it would have been great to not have had this happen. I do not expect to be treated like royalty at a commercial gym. I expect to be treated with some level of respect. I cannot tolerate abusive behavior.

I would strongly advise against joining this gym. I have a friend who also goes to this gym and he recently told me that the front desk staff was rude and that a male staff member made a sexually inappropriate comment about a female...

I used to love this gym, like John Legend’s “baby when I used to love you, there’s nothing that i wouldn’t do”. I had my first crunch membership in 2005 at their now closed flagship gym on Layfayette in Manhattan. I’ve seen a lot of changes over the years. I now literally live across the street from this gym. There is nothing going on. This was at one time the premier Brooklyn location, now it’s less popping than the Crunch Essentials. This location has less classes than Crunch Essentials in Brooklyn with a price-tag 5 times more, literally 5 times more. It’s starting not to make sense. All industries are recovering post Covid. In the Fall my membership was raised to cover rising costs, but we have less amenities and higher monthly dues. This makes no sense from the customer’s perspective. I like so many Fort Greene residents don’t know how much longer I will be a member if they don’t start to improve. More classes with quality instructors are what people want most. Something in the morning before work and something in the afternoon right after work. Politics are killing this gym. There are two instructors who have no idea what they’re doing. How they still maintain multiple classes on the schedule while excellent instructors have their classes cut defies logic. When I say these instructors don’t know what their doing, I’m a physical therapist who has spent more years than I’d like to admit becoming proficient with the musculoskeletal system, they really don’t know what they’re doing. Sometimes people may go to these lackluster classes because they are literally the only class on the schedule the entire morning on specific days, but they are so horrible, I don’t bother. My constructive criticism to the management. Go back to basics.Bring good instructors for morning chisel or morning spin before work. Bring good instructors for afternoon chisel or afternoon spin. The word will spread and people will come. If a manager is not the best instructor for a particular class, do not have them instructing that class. Clients will become turned off and look for alternatives. Merit based group fitness teaching opportunities. There was an excellent Diesel instructor on Monday mornings, she’s gone, the entire class is gone, but the Tuesday morning class which consistently has less attendees is still...

Do NOT go to this location. Honestly, the interior and equipment are fine for the most part, if maybe slightly cramped and dark. The customer service, however, is terrible. Due to some paperwork mishap when transferring my membership, I was being charged an extra $20 per visit in addition to the monthly fee. I easily had several hundreds of dollars in charges racked up over months, and I was told every time I inquired they'd be removed. Months later, they canceled most of them, except for the ones incurred in the second month. When I asked about these charges, they kept saying there was a delay in transferring a membership, so these charges were valid. I argued I was told the delay wouldn't be an issue starting the next month after I joined, but they said it was just an estimate, and in fact it took an additional month to process, which I was never told about.

I was told the first day to not come in until the next month because of a possible delay, which I did, but still got hit with these charges. What was I supposed to do, keep paying for a monthly membership and call in every day to ask if it was safe for me to come in? I never got a confirmation of my transfer, either in person or in writing. I ended up paying almost $100 in these fees and cancelling my membership.

DO NOT GO HERE. Your workout experience might be fine for a while, but as soon as an issue arises, you'll wish you went someplace else instead. If you don't believe me, that's fine -- just read any of the other reviews of people who were slapped with fees and poor communication from the billing department.

I've been to another Crunch location, and I actually really liked it. I've really got nothing against Crunch itself, but I've been warning my friends and neighbors in the area to just stay away from this...