Orangetheory Fitness — Local services in New York

I'm writing this review so late because I finally feel comfortable enough to talk about this. In August of 2018, I took my third class at Orange Theory. I was just getting back into working out after an injury and started getting back into working out, and Orange Theory seemed perfect and was on my way home from work. I paid to borrow their heart rate monitors for 2 of my classes: one for the chest and one on the arm. Both times, the heart rate monitor turned off 3 minutes into class and took me off the board. The first time I talked to an employee and they said the armband wasn't charged so the battery died midclass. He was kind and apologetic.

The second time, however, the chest monitor stopped working early on as well, so I went to an employee to tell her about it after class. She (a blonde, white, slim woman) checked the band and said I must have been mistaken about it not working, I replied that all I knew is that there was no heart rate registering on the board next to my name. She then explained to me that these heart rate bands typically don't work on fat or large people, and it was due to my excessive weight it didn't work. I was shocked and so deeply hurt. Not to say that I'm skinny as a stick, but I am a varsity collegiate athlete. I train 3 hours a day, six days a week, all academic year round. I wouldn't say I was as fat as she explained to me that I was. I have used many cheat heartrate monitors independently and I have never had a problem.

I am disgusted by the words said to me by this Orange Theory employee. I ensure you I will never go back to any Orange Theory branch. I will never recommend Orange Theory to anyone, and I will shout this story to the rooftops. It is unjust, wrong, and hurtful. To call a customer too large and too fat to participate in your gym/workout class is unforgivable and unreal. Each time I see an Orange Theory commercial, I feel sick. This experience hurt and embarrassed me more than I can express, especially because it was witnessed by the entire class and the athletes waiting to enter the following workout.

I wish I could get all of my money back. I wish I never even tried Orange Theory. I wish that this employee or any other at Orange Theory understands how reprimandable it is to call someone too fat and too large at a gym priding itself on providing a healthy workout. I dearly hope this will never happen to any other patron. Shame on you. Shame on this whole branch. I was and continue to be hurt...

The absolute worst costumer service experience I've ever had !! I almost never write reviews, but felt I needed to write one for this situation.

I, an OT member, went to a class at this location (it's not my home studio) on my birthday with my sister (who is not a member). Two days later, we were charged $55 without any type of warning. OT advertises that your membership is valid at any of their locations without additional charges and that first timers may take a class free of charge.

So when I saw the charges, I called and spoke to the studio manager, Renata, to ask her what the charges were about thinking there was some type of confusion. She proceeded to tell me that the Manhattan location does things differently and that I should of known that I would get charged regardless of if someone told me or not. HOW was I supposed to know of charges in advance if the website says absolutely NOTHING about additional fees and no one had told me when I booked the class over the phone, before we took the class that morning, or even after we took the class ? There were 3 opportunities for someone to tell us we were getting charged, yet no body ever did.

I asked her for the corporate number. At first she said she didnt have one. I expressed how weird it was for her not to have corporate's number considering she's a studio manager. Then, she said she was too busy to give it to me at that moment. When I offered for her to call me back with the info (since Orange Theory does not have their corporate number nor email on their website), she said there's no reason for her to call corporate since she would add a complimentary class to my account. After I told her I did not care to have the comp class and just wanted corporate's number, she said verbatim, "Find it elsewhere because I'm not giving you the number. BYE" and hung up on me.

My issue is not that I Iost $55 by any means. My issue is that a company cannot: charge you without telling you ahead of time then dismiss you when you kindly confront them about it.

I've been charged for other things randomly before by OT but since they were much smaller charges, I never cared enough to call and inquire about them.

The shadiest company I've ever dealt with, honestly. And Renata has no sense of customer service...

I was hesitating between giving it a 3 or 4 stars, but went for 4, as this schizophrenic workout and fake science is personally not for me. But the trainers and facilities are excellent. So more in detail now:

The pros: clean gym with excellent equipment. Most of the trainers I took class with were high energy and were really motivating. Music was great. You get free towels, there are 3 toilettes and 4 showers to change, though can get quite busy in peak hours. Overall it is a good HIIT. I definitely sweat and burnt calories. The gamification of the workout can be motivating as well.

The cons: I know they say the workout is driven by science, but I feel it is driven by profit and how many people can you squeeze in a class. The workout is split into 2 parts: 1 - treadmills and 2 - rowers / plyometrics and weights. My problem is that you do not do anything right. The rowing part is a sad joke. I have not seen such bad rowing technique and am questioning what's the point of including it there. The treadmills are treadmills. They never excited me. The whole "run one minute and increase your speed for the next minute" type of exercise makes me so bored I start to do my to do list for the next day. The floor exercise is fine and probably the only decent part. The problem is that the trainer is juggling in between the two parts and cannot correct or explain anything sufficiently. Also the whole monitor thing I feel is a scam. On the screen I saw people burning 900+ calories in a class, which I am sorry, but sure.. .it is far away from the most intensive classes I've taken and I barely burn 700 in other classes. Outside of the trainers (great), the rest of the staff is bored and apathetic, but that doesn't matter.

So overall, I bought a 10 pack of classes and hate the workout. Trainers are great and if this workout makes sense for you, go ahead.if I would compare it, would be similar idea to Rumble and Barry's. For me, there will be...