Pure Barre — Local services in New York

Really horrific customer service. Their manager, Audrey, turned me away saying that I could not participate in class because I was wearing shorts (lululemon fitness shorts). She would not refund me the class, nor would she add in another class for me to use at a different time. Instead, she hid behind the adhesion contract they make you sign when you first attend, which may or may not state that you're not allowed to wear workout shorts. I wouldn't know since we aren't actually presented with a copy of our signed "contract" (which is a waiver, and FYI aren't enforced by courts anyway). Capris are ok, btw, so I guess there is something about the back of a kneecap that irks these people? Anyway, regardless of how I feel about their bizarre attire requirements, my main issue was how disgusting the manager was. She was cold and calculated, having clearly issued her robotic speech several times before. More importantly, her attitude showed a really poor business sense. I live a few blocks away and have been attending classes daily for years. I generally will frequent flybarre, physique, or figure4 for my uws barre needs, but decided to try purebarre again because of the 6:15 pm class time. From now on, I'll stick to a studio who actually cares about their clients and business. Their policies are arbitrary and meant to unfairly consume their clients' money -- and also are borderline illegal; you can't charge people for a class, deny entry based upon an alleged policy not standard in the industry and potentially undisclosed (or at the minimum inadequately disclosed), and then refuse to give the value of the services paid for. Either give the client her money back or add in another class for that client to use, but don't deny the product for which the client already paid. Really unhappy with my neighbor here in the fitness community. If anyone else was turned away for this reason, feel free to contact me. Cumulatively, if they are hiding behind an alleged fine-print policy and eating clients' $20+ over and over, there may be a class action on the horizon. Oh, and P.S. Purebarre, your "tights only" policy is effectively gender...

I scheduled a free class here, and to my surprise booking it seemed easy. Two days before the class I get a text message saying you have to add a credit card on file 24hrs before the class because they charge for no shows, and if you don't add a card you'll lose the booking. Why not say this when people are adjusting their schedules to commit to the class then? The day before the class they called me and again asked for a card. This seemed shady, so I gave them a card for an old account I no longer really use.

I read the no show policy. It says you have up until 4hrs before a class to cancel or reschedule. If you don't do that or no show, you'll be charged. The order of this next part is where I draw the line. I arrived to the class less than 5 minutes late. I was pleasantly greeted only to be told I couldn't enter because the class had started. That's the strictest grace period policy I've ever seen in my 30 years in NYC including the professional ballet school I attended. However, the front desk person then said she could reschedule me. She was offering me dates and times. I was about to reschedule, and then she looked me dead in the face and said, "ok I just have to charge you for the no show first." How odd to say you intend to charge me for a no show after you offered to reschedule me when I am standing in front of you because I didn't no show. Before I could say anything else, I guess she tried to charge my old card and couldn't. She then proceeded to ask me to put another card on file. I just turned around and left. There are so many studios in the UWS offering similar serviced in the same price range with clearly delineated policies and better customer service. Who knows what they'll make up to...

I have so far taken about 3 classes at this location and it’s been a complete nightmare to deal with some of the staff, namely Megan and Paris. I am using the studio through my health insurance so I am not sure if the reason they are treating me so poorly is because of the third party involved and reduced fee I pay for my classes but the second class I took I was 1 minute late and Megan refused to allow me to enter the studio, despite me having checked in for the class through the app. Mind you, this is my second class at the studio. She was horrible to me and even sent me a condescending email stating that they have this zero tolerance policy for being late despite this being my second class, having no notice of the policy and checking in to the class via the app. She told me they don’t use the app bc that’s corporate and that I could just take a class another time as if I didn’t have other things to do. I also booked the class a whole week in advance. The third time I went to the studio I noticed that a class was missing from my account. Paris told me she couldn't do anything because my classes are through a third service provider so I had to call them because they can't add the class back to my membership despite me only being a member for less than 30 days. I have now been on the phone for an hour with corporate trying to solve the issue. The classes themselves have been fine. I have taken barre at other studios in other states and they were definitely friendlier and more helpful. The vibe at this location definitely feels off and a bit dodgey given the...