Burn Fitness — Local services in Santa Monica

I tried Burn Fitness out because it's very close to where I stay and work. They gave me a free day to try it out, didn't hassle me about joining and let me do my workout without interference. The facility is nice and clean, the equipment feels new and taken care of, the fellow gym-goers are nice and willing to share. Also the nice balcony/rooftop overlooking the third street promenade is pretty cool, except when the smell of the deep fried foods of the promenade waft into the place - torture for the weak-willed.

There are a few things that could use improvement though. Like most places I have tried in Santa Monica, squat racks seem to be as scarce as the fresh water supply (too soon?). There's only one barbell lifting cage, and let's just say it can see quite a lot of traffic at certain times of the day and can definitely slow down your workout. Too many unused machines that could be replaced with more useful squat racks and lifting cages. I've also noticed that some of the staff can be a little distracted at times.

Overall it's a nice gym to achieve gains, but could really benefit from some more traditional weightlifting equipment to save its patrons time. Do recommend, unless you're going to use my...

This is one of the worst gyms I have ever been to. Here's why: 1- The Heat - There are no ceiling fans and so the place is always hot and humid. They have one open balcony but no wind gets in because there are no other windows. No cross circulation. It gets so hot in there I've felt like I was going to pass out from heat exhaustion.

2- The Employees - They have the most unfriendly employees I've seen in a gym. Never a smile, never a hello. There's a blonde haired guy with short hair, a big egghead, and slouching forehead who works in the morning usually. He's completely aloof and ignores people swiping in. On top of that, there are two women working there who just look miserable all the time. They don't even know how to properly open the outside door from the back.

3- The Machines - There is about one machine for any given body movement. Then again, there isn't much room anyway. You find yourself breathing on top of people who are working out inches from you. There isn't even enough...

Beware if you might ever want to cancel your membership! I showed up in person to cancel, was told to email someone, I emailed them. didn't receive a response in a week so I e-mailed again, no response. Tried again the next weekend, again nothing. So I called them and was told I had to email someone else! I got their phone number so I both called and emailed them. Emailed again after a week with no response. At this point I was fed up so I called my credit card to issue a charge dispute. that was a month ago, and now I see THEY CHARGED ME AGAIN! despite the CC dispute on the previous month.

No idea how else to get their attention, other than to warn others on yelp and google. This feels like this kind of behavior should be illegal. Regardless, this is super scummy business practices: avoid...