Nike Running Studio - Santa Monica — Local services in Santa Monica

Let's keep in mind this is a Nike product. So you'd expect a company like Nike to gets things right and offer something great. The workout itself is good. The instructors are awesome and the workout is good. But there's about 100 different gyms in LA that offer something similar and just as elite. So let's get to the other stuff. Nike uses a bait and switch and buy now or we'll keep raising prices tactic for membership. I purchased as a founding member at $129 a month. I was targeted at a $99 rate and while chatting and deciding about joining the price raised. I signed up anyway but then literally the day after I signed up saw them targeting again the $99 rate. I signed up October 2023 mind you so about 10 months before they actually opened. The sales rep told me he promised he would do me a solid and get me that $99 rate but I'd need to wait until they opened and he'd adjust it. then when the gym actually opened I found I was still under a $129 rate. At this point I didn't want to fight this point as I knew I wanted to drop the membership. So let's get to cancelling the membership, it was such a chore. It should be one call or text or a button in the app. But no, I had to call text and email as no one responded within 24 hours. I know they are busy. I think they have something like 800 members right now. So they don't need my money. But they make it so hard to cancel. It was about 4 days of no response of me patiently using each communication channel one at a time because I thought maybe no one saw my message. Finally, I had to talk to the manager to cancel, this was the only way to cancel and I had to get her attention by going to the studio in person to flag that I wanted to cancel and was told I needed to speak with her as she's the only one that could do it. We played phone tag for a while because she would message when she should call and when I messaged back a time she wouldn't call at that time. This went on for a few days. I finally saw her call and had to drop a call with my friend so I could make sure I got her and got this cancellation finalized. Goodness. Nothing against any employee here I know better than that. This is Nike and this is result of policies they put in place as a large corporation that is run by consultants who don't know much about fitness but know a lot about strategies for profit maximization. Finally, they offered a $50 gift card when signing up and a swag bag but it was full of low grade products and was nothing special. Stuff that you'd get for free at a giveaway stand. And the gift card sounds nice but it's only good to use at the running studio not just at any Nike retail. Good for them cuz we are in the USA and capital maximization is what moves stocks. But I'm...

Edit: the membership is supposedly cancel any time but I’ve been trying to cancel my membership for 3 weeks and haven’t been able to. There is no way to do so on the app and you’re just directed to customer service. I’ve called during business hours and left voicemails and nobody has ever picked up the phone or returned my call. I’ve never gotten an email back 3 weeks later. I’ve tried following up via email again and still nothing when the auto-reply says to expect a response within 3-5 business days. I’m shocked Nike would flop this bad with such an unprofessional establishment. Now my membership fees will be renewed and I’ll have to contest the fee with my cc. I really regret trusting the studio enough to sign up for the presale membership without trying it out first…

Update: A month after I initially reached out to customer service to cancel, I finally got a response. They were apologetic for the delayed response and to make it up to me they promised a free additional month of my membership. I appreciated the gesture even though I don’t plan on working out at their studio again. Well guess what…I was charged for this additional free month. When I saw the pending charge I assumed it’d be waived but it never was and I filed a dispute. The incompetence from Nike here is actually stunning.

Original review: Supportive, clean environment. Though if you’re more physically fit it seems like their programming is very conservative with what they ask of you. I was able to run the max speed in the range asked the entire time and even went above it near the end when I had a lot left in my tank and yet I wasn’t even in the top 3 leaderboard. So it seems like it’s just up to you to push yourself and pick your own numbers if you’re on the fitter side. This is a steep contrast to a very similar workout at Barry’s just down the street where I can barely keep up with the running speeds in the middle range on a good day. For someone newer to running this might be a less intimidating environment than Barry’s then if you’re deciding...

Just DON'T. I'll start off with the easiest reason - they don't let you cancel anywhere except for emailing, and hoping someone responds - even then they will try to strong arm you into keeping your membership.

Reason number 2 as to "just don't" - the idiotic policies and rude staff. There is a 5 minute policy - if you show up 6 mins late (bc let's be honest, life happens sometimes) you will get locked out of the lobby, and charged $15 - which they will not refund even if you're there and the class is nearly empty. God forbid they show someone trying to improve their fitness any grace. Despite all of this - even if you accept the $15 charge, and see there are only 5 people in the 6am class - they still won't let you join even the back of the class.

Celina, their trainer was extremely rude about this (at least the front desk associates were kind). Thank you for ruining my morning, and leading me here.

My message to management: you're running a struggling fitness studio, that can't fill a full class - not an NFL team. Put in policies that work for your members when they're having a rough day, that don't make their day even worse. If you were kind, and instructed your staff to be kind as well, I'd still be a member today instead of writing the truth about this place so others don't find themselves in the position I'm in.

Lastly - I've frequented 100s of studio classes from all the major brands over the years SoulCycle, Barrys, pilates brands, F45 - I have never had these experiences...