LA Fitness — Local services in Stoneham

DO NOT EVER COME HERE! I cancelled my membership in person on July 30th, 2024 and was told my membership was cancelled, yet found out recently they have been charging me for the past year and misinformed me that my membership was cancelled when in actuality it was not.

On July 30th, 2024, the manager on the floor at that time was the one who helped me, though I did not catch his name. He sat me down by his desk and proceeded to try to convince me to stay, even offering a free personal training session. I declined, and the conversation lasted around 20-30 minutes as he told me he was processing my member cancellation. He clearly stated to me that he completed my membership cancellation and I was “all good to go” and would receive a confirmation of my cancellation via email. The email unfortunately never came, and I did not discover the recurring charges until June 15th of this year.

I went back to this location on June 25th, 2025 and wanted to speak with the club manager about the fraudulent charges over the past year. I spoke with Kay, who was the manager, and told him about the situation. Kay told me that he saw on his computer that I did attempt to close out my membership on July 30th, 2024 on his end. He told me to call the LA Fitness billing department, and I asked for a printout of what he was seeing on his desktop so I could present it as evidence when talking to the billing team. He denied me a printout of what he was seeing, and assured me that if he was able to see it on his end, then the LA fitness billing team would no doubt be able to see the attempted cancellation on July 30th, 2024 as they share the same system. I then left and called the billing department, and I spoke with Emily from member services.

I spoke to a representative Emily from Member Services at 3:37 EST on June 16th on a recorded line and she repeatedly denied seeing the attempted cancellation on July 30th 2024, though we confirmed with Kay, the club manager, that there was an attempted cancellation on that date just moments prior. Emily then tried to tell me that they had sent an email on July 30th, 2024 containing a form that I needed to print, fill out, and mail to confirm my cancellation and that it was not a receipt of my cancellation, but I never received the email. I was informed by the manager who cancelled my membership that this email would be a cancellation receipt. Nonetheless, the email never arrived and Emily repeatedly told me that this email should have arrived in my inbox, though I checked my spam and trash and confirmed my email with her.

I have repeatedly asked Emily to let me speak with a manager from the billing department and she kept denying me to speak with one, assuring me that although she was from the member services department, she was still the best person to talk to. After some back and forth, we did not reach any solution. She refused to refund me the nearly $300 they have been fraudulently charging me for. I then was informed by Emily that only operations managers at LA fitness have the authority to cancel memberships. Then she told me that “the manager [who I spoke to on July 30th, 2024] was not the operations manager and did not have the authority to close out [my] account.” If he did not have the authority to close out my account, he should have told me to wait for someone who had the authority to cancel my account and have them do it for me. Yet, instead of handling this issue responsibly, the person I spoke to on July 30th, 2024 erroneously told me that the membership was cancelled although it was not.

It is absolutely ridiculous that I was told by the manager on July 30th, 2024 that I would receive a confirmation email of my cancellation, and then being told by Emily that it was not a confirmation email of my cancellation and never receiving any sort of email from them. I find it unethical that I was repeatedly being charged a large sum of money ($300) for an employee from LA Fitness’s mistake. I will never join LA Fitness again and don't ever come here unless you want to lose...

LA Fitness gym in Stoneham is a pretty decent gym with Pros and Cons.

I recommend LA Fitness gym for the facility.

For the benefits… the gym is big and spacious, has nice amenities (sauna, pool, and hot tub), and recently got a big remodeling makeover. The facility looks much nicer.

For the downsides… the gym is not a very friendly and sociable place; and not a place to make new friends. And the staff at the gym is usually friendly when you’re signing up but after you’re a member they ignore you. Stoneham might be a geographical location of unfriendly people.

Before I joined LA Fitness gym, I went to BSC gym in Woburn for a good 7 years before the location closed down shortly after the pandemic. Boston Sports Club gym was awesome! A staff member would always say Hello when you walk in the gym when you scan your card. I used to say hi to dozens of people at the gym and chat briefly occasionally. Lots of staff, trainers, members and me were connected on social media Instagram and would view and click like each other’s posts and stories. BSC gym was the best gym I’ve been to!

LA Fitness gym has a very different atmosphere of people. Normally when you walk in during the evening hours after 6pm to scan your card, they ignore you. One staff member walks to the other side of the desk and turns around so he won’t see you, another staff member usually walks over to the customer service area when people walk in, and another staff member sits at the computer occupied on his cell phone. The only person that says hello to members that walk in is the Operations Manager Nicolas if he’s not overly busy, is the only friendly person there, and leaves at 6pm. When I used to go in after 6pm, I didn’t get a hello for at least 3-4 or 6 months and ignored daily by the front desk staff. Nowadays, I basically try to get in before 6pm while Nicolas is still there and it’s a pleasant atmosphere; and before the antisocial staff comes in to cover the check-in area for the night. Also, one day on the gym floor last year I said Hi to a staff member (Asst GM) and he walked right passed me and just ignored me. Maybe he was having a bad day, I’m not sure.

Also, a lot of LA Fitness staff are afraid to be connected to one another on social media Instagram. Most of them have 1,000+ Instagram followers, probably 100’s of people they don’t even know. But when a member sends a friend request to be connected and get to know one another, they get nervous with adding you.

It’s also not a friendly place with members. There are only a few people I say hi and chat briefly with and a majority of them are former BSC members that started going here too.

Most members try not to make eye contact when you walk by them and some are occupied on their cell phones. One day when I was working on chest workout for the day, the first machine I always use is the incline bench press machine and there’s only 2 of them. Both of them were occupied by members and both of them were using their cell phones while I was waiting behind them. I looked up at the clock and they were using their phone for a whole 5 minutes then finished their last set and left. I leave my cell phone in the locker when I workout so I’m not distracted and not delaying other member’s workouts.

Also, when another member left the bench press machine, he left his cell phone there. I used the bench press after him and thought he might come back to grab his phone but he didn’t. I brought it over to him when I finished working out and asked if it was his. He grabbed the phone and threw it in his bag and said it was his. Very rude and not even a thank you. I should have just left his phone on the floor and he could pick it up from lost and found if someone turns it in.

I’ve been trying to ask around people I know to join the gym as referrals so I have more familiar people there to say hi to. Unfortunately, most people are happy with their own gyms or it’s too far for them.

Aside from being a very unfriendly location, it’s a very nice facility.

I recommend LA Fitness gym for...

These people are crooks and will take every penny that they can from you. It is not a coincidence that nationally this company is being sued for making it impossible to cancel your membership. I signed up and paid for a full year membership and a personal training membership which costs $240 a month in April 2025. I was excited and also signed up because I was told that the gym would be remodeled in mid to early June. I knew that if I didn’t use my PT credits then they would just be in my account for me to use. I had some personal issues and couldn’t make it in and schedule with a trainer as regularly as I wanted but also wanted to wait for the new remodeled gym. I will also mention that I was working with Mike the trainer and he was absolutely terrible to work with my first intro session he was 30 min late! The remodel never happened in June it happened in August and unfortunately I had a horrible injury to my knee and a month later learned that I had a fully torn ACL which would require surgery after months of PT to get my knee to a better place before surgery and if not then would need a separate surgery to remove any scar tissue.I was devastated. Not to mention I just had a gallbladder surgery last week. Once I learned of the full extent of my injury, I contacted LA fitness and told them that I needed to cancel my membership and needed them to stop charging me for PT. They said okay and mentioned that I needed to physically come in and show proof of my injury. I then contacted corporate which took over a month to get a reply that wasn’t helpful. I then walked in, in crutches and fully braced leg and showed documentation of my injury. I was told by a manager that my PT membership would be canceled and I would receive a full refund. That didn’t happen. I was charged shortly after and again this past week. I spoke to another manager Hazem and he said I needed proof of my messages to a manager showing that I needed to cancel and then said I needed to show when the injury occurred and that one thing they could do is charge me $15 to freeze my account so I don’t lose the PT credits. I also want to mention that anytime you ask to speak to a manager they will tell you that they aren’t there which is a complete lie they just try to avoid you. I got a call from Hazem yesterday and he said he can refund me from July on for both the personal training and my membership that was paid in full. I disagreed with the July date because I paid for 3 months totaling in $769 of nothing and would understand if I was just complaining and didn’t want the membership, but I paid for a service I never got and even though I want to be able to train I physically can’t! I agreed that I didn’t need to be refunded for the gym membership because I had popped in the gym and used the facility. He disagreed and said both are the same. Hazem doesn’t care about you or your needs. He truly made me feel cared for when I signed up but it’s all to get your money. Do not workout and get a membership at LA fitness this entire company is full of crooks. I just filed a complaint with the AGs office yesterday and plan...