04/11/09

worst gym ever (that i've been to)

by rudedogatx

Wow, I wasn't expecting much to begin with, and my experience was far worse than expected. So the negatives are:

1. Always packed. I had to go after 11pm during weekdays and even then there were a bunch of ppl. I tried going early Sat morn when they open and the place was still packed.

2. Not open 24 hours all the time. Why name yourself 24 hour fitness and not be open 24 hours all the time. I like to workout Sunday night and nope..they are closed.

3. I never received my membership card. Had to request it again and finally got it after 4 months, right before I quit. All I had the previous 4 months was a piece of paper that had my member id and bar code. The front desk ppl always hounded me for my id each time I came in. They even did this after I got the membership card. This is very annoying.

4. The place stinks like an armpit.

5. The equipment is old and dirty. Every time i used the barbells, I got rust on my hand.

6. It was hell to cancel my membership. After supposedly canceling, the auto drafts didn't stop and i had to call 4 times over the course of 3 weeks to finally get a refund. I wouldn't be surprised if the drafts continue.

Then, on top of that, after calling to cancel, I had 2 more months access because I prepaid the last month up front and i needed to notify them 30 days in advance of the last auto draft. But guess what, next time I go to the gym and they scan my card it shows up as CANCELED and I had to explain to them the situation every time so they would let me in the last 2 months.

So basically the place is really bad (had to replace an inappropriate word). Sure it was cheap, but IMHO not even worth the lower price considering all the hassle. I was really shocked because I expected better considering the location (Arboretum).

• Pros: reasonable price
• Cons: most everything else

02/04/09

Filthy

by notperad

I originally joined while living in California because it was clean and the staff was friendly. When I moved to Texas, I found this club on Research and Braker to be awful. I regularly visit this location and each time it is absolutely filthy, especially the women's locker/bathrooms. The locker room's floor has a layer of dirt, mixed with hair and debris. In an area where the floor tiles are missing and broken, the edges are very sharp and a colony of ants has just started roaming. Worst of all are the toilets. The floor in this area has water almost everywhere and dirt. There has not been a time when I haven't seen feces on one of the toilets. I don't just mean the inside of the bowels, but sometimes the outside of the toilets. I have seen gas stations with cleaner toilets than these. After talking with several other members, I discovered that complaints have been made before and no one from the club has ever responded. It would be one thing if this just was a week, but the place has been filthy for months and they need to do more than just a quick sweeping. It just never should have gotten to this horrible state to begin with.

11/17/08

Does 24-hour really care about you getting healthy.. Or just getting your monthly dues...

by Bfoskey

I'm actually writing not on a specific location but on the policies and procedures of 24 Hour Fitness. I had a membership for several months at the 41st street location, before calling to cancel in July due to changing jobs. I received confirmation on the phone and was under the impression that I was taken care of. A few months later I realized that I was still getting charged for a service I wasn't using. I called in frustaration, and talked to a employee who apologized and told me that it had never been cancelled. He cancelled it for me and told me that that payment would be my last and again, he was sorry. Well sure enough I look this month, 4 months after the original cancel, and boom another payment. The real kicker is when I call to complain and voice my opinion they tell me that its my fault for not getting a name of the person I talked to back in July. Are you kidding me? I mean I know I should have got the name but seriously can I not trust a person to go in the computer and click on cancel or at least put me in contact with a person who can take care of me?

The moral of the story is that 24 hour fitness's policies on cancelling are ridicolous, make sure that if you cancel you go in to the gym, get the person's name, and get everything in writing. I always thought that it was in the best interest of every company to make sure the customer is satisfied and that the "customer is always right"'. 24-hour fitness is not a customer friendly gym and will do anything in their power to get your monthly dues no matter what. My recommendation for all us Austonians out here is join a local gym where there is no corporate mumbo jumbo. Join a gym where their only interest is making sure you have everything you need and that you are getting the most out of your monthly dues. I will NEVER join a big name gym again because quite frankly I don't like getting the run around involving he said she said. Go out there and get healthy, just not at 24-hour!

• Pros: Good facilities
• Cons: Bad customer service