Bally Total Fitness review: Shabby ethical practice

Background ~ My brother and I are survivors from the “Results” to “Sports Connection” to “Bally Total Fitness” rollovers from the late seventies til 2011. The latest had blown away our lifetime membership guaranteed rate which just escalated with every renewal cycle. Our membership status is “Premier Plus Bally’s Total Fitness” with all the associated benefits. This was at the location 20040 Hawthorne Blvd in Torrance.

Segue to this recent episode, first there was the weirdness that happened thirty days prior to the unspoken L.A. Fitness transition announcement. Before the LA to Bally Total Fitness came to pass, a phenomena occurred only for the second time in our experience there. On the men’s side, the shower heads disappeared leaving the pipes poking out from showers. In short order just before the announcement, some odds-and-ends heads replaced them.

Then the clock in the men’s locker room disappeared. While there may be some questionable clientele members, this on retrospect has become highly suspect.

Nine days before the announcement that Bally’s was soon to be no more, we were pulled aside on checking in to receive this magnanimous offer --- 3 year membership offer for $400. Having over one year to go before needing to consider this, we declined this gracious ramp-up offer.

And then, BAM --- thank the LORD He helped us dodge that bullet. Within December, the “change” started to manifest in the removal of products, logos, etc. Passage in did not require a “log-in” of our ID. After 2012 rang in, oops – Jacuzzi down… down… still down as of yesterday. Okaaay…

Over time, we’ve had more than our share of bunged up drains, broken tiles, equipment failures, etc., but overall they usually were eventually taken care of.

Yesterday, of the eight men’s showers, six were without soap. Only the handicapped and one other had soap for all the members coming from the locker room, steam room, sauna, pool, etc. No happy campers. Some speculated since the gym is under new ownership, the members may need bring their own soap. I asked on exiting, but the little attendant at the desk was “surprised” to hear it. Whether they took care of the problem or not is unknown.

Looks like when you review the history of Bally or L.A. Fitness, they have a running history of problem reports with Better Business Bureau, Yelp, and this site. And that’s only scratching the surface. Interesting… Stay tuned, we may be back again “as the story unfolds”.