GoodLife Fitness
reviews and complaints

Before I joined Personal Training at Goodlife, I was just a regular member doing my workouts there. Then they offered me training and seeing how far this one girl had gotten when training, I decided why not? I got the same trainer the girl had and things were going well for about a month and a half. Then my trainer told me she was leaving, at first I was a bit miffed at her sudden, disappearance but they had told me they would set me up with a new trainer. So I got this new trainer, to who I felt a little uncomfortable with because she was a tiny little woman who looked to be barley older then my 18 years of age. Eventually I got used to her and she turned out to be a good trainer. Then one day while warming up before our session, a manager came up to me and told me, that my trainer would be gone for a week.
Now this was annoying to me, because my trainer had all my information and could have called me or texted me at any point and time, or even told me she would be gone if she knew in advance. A week later I suddenly have this guy saying he was going to train me, while mine was gone. After a couple sessions I asked what was going on and he told me that he was my new trainer. Again I was miffed, I felt like I was being thrown around like a ball.
About a month and a half later due to unforeseeable circumstances I had no choice but to tell them at the end of the month I wouldn't be able to continue. They would get their last payment and I would have to leave. I talked to both my trainer and BOTH fitness managers, my trainer said it was fine. I tried telling the managers too but several messages with no response and cancelled appointments later I couldn't reach them. Finally in the middle of April I get a letter in the mail saying that they hadn't received payment from me. Now I knew this was for April, but had not been scheduling any training while trying to contact these managers. I called head office and got the scripted you have to talk to the fitness managers crap.
So, Goodlife contacts you right away when they don't get their money, but if you need to cancel a service they send you on a wild goose chase. And now they want to put me in credit for my 'missed payment'. Is it fair that 2 of my trainers can just up and leave but when I need to leave I can't and they expect me to pay for the rest of my year training? Seriously? I signed up with the first girl and she's gone. Why can they break contract and we cant?
Thanks Goodlife your really helping me life the good life.

I recently join goodlife fitness, downtown ottawa location. I have nothing bad to report as far as payments/staff/equipment is related. My issue is the men's change room.

Its terrible. I've been there 5 months now and nothing has been done. Mind you, they did upgrade the sauna. The toilet area of the change room is disgusting, it is always dirty, the air filtration is nasty. You can smell everything from the toilet area throughout the change room. (I think you know what I mean in saying that) the shower stalls have broken/chipped tiles and torn curtains. Two drains are missing the plate covers, while another two have burnt lights, blackend caulking all around the tile.

But, in all honesty, I could deal with that stuff. The biggest issue I have is the sink area in the toilet area. Since I started, the backsplash to the sink area consists of dirty rotten drywall, nearly exposed wiring on the tileless backsplash. Take a look at the picture I took myself just this morning. It is not doctored. I have been there 5 months, and figured they must be aware of it and would have a contractor booked to come to do the repair soon... Nothing yet...

That's my beef

I haven't made an official complaint to goodlife, there's enough male staff for them to be well aware of this. Anyways, that's my beef.

I have been trying to cancel my membership to goodlife fitness for almost a month now and I keep getting the run around. I've been to the gym Ive called their supposed headquarters and they are still charging me everytwo weeks. The latest attempt the person I was speaking to asked me to send in an email to confirm my cancellation of my membership in writing and they gave me and invalid email address.

I purchased a membership to the goodlife gym in july 2010. It was for a 1 year contract. As time went on, I never got into exercising and I forgot about my membership. I have paid approximately $550 dollars in fees, and I have never used their product. Today I called them to cancel my membership. They want to charge me 99$ + hst as a cancellation fee. How can they justify this? I basically gave them $550. For free! I never used their resources. How can a big company do this to the little guy? I tried calling their corporate headquarters but the telephone agent but they just gave me basic rhetoric read from a script. I gave them $550 for nothing, come on, be reasonable. This is not fair.

I called their corporate headquarters and it just made me sick. When you call, they are all happy, and cheerful, just like when you go to a gym, but the moment business comes up they are ruthless. I tried explaining my story and they basically said, "too bad, you signed a contract". They just didnt give a #. The woman on the phone just kept reading from a script. I can't believe how cold this company is.

I have been struggling to get my refund from this company for nine months. Been a member for several years, signed up for some personal training - my trainer left and was replaced by inexperenced one, he quit and then I was given another trainer... it was poor service and the level of knowldge never met with they promices.

When I first signed up they were very attentive. When the time came to end my sessions legitimately (follow rules of the contract) they got ugly! Kept promising refunds and they never processed them. Tried to call head office to get help and they were rude and unhelpful. This company cares only about money! it has been 9 months of letter and unanswered communications with them. They have little or no respect for thier employees and do not care about the client. They just want their money. The management are unprofessional. I was a member of this club for several years. After this experience I will NEVER RETURN to this facility.

If you are rich, work out in your home gym.
If you are a university or college graduate, get an alumni membership at your alma mater
If you don't have a lot of money, get a reduced rate at the local community rec centre.
If none of these appeal to you, take a friend to the park and encourage each other.
If you're a sucker, get a goodlife membership.

When I signed up I was told that 20.00$ even was going to come out of my bank account every two weeks. I asked if there was any taxes they told me no, not worry about it, i reviewed my contract and it didn't say anything about tax. So for two months they have been trying to take money out of my specific accounts that i made just for them, but surprise I have NFS charges, so when I went to the gym, the assistant manager ( really rude) didn't help me at all she told me it was my fault. Now 3 months later I receive a later saying that I have an outstanding balance, they are taking my money and i can't afford there ### I'm in university and I have no extra money to give this scam of a company.

P.S their employees deal roids

Hi there, I have been lied to by goodlife and I want to canel my membership but I dont want to pay the 100fee thats just stupid whats te best way to get out of it and I cant even use my membership and anyother goodlife.

I had been a member of goodlife fitness clubs in various locations over the past 13 years. I have gradually seen the change from a personable club where the customer comes first to a high pressure sales business. Management is more focused on sales than striving to improve their customer service. Many have already stated these issues.

I have also heard complaints from others about the quality of personal training and desire to have their health care professionals input into their workouts. It is goodlife policy that non-goodlife health care professionals are not allowed to be physically in the facilities. The trainers do not return phone calls to receive information about their clients. It is sad to see that the lack of collaboration between goodlife and healthcare professionals in the community. I would think the ultimate goal is the health and improvement of their clients.

Attempts have been made at the regional level to rectify the situation. After more than 1 week of unreturned phone calls, I was told that this was the "industry standard".

I am now a former goodlife member and looking for a gym that puts the customer first.

Beware the very very fine print of what you sign at this facility. Do not believe in what the staff tell you as unless you see it in writing forget it. These inexperienced folks have no credibility. They advertise free membership for teens however its not so free if you cancel. When you do cancel money seems to stil come out unless you notify your bank. This facility administratively is questionable at best.

I belonged to Nubobys and was paying $125 bi-weekly for gym membership and for a personal training package. Goodlife bought out Nubodys. Toward the end of my training package I asked for confirmation of the final payment date. After asking for a month I was told that theye was an error in the payment system when Godlife took over Nubody and I still owed Goodlife 7 bi-weekly payments of $125 that they didn't recieve (for months of April, May and June). I have been going back and forth with them as they want the payments eiother in one lump sum or for 7 more bi-weekly payments.

I am still trying to get this corrected even thou I have the bank statements that show the payments were taken from my account.

Sad thing is when I went to the bank to get copies of my statements, the bank rep shared his story of how it took him 6 months to get his account straightened out when Goodlife took over his gym a few yrs back in another city.

Further, since Goodlife took over Nubodys the quality of the gym service has dropped so much that I rarely even go there any more and ny trainer left because he didn't like working for them.

Can you believe this?! I have been a loyal customer of Barrie Ontario Goodlife for over 10 years now. In those years I have purchased at least 3 personal training packages. In July of this year I decided to sign up with Canada’s top trainer for Goodlife three times a week which cost me $5000.00! I was really looking forward to training with him. In August I developed medical issues. Two doctors recommended that I was not to continue training. My family doctor wrote a note explaining my training should stop due to medical reasons. I read the personal training agreement and on the agreement it states that no refunds are available UNLESS UNDER THE DISCRETION OF THE CLUB MANAGER. I called Goodlife and had my sessions put on hold. Due to this statement and my medical condition I phoned the Goodlife Head Office and I was told that any refunds done were in the hands of the club manager at the club attended and they said they’d email the fitness manager to let him know of my issue to give him a heads up-they also alarmed me and told me that 13 more sessions had been book. I then found out that sessions that are booked and not attended count as missed appointments and the money would have been taken for them even though I didn’t even know about them!
I waited a week to hear back from the Barrie club’s fitness manager and no word, even though he was to respond to Head Office about my next step in what to do when a medical issue comes up and a person needs to cancel training. I couldn’t believe that my serious medical problem was getting no attention! I then called the club to speak to the fitness manager and he was always unavailable, I left many messages and finally I go through and said I’d come in to meet him. I explained my issue and his inconsiderate response was that receiving a doctor’s note to him is like receiving a note from a parent that their child needs to be taken out of school! He said that this case would have to be reviewed. Why reviewed? How many hoops do I had to jump through with a health issue? Goodlife promotes health and well being yet they disregard a doctor’s note?!? I then proceed to contact the club manager, whom also was very hard to get a hold of! When we finally spoke he said he was sorry for my situation, but he’d have to review my case and get back to me- one option would be to extend my time frame for training. An extension sounds reasonable, but when your medical doctor recommends you stop it needs to be taken very seriously and you should not be given the grief or the extended responsibility to complete sessions when your doctor says to stop and your not sure when you will be training again! I still am in disbelief that I am being treated so poorly with such a serious matter! What would someone do if they found out they had leukemia? Or couldn’t walk again? They wouldn’t have a refund either? What does it take to respect human rights and service people accordingly?! I have still heard nothing back from the Club!

I've been members at 4 clubs in various cities around the world over the years. This club is without a doubt the very WORST I have ever encountered. They use a variety of manipulative, high pressure scams to get you to pay huge amounts of money to use their personal trainers, they make you sign contracts that will cost you outrageous fees if you decide to leave the club. If you do decide to leave, they make you come in for another high pressure guilt trip, or they make you sit on the phone line for hours on hold listening to recorded 'patch adams' health club propaganda.

The club itself is poorly maintained, the exercise machines are broken half the time, the taps don't work in the showers, and the staff ignore any complaints. Save your money and your time, go someplace else. They don't care about you at all, they just want your money. Stay away.

I signed up for and was using a gym membership, but I kept on getting extra charges to my bank account. I called and complained numerous times, but they couldn't figure out why it was happening. They managed to stop all payments from my account for a few months. When the payments started again, everything looked okay...BUT when I called to cancel my account, I asked for a receipt. They found that the extra payments were coming from a membership of someone with the same name as my wife! (She was pregnant at the time, and has never had a gym membership in her life). Someone had forged her signature and my initials to allow payments to come from my account. It has been over a month and they still are jerking me around. I am now concerned that my banking information may have been shared with more people, AND that my credit score could be damaged.

I'm writing this to advise people of what can be politely termed unethical business practices or more commonly known as a legal scam. When I went in to good life fitness to cancel my membership on the eve of my 1 year term expiration (Actually it turns out to be an automatic renewal) I was hosted to a well orchestrated "membership retention" sales pitch. The gentlemen was very nice and understanding and offered me another month of membership for only $5.00 to reconsider our cancellation request. I signed the papers - my first mistake. After all, it was only $5.00 for another month right? Wrong!
After 3 months a routine check of my bank account balances found that in the month following our $5.00 reconsideration month good life automatically renewed my membership and commenced automatic fund withdrawals of $17.95 every two weeks! Not following up after the %5.00 month was my second mistake.

Subsequently I called our local good life rep who (Almost in a rehearsed manner) understood my complaint but could not do anything except to pass me along to the good life head office 1-800 number stating that all "paperwork" is passed on to head office for administration — they would help me. The answering good life agent was able to efficiently call up my signed paperwork on the computer. Evidently, despite our very clear wishes to terminate our membership with good life it became apparent that since I did not follow-up and re-affirm my strong desire to terminate my membership the membership was automatically renewed. I have no doubt that this is legal of course — we did sign the papers! It is also a deceptive and questionable (To say the least) business practice. Good life took me for about another $100 before I noticed what was happening. Shame on me for not recognizing this legal scam sooner and shame on them for their now obvious and deliberate business practices to extract more money using such auto-renewal practices. Just because it is legal it does not make it ethical or proper and both perspective and current members should be aware of this slimy scam. Hopefully by publicized this legal scam I will save numerous others aggravation and money.

I bought personal training sessions in February 2010 and still have yet to receive any service. Goodlife st. clair location has given me nothing but grief and i have to chase them to get what i paid for. they are less than apologetic and have even been passive aggressive about it. the manager of the personal trainers should be fired for her incompetence and attitude.

Both my wife and I signed up with the same fitness instructor and were clearly told we can put our membership on hold for the summer without any associated fees. This sounded very appealing to us since we don't use the gym in the summer so we joined. Now, after putting a membership on hold for the summer we're still getting charged.

After talking to Goodlife Niagara Falls, we found out the employee who signed us up was no longer with the company and it was irrelevant what he told us when he signed us up. The manager (Ruth) was completely indifferent to our complaint and said there is nothing they could do.

Having been to a number of different gyms, I found Goodlife in Niagara Falls the worst expereince in terms of customer service. I would not recommend this gym unless they really improve their customer service.

Their charges to either cancel or suspend the membership is about the same.

They took out $26.00 for my next 2 week fees on March 26 and then advised me that if I was to suspend my membership it would cost me $5 Bi-weekly ($10 per month) in order to continue the membership. If I was to cancel it will cost me $99 along with the $26 that I just paid. It works out to be about the same if you terminate or suspend for the next 9 months ($90).

They are definitely a big rip off. I would have been wiser to buy an eliptical machine or a tread mill on my own.

Think carefully if you sign up with them or any other place.