LA Fitness International
reviews and complaints

I was considering trying LA Fitness as the recently added Uptown Minneapolis location is very convenient to my home and I was hoping I would have a better user experience than previously. I found and printed a 3 day pass from your website planning to see how I liked the Uptown club -- particularly the cycling equipment and the quality of group classes to help me make a decision to switch from my current club, which is not as convenient and is more expensive. When I presented the pass to the member services rep, Mike, I did mention I had been a member. When he asked why I left, I told him I wasn't happy with the St. Louis Park cycling equipment -- there were always 5 or more inoperable bikes which meant getting a bike meant showing up 45 minutes early. Club staff kept promising the bikes would be fixed or replaced, but nothing happened for months. I also found there were very few group classes and poorly trained teachers for the ones offered. The 3-day pass was accepted without a problem.

After I finished a cycling class, and returned to pick up my ID, Mike asked me if I intended to become a member today. When I mentioned I wanted to try a Yoga class using my 3-day pass the next day, he informed me I shouldn't be using a 3-day pass as they are for people who have never been members. (That is not stated anywhere on the pass nor is it stated on the website.) I told Mike this and he begin to argue with me. I told him I was not going to argue that I would just skip it. He then lectured me that the club is a private club, that it is not free and that I should sign up today as there is a special offer. I told him I did not want to be pressured, that I intended to make certain I would be happy with the club and that I wasn't concerned about missing out on the special offer as I had an email offer for the same price. This seemed to put Mike right over the edge. He yelled at me that he wasn't pressuring me and told me LA Fitness doesn't need my business. Clearly, if he wasn't going to sign me up right then, he didn't want me as member at all. I guess I must have been messing up his sign-up percentage. Mike was officious, defensive, argumentative, disrespectful and high pressure.

I am another LA Fitness Victim.

I have been through what everyone else here has - this company are bunch of crooks and just in the business of extorting money. The staff and personal Trainers are a joke - they're all extortion agents, nothing more. Trying to resolve anything with them is a joke, they have been trained to suck as much money out of people as they can. A day will come when their house of cards will tumble - I will applaud when that happens.

If you are looking at spending your hard earned dollar for a gym membership, spend it elsewhere. The equipment appears to be 20 years old as evident by all the rust on the machines. At any given time, 10% of the cardio equipment is out of order. The majority of cardio equipment has 6 modes of exercise and you can use 3 because the other modes require the users heart rate and the machines don't have sensors on them. The locker rooms stink and to find a locker without a broken door is a challenge. The staff doesn't acknowledge your existence. If they do, be prepared to get blown off and disregarded if you have a question. They treat the members like your wasting their time. Be smart and don't buy off on the whole initiation fee crap. I can tell you this, for the suckers that pay it, they sure in the hell don't buy any new equipment with it or make any improvements to the facility.

Visited LA Fitness outlet in Troy, Mi. Feb 2, 2012. The place was SOOOO crowded there was a 15-20 minute wait to get on some equipment. I wasn't about to wait, so I went to the pool instead. There was a small class of women doing water aerobics, and 3 other people swimming. After about 30 minutes of swimming I noticed the towel I brought into the pool area and hung at the end of the pool had been stolen.
Confronting a janitor that had just come through the area, told me he didn't take it. After drying off using paper towels, dressing and going to the front desk, the manager could hardly be bothered. Her cold, curt, textbook, robotic "I'm sorry" left an impression I will NEVER forget! No compassion, no interest in helping me at at all. It was the look of "it's only a bath towel".

She seemed and looked very young, probably does not have children. Not that that matters except the "it's only a bath towel" impression REALLY pissed me off! That towel was an embroidered towel and a fathers day gift from my children that can never be replaced. Her lack of human compassion was about as repugnant as it gets! I can only hope if she ever has children... ERRRR scratch that...Let's just pray she never does!

SHAME ON YOU LA Fitness, Troy, MI. SHAME ON YOU Manager! You are disgusting!

The cleanliness of this gym is actually very good. For once I dont have an issue with that. However two weekends ago the gym opened terribly late. A week before that I went to the gym very early and the front desk girl was doing her nails. I have noticed that she is always on her phone and when I have asked her a simple question she gave me a half ### answer. Sometimes I can't believe I'm paying 34.99 for crappy service. I blame the manager for her lack of attention towards her staff. The manager also does her workout early in the morning and this front desk girl is following her manager gossiping about some nonsense leaving the front desk unattended. I know because I have had to check myself in. This La Fitness is clean with awful customer service.

My husband and I signed up for a personal training account along with our gym membership nearly 2 years ago. We started with one trainer, Ben, then shortly thereafter moved on to work with Chris. Chris was there for the summer between semesters to he left late summer. At that point we were assigned to Nicole. She was a decent trainer as far as workout were concerned, but shortly after working with her we started having problems with her not showing up for appointments. It meant that we were banking so many unused sessions because she would cancel and then cancel the rescheduled sessions. At one point we had about 3 months worth of training banked because of all the missed sessions. We finally had to tell Nicole that we could no longer work with her missing so many sessions. Shortly thereafter we learned that Nicole was fired.. That left us to find an another trainer. A friend who was also a member of the gym recommended Luis. She was moving away and leaving the gym so it worked out that we could take over her time slot and work out with Luis. Things were great. He never missed an appointment and we were starting to make some head way in using up the nearly 3 months of banked sessions. Then we went on vacation in early December and when we returned from that vacation to our appointment with Luis, we were so disappointed to learn that he had quit employment with LA Fitness. Tyler, one of the managers at the club spoke very poorly of Luis and his departure. I did not see that in Luis and was quick to let Tyler know this. Tyler explained that a new trainer coordinator was going to the Camp Hill facility and he would be able to help us We shared with Tyler all that had happened during our period with the training contract. Tyler was very arrogant and wanted us to give them a chance to make good on this. We did finally meet with Singin, the trainer coordinator. He did one session with us, but explained he could not train us. His role was simply to oversee the trainers. At this point, it was very apparent that the training staff was disappearing. One trainer shared with us that everyone is leaving because of the pay and treatment. In the meantime, they are selling more and more training contracts. My husband and I are struggling to schedule training appointments. We finally get a new trainer, Matt. We are pleased with his workouts and did meet with him twice. Again at this point we are again banking sessions. Then after the 2 sessions with Matt, we get a call an hour before the third session. Matt is ill and cannot meet with us. I try to reschedule for something the next evening or so. He gives me his cell number and says that I can call the next morning to confirm and reschedule. I call the next morning as promised. I get Matt's voicemail and ask him to return my call to my cell. No return call. Go to the gym that next night and he is not there. Talked with Tyler and Singin and they do not understand why we will not give them another chance. Are they really serious? I go onliine to see what sessions are available. They have very limited availability for training in the evenings. As full-time workers, we cannot train mid-day. We are limited in our schedule to M, W, F at 6:30. We explain to Tyler and Singin that we have no choice but to cancel our contract. Tyler printed out the form, which doesn't even need a signture and simplt includes a bar code. I attached a letter of explanation for mailing, certified mail, to the home office. Hope that they get it and process promptly. In the meantime, Tyler says that our remaining six banked sessions will be honored. i schedule an appointment online at their website with Ian. So Monday at 6:30 my husband and I are there to meet with Ian. BUT, no one has seen Ian all day. Singin calls Ian. Ian doesn't know of any appointments for Monday, but he has one for 6:30 on Tuesday. Singin proceeds to tell us that we really should not use the online scheduling. Then why does it exist? I have used in this in the past without a problem. AND I have an email confirmation of the Monday appointment that I received on Sunday. Some reading this might think that I am crazy for giving them so many chances. I really did want this to work. The concept is a good one. They just cannot keep selling these packages though if they cannot keep the staff. As we were talking with Singin this last time, he was actually signing up a new training client. I was so close to telling that man, don't do it. At least not until they can get their program and staff in order. I am curious to see what if any contact the home office in CA will have with regards to my cancellation and the letter of explanation that I mailed.
On a positive note, we do enjoy the group fitness class - spinning. They have some professional and consistancy in the staff in that program. I want to continue my gym membership, I just need to step away from the training program. I recommend that others not sign up for training.

We were given two free week passes to LA Fitness, so my boyfriend and I went in there to try it out. We were told by their head sales representative Brett W. of the fourth plain Vancouver, WA location that we could obtain the two free weeks or he could waive our membership fees and let us have memberships for both of us at the rate of $32.45 per month. He also said if we werent happy that we could cancel within 7 days and get our money back in full. He seemed genuine so we believed him and agreed. I should have never given him my card information. They charged us $60 for the first charge. We went in and asked why and they said that is the rate there. We immediately said we wanted to cancel and get our full refund back. He said we cancelled one day too late and that we couldnt get it back but we could use the gym for the rest of the month and then our membership would end. We were very angry but agreed. He gave us two slips of paper to send in to the main office by mail, which didnt even require signatures, why they couldnt do it over the phone is beyond me, but we sent them in immediately. One month later we get a call from Brett saying we have an additional fee of $32.45 to pay. We are baffled, we call corporate. They assure us this will not be taken out of our account and give us a complimentary month of membership. A week later my bank account says there is a fee pending to come out in two days out of my account. We are baffled, we call corporate. They tell me the money wont be taken from my account but they have no record of us cancelling. What they hell? We ask to speak to the manager, the girl says their phones are broken and they can't transfer calls, after a half hour of begging she finally transfers us to her supervisor. He tells us we are pretty much S.O.L. we asked to speak to his manager, he says he can't do that and then disconnects the call. We are still in turmoil. I go to my bank and cancel my debit card, my bank tells me they still have to authorize the $32.45. I can't believe this company. If anyone knows of a local class action lawsuit please contact me. [protected]@gmail.com

I arrived this morning 12/11/2011 at 8:10 AM, went to the locker and saw that all the trash cans were overflowing and that there was debris all throughout the locker room. More then obvious that there hasn't been any janitorial service for a few days. Now, I have trained at 5 other LA locations during the past 7 years. All of them have been as clean as can be expected for high usage entities. Can someone please tell me, why a million dollar facility, barely 6 months old has been allowed to deteriorate to such substandard condition ?

The locker room, bathrooms, sinks, showers, pool & hot tub all need to be attended to several times a day. If not, every person who goes in there is at risk to come in contact with any number diseases.

Numerous members took cell phone pics and stated they were going to send them to corporate. Hope that helps.

To me, The club manager or operations manager is to blame for this problem, in that it is his/her responsibility to ensure that there
are no health or safety issues. We as members have an expectation of same.

Time will tell.

I a member of both Bally's & LA, only due to work travel. When this club first opened I went in and acted like I knew nothing. The zombie at the front desk called 'El Dopeo' over to 'assist' me. I was really impressed that they were able to have it look like the seven other LA's that I have been to. Actually LA's that I have been to all have a lot of equipment. So, after the walk thru, back to dopey's desk for the sales pitch. He asked for my driver's license, I said no, I only have to show that to the police. The first lie; there is a sign up fee, there may may be, but don't fall for that. Next lie, electronic fund transfer only, because this is a new club. Not true. Many membership options, without the 'etf'. Next lie, We only have highly skilled & certified trainers. I said, oh, you mean the guy over there eating a kit kat bar, while counting reps for a client. I said thanks, but no thanks. BTW, the phone number I gave him was dial a prayer.
The management team has been changed three times since my first visit. Which was only about six months ago.

In that LA bought Bally's and closed a few of Bally's clubs (mine), the LA staff thought that this would be a huge financial windfall for them and the lies once again started. What they neglected to realize was that most of the former Bally's members had done their homework and were ready to file class action lawsuits. This forced LA corporate to come out with a press release. All life memberships will be recognized. All Bally's memberships will be recognized to term. If any LA sales weenie says anything different, guess what, they are lying. There may be a few exceptions to this, depending on the type of Bally's membership.

One thing must be understood. Excepting sales, most of LA's employee's are minimum wage employee's, with little hope of anything else. The trainers only receive 5 or 6 bucks out of the 35 or 40 that you spend for the half hour. LA corporate only cares about the money, nothing else, not their employee's, not you, not me. It's called corporate indifference. That indifference emanates it's way downward to the lowest rung employee that we deal with every visit. None of which is any excuse for anyone to be treated as I have read in a lot of these posts
Sadly, since they closed Bally's, I have to go to this place. I cannot wait to be approached by a trainer.

Below you will find a copy of the cancellation confirmation I received from LA Fitness after I went in and told the financial officer, Robert, that I wasn't leaving until he made arrangements to cancel my membership and refund the two months of extra billing they had racked up on my bank account. After he "acted" like he was looking up all my history, stated he didn't remember anything about my previous discussions with him, and said there was no paper trail in their computer system, he agreed to go ahead and refund my money. I also brought the manager into the discussion who said that there was nothing he could do because it was the financial officer's call. Robert finally agreed to refund my money for the 2 months they had charged me after my memberships was cancelled. The CATCH is, the effective date - as you will notice at the bottom of the cancellation. The membership ended August 31. The effective date on the notice below is the end of September; which takes in the final charge they applied to my account. Therefore, there will be no reimbursement for the extra 2 months of dues. I have these falsified effective dates for my trainer charges and my membership charges. I have eliminated my personal information.

Personal Training Membership Cancellation Confirmation

Today’s date: 10/4/2011
Customer #: 13...
Membership Barcode #: f40...
Member Name: C
Dues: $92.00
Final Billing Date: 9/21/2011

This confirms cancellation of your personal training agreement.

If you have any questions regarding this notice, please call your local club during normal business hours.

Thank you for choosing LA Fitness.

Health hazard! Locker room smells soooo bad it makes me want to vamit. Sauna, showers, pool, sauna probably has more diseases in them then a garbage dump. Stay away!
Equipment is old and broken. Nasty front desk & management

On August 15, 2011 I went into LA Fitness to discuss starting a membership for my husband and I. We have a new baby and I was told by the general manager Rod that the kids club wouldn't take any children younger than 3 months. I am a stay at home mom, who doesn't have anyone who can babysit, so the kids club was the MAIN reason I looked into using LA Fitness to work out. Our baby wasn't going to be 3 months until the beginning of September so I expressed to Rod that I didn't want to start my membership until the 1st of September.

He told me that it was okay, and that my membership wouldn't start until the first of September. I paid over $100 for the first and last months of membership, and he told me I could cancel anytime.

Fast forward to today. I receive a call from billing stating my account was deliquent. They said that my membership started August 15 and that I was being billed every 15th.

This is not the agreement I had with Rod and I feel like I was conned. I feel like the woman at billing was a bit rude to me and I am very unhappy with LA Fitness customer service as a whole.

I spoke with an Alicia when I called the number on the website and she told me she could cancel my membership over the phone and I wouldn't need to fill out any paper work. I am seriously doubting this and will be digging deeper today to find out if what she said was true.

Over all, I say avoid this gym if you can.

So after having my 2nd child I decided it was time to re-activate my gym account. No problem except that this week I was already late for the 7pm class (my ONLY available time slot M-F) and with my 22 pound kid in tow, I got stopped at the front desk by "Scotty" who promises to give me the "best workout of your entire life." Well, I'm already late but fine, sign me up...when? He insists I come in earlier. Ain't gonna happen. He manages to get me in on Thursday at 7pm. Fine, just let my people go! So I come in at 7pm but where's Scotty? Sitting his butt in a chair while I wait at the front counter. I know he saw me. Whatever, I get hooked up w/ a nice kid who spends the next 45 mins trying to get me to sign up for a year long commitment to training sessions. Nah, let me think about it. Oh no, must be done now. I'm leaning toward "yes" but then I get online & read a gazillion complaints about LA Fitness! OMG, people..do your homework! I highly recommend you don't get involved w/ such a scandalous company. It's pretty convenient for me and I got grandfathered in w/ a great deal but I'm just here to warn you. Check out other local options. Turns out "Scotty" is the manager. Go figure.

Club does not monitor whether members take showers before entering Hot Tub and Pool Area. As a result, the majority of members do not shower. There is a sign in small print that has to be read up close to decipher. The Club also states that the Tub is cleaned and drained on a weekly basis. The Cleaning people are unaware of any such process.