YMCA
reviews and complaints

Needed to cancel membership due to health issues. Submitted it in writing and emailed it to the office. Had paid for personal training and didn't use two sessions. Contacted the membership services via phone and email. No response. Emailed the director and a month later still no refund. Just sent another email to the director yesterday and still no response. What can I do other than placing a complaint thru BBB.

Hello. I gladly thank and appreciate my local Door County YMCA for (being) about the good Christian qualities they strive to live. Now, understanding the Christian's guidebook, the very Holy Bible, I read that God wants people to dress modestly. I will need to continue this message in two more letters as this matter requires more space to write. I'm so apologetic to you about this.

Completed registration and payment or arrangements for payments. Personally spoke with manager everything was ok and completed and paid. Today recieved late notices for non payment for dates paid and dates not even billed for yet.
A new manager took over our YMCA it has been a nightmare trying to register our children which have been in this program going on 5 years. The manager accepted our payments in person by check and then personally took late notices to the school for these accounts. I'm speaking for several families. The program at our school enrollment has just about been cut in half, due directly to this manager. We've never had these problems before this school year. He personally assured we'd be paying the same fees as last year then 2 days later it was taken out of our bank account at a higher amount. The children love the program but what we've been through recently with this manager has us ready to drop your program. Please call Linda Whitaker at [protected]. We'd like to know where our payments went.

I've noticed this summer that the ymca camps are out of control with not enough staff nor camp counselors guiding and correcting the behavior of these kids. On my first occasion last week, a boy approximately 12 was staring me down trying to bait me into a confrontation. Literally staring and staring while camp mates were running around the locker room unsupervised going in and out of the sauna and steam rooms which is not permitted for their age. They are running and whipping each other with towels and cause total mayhem. As a paying customer this is unacceptable. Zero supervision. Next incident 8/2 10 am I was walking past a group of young female camp kids and one gestured her hand right near my space like a slap for no reason and began staring and laughing. It shocked me and came inches from my face and was unprovoked. When I complained to the pool administrator she was kind and apologized and spoke to the group of kids. Not her fault she tried but the kids coming in here are causing problems daily. They are disruptive, unsupervised and have had a 2nd incident with one of the kids baiting me into a confrontation which I did not. While leaving the locker room on 8/2/19 this same day I was almost slapped, a group of camp boys were in a corridor waiting to go to the pool. 15 boys were running wild and whipping each other with towels I couldn't even walk by. All while camp counselors stood by and did nothing. Eventually YMCA employees calmed them down. As a paying member this is disgraceful to have to be subjected routinely this summer. Where are the counselors and supervision. And what's with stare downs and baiting.
I have also noted that numerous children have their hair hanging out of their bathing caps! Hanging down six inches. My wife who. Has long hair fits her hair in her cap. These children need to be instructed how to put their caps on, or refused pool entry. This is a health risk and the health department will be notified. Trying to get your hair in the cap but failing is a poor excuse. One set of rules! Put your hair in the cap or no pool entry. This needs to be taken care of by the YMCA. This YMCA is becoming out of control and needs immediate restructuring if the camps by YMCA from corporate, supervisors and all employees.

I enrolled my son and my daughter in the La Crescenta, CA YMCA for the summer student special in which you pay $75 dollars per membership for 3 months. The second week my daughter took a class in which the teacher is a man named Ethan S. His class is very intense and he gets angry if the people who go and exercise in his class don't keep up. He was pushing my daughter very hard, mind you this is her first class with him, and she got an epileptic attack as a consequence. The ambulance was called and she was okay, and decided not to go to the emergency. But we left home for the night as she usually gets very tired after she gets them. The people taking the class there told her to do it at her own pace, specially a nurse who goes to the YMCA to do exercises in that class. So she decided to take the class again the following week. I told her before she did this to take breaks if needed and do it at her own pace. Ethan seemed to be supported of this, and she made it through the class. But after everyone left, Ethan approach my daughter and told her he did not want her in his class. He told her according to my daughter that it was because he worry about her health and he thought she was not prepared for his class. He told her to work on the free machines until she was strong enough to take his class again. My daughter told me, since I have ask my kids to tell me everything clearly because you can never be too careful and they just gotten used to that and always tell me everything. When she told me, I felt Ethan was playing with my daughter's innocence just to keep her out of his class. I went inside to confronted him about how he could not keep her out of his class, that YMCA is were all people of all walks go to exercise. That you do not need to be very fit, that elderly and people with disabilities can come and exercise. I told him I was going into the dance classes and that I am out of shape too, but none of the teachers ever told me not to come to their class. He said to me that his class was different so that was the reason there was a waiting list. I told him I believe the reason there was a waiting list is because of the limited space. And my daughter had put her name in the list, and waited her turned like everyone else, so why shouldn't she be allowed to be in the class. She had gone to his class do it at her own pace and she did not have any epileptic attack so she should be fine. He got angry and said to me, that she got through his class because most of the time she was just taking breaks, and I feel she is a waste of time, and she is only occupying space, which others who are capable of keeping up with his class could benefit, but they are not there because she took their space. And then he directed himself to my daughter, and said to her in a firm manner "I thought we talk about this Eileen", and to whom my daughter responded "I am sorry sir, but I tell everything to my mom and she believes you are discriminating against me because of my disability". But then he said "you should not exercise if you have epilepsy, and that is my opinion." I said to him, "please don't discourage my daughter she has to exercise for her health and she don't need to be discourage. Also I don't like the remark you made about my daughter being a waste of class space. I want to talk to your supervisor". He gave me the name of the supervisor which is Kelly. In the car, my daughter told me not to call Kelly and that she believe Ethan was sincere. She was going to build up and when she was more fit she was going to signed up for his class again. After that the staff and everyone who is part of that class (members) were being friendly. The members ask her why she was not going to the class she explain, and some said we are cheering for you, while the nurse including myself still thought that there should be no reason why she could not be in the class and that she must have to prepare for it. She was very happy, telling me how Ethan and everyone was being friendly and talk to her all the time. On Thursday July 18, 2019, I took my kids to YMCA to work out. I wait in the car for them because of my daughter condition, so just in case she gets and attack I am readily available. My daughter text me telling me that a woman name Kelly had confronted her and told her that she did not wanted her to talk to the staff, that they were there to work not to socialize. My daughter fell of the cycling bicycle she was riding on because this took her by surprise and she injured herself. Kelly did nothing to help her and left the place. Another man came to my daughter's rescue who saw the whole incident and gave her an ice pack. In the car I told my daughter I had enough of what they were doing to her, that no one should be bothering her. And that the staff should not be talking to her if they knew Kelly had prohibited. That she should had confronted her staff, and perhaps place a memorandum saying that no one who goes to YMCA was allowed to talk to the staff. That I was going to email Kelly to let her know what I believe all these drama was about which was the fact that Ethan had discriminated against her, and that he was scared that he was going to get fired because he knew he had done something wrong and that he did not wanted her in that particular YMCA because she post a threat to him. As he was not doing his job and he was discriminating against the disabled. My daughter went back to exercise and then she came back because the guy who had provided the ice pack told her she had injured herself and should not be exercising. On her way out of the building, the girl working at the front desk confronted my daughter telling her that she was stalking Ethan and that she had all eyes on her. My daughter told her that Ethan was a liar, and she did not understand what this was all about. My daughter told me what had happened, and I decided to confront the girl at the front desk. I told her that Kelly said for my daughter not to talk to the staff, and like I told Kelly that it was the staff members who talk to my daughter. And that she should stopped talking to my daughter. I told her I feel like I need to buy a membership to just to make sure my kids were safe there and no one tried to harass them. She started screaming frantically saying "are you crazy, do you think we are going to let you get a membership here? you are crazy!" Then she added "you and your daughter are both [censored]ing crazy in fact all you are crazy, my partner will not come to work on the front because he is afraid of your daughter, and I am afraid of you all, and [censored] I am going to call my supervisor." When she got Kelly on the phone I said are talking to Kelly I want to talk to her too since I been wanting to talk to her. She then said "[censored] you, I am not giving you my phone to talk to you, you people are weird." I responded to her saying "No I just want to talk to Kelly can you please put her on the phone?" She then walked to a phone that was on a pole by the entrance of the place and started to dialing. At first I thought she was going to have me talk to Kelly on that phone, but then she scream at me again and said she was calling the police. I am not sure if she was talking to the police, but I wanted the police and Kelly to hear me. Explaining that she was calling the police just because I told her that I wanted to talk to Kelly and if she was on the phone, she could talk to me. I am not sure if the police told her to let me talk to Kelly, and that is the reason why Kelly decided to arrive at the location. We were talking to Kelly about what I believe the reason behind Ethan saying he was afraid of my daughter was because he had been discriminating against my daughter and that he was afraid all of these things would blow on his face. She stop me from continuing saying she got that on the email, and she had forward it to her boss, and that when her boss was back she was going to set a meeting and meanwhile for my daughter not to come to exercise there. I told her that this place was the closest YMCA to our home, and I did not see why I had to drive far just to have my kids exercise there. Plus we only have a membership until the end of the summer, and I purchase it for them to exercise. That I was going to get a membership there, even thought I did not care for it because I felt I had to protect my kids. I also told her that I will be video taping the times that we would be there just like they were doing. That Ethan claims that he was afraid of my daughter, yet he was following my daughter all the time. So I don't understand why if he is so afraid of my daughter, why is he following her around? I had caught him staring at my daughter a few times, and I found it odd. To this Kelly respond, "well he works here" and I responded saying "yes, and my daughter works out here". So I told her go ahead and set the meeting meanwhile I will get a membership to protect my kids, and I will be talking to my lawyer to have a clear understanding what our rights are here. You guys will maybe get sued. We are requesting not to be harassed and not to be discriminated from attending any class at our local YMCA. I also do not see why someone who is hired to work with people of all walks, and is obviously is unable to do so should work there. And thinks it's perfectly fine to harass the people he does not like by making false allegations against them for his own protection. I think he know he has done wrong and is covering his back, and getting others to help him. YMCA is a family business that welcomes people of all walks and ages, besides having disabilities or not. The people who the YMCA hires should understand that, and should be able to work with people. I think Ethan cannot do that, since he has a very nasty attitude and should not be working with people if he cannot do it. Plus he is getting everyone in the YMCA to help him get his way, and is training people to be rude to others.

The YMCA as a whole is trash! They talk about community building and doing good work but they do not pay summer camp employees fairly. If employees are going into overtime they go in to system and change hours so that it looks like they aren't. They list a persons hours as one thing but tell them something else all in the name of not paying them. Of course when questioned they guilt people by reminding them that the Y does good things for the community and "think of the kids/do it for the kids." To top it off supplies are not always available so certain people have to pay out of their own pockets in order to keep the camp going. I am truly disappointed at knowing this because like everyone else I thought that a nonprofit would be better/ do better than private corporations. Nope, just as bad if not worse because they pretend to be good people.

User-friendliness
So I travel from Indianapolis to Minneapolis to visit my grandchildren maybe twice a year and usually go to the YMCA to work out I pay a fee. I am told now that is not acceptable you have to be a member so if I understand this properly you are a federally funded organization I am a veteran I am also a member of the clergy and you have no exceptions to this rule. As Clergy I also take exception to the fact that you have Christian in your name which as I look at your organization I see you doing just enough good to look good and feel good so that you can charge higher fees then most clubs so I cannot afford to be a member in your facility you cater to those that have money when I drive into your parking lot I see Mercedes-Benz, Toyotas anything but something that would reflect an organization that is giving back to the community. It is my intention mount a campaign to expose your corruptness To tie your claim to be a Christian organization with the Christian organizations in America driven by money and prosperity focused. You reflect what's wrong with America not what's right. I know harsh words from a clergy but when Jesus saw hypocrisy he let loose.

My wife and I have been members of the Brunswick Georgia YMCA for approximately 14 years. Although we are happy with the members and local employees we are very dissatisfied with the decisions by senior management. The exercise equipment in this facility is in poor condition and so crowded together you can hardly use it. In addition, the physical and sanitary facilities are filthy. A year or so ago a decision was made by senior management to move all the exercise equipment onto half of the basketball court. Recently, that decision was reversed and the equipment with the exception of free weights was crowded into smaller rooms. The free weights remain on the basketball court with a plan to move them to a room formerly occupied by the Core Zone Room. (This equipment was moved to Darien, Georgia and is no longer available.)
As much as we have enjoyed our membership and contributing to Y charitable causes we are seriously considering terminating and joining another facility unless things improve.
Jim Kasik