Gold's Gym - Van Ness

Update January 2025: After submitting this review and notifying Golds that I had filed a consumer complaint with the DC A.G. they refunded me for the full amount. I'm appreciative of the outcome and the team member that finally was able to help me but I wish it didn't take this level of escalation to cancel a gym membership. Story: It took me 16 months to cancel and receive a refund after moving cross country. I moved out of DC in September 2023 after a layoff to take a job in Los Angeles, CA. I emailed their posted contact address on 9/25/2023, 9/26/2023, 12/22/2023 requesting to cancel or be sent the information on how to cancel (you cannot cancel by website or their corporate office). There was no response. I called the gym during business hours on 12/22/2023 and they did not pick up. I finally was able to reach them on 1/12/2024; the person who answered the phone couldn't help me and stated they they don't have access to the email on the golds website. They instructed me to reach out to the manager via email. On 1/12/2024 I emailed the manager documenting what I've mentioned above. They responded on 1/13/2024 and stated they couldn't refund me because I hadn't submitted the form (the form was not provided on the golds website, by their contact email, the person at their front desk I talked to on the phone, or by the manager). They offered to cancel my membership immediately. I responded on 1/13/2024 and clearly stated "Please cancel the 2 person family membership immediately" in addition to requesting further review on my refund request. The membership was not cancelled. When I was digging through statements at the end of the year, 16 months after moving, I noticed they had billed me almost $1,000 in biweekly increments since their manager stated in writing that they would immediately cancel the account. I emailed again and got a bounce that the email no longer existed. After submitting this review and notifying another Golds email that I had filed a consumer complaint with the A.G. they finally refunded me.

Today is 12/4/24 and the only action Gold's gym has taken is to have the collections agency send me an email threatening me that i need to pay the false charges that same day.... 11/17/2024: I had signed up for biweekly personal training sessions but I had to cut back on my expenses and when I tried to do that I had the same experience expressed by others in reviews. They ignored me after several attempts so I had to have my bank stop the payments, yet I was willing to continue as a member and pay as I scheduled PT sessions. On the back end it appears they were still charging me recurring PT sessions and knowing they had no basis to demand payment or address this with me ditectly they send their fake bill to an attorneys office to intimidate me. In response again i reached out to the gym and email corporate. When i called back they said they had removed those charges from my account and that is what I saw in the app, but then I get another letter and these fraud charges are threatening my credit score. So now I have to escalate this with this attorneys office, the bar association those attorneys are licensed under prosecuting illegal claims, they want to hide behind and submit all the strong evidence to the agencies that monitor this gym and that attorneys office. :) dont steal from consumers, Golds gym Van Ness.

was lied to about a free pass to get me into the gym, and gym passes come with sauna access but towels cost extra? what a joke. the gym is gross and i saw a handful of dead roaches across the place this week.

Staff is great but seems to be a lot of turnover. Only 2 squat racks, it leaks when it rains, and definitely some pervy older men. But their turf area has been a nice upgrade.

The temperature has been at unhealthy levels for several weeks now, but the management has taken no apparent steps to correct it. The temperature on the upper level is in the mid-80s, and downstairs, it is in the 90s. There is almost zero ventilation downstairs, esp at the leg area, so everyone is sweating profusely and complaining about the heat and that management isn't doing anything about it. I went to a different location on Saturday, just so I could work out in a gym that actually had air conditioning and ventilation. Went back to the Van Ness location yesterday evening, and it was 85 degrees upstairs. even though it was pretty empty. I didn't work out downstairs, because it was too hot, and there was almost no one down there. Went back to the Van Ness location today. I needed to use the equipment downstairs where it was just as hot as it was outside, but had to stop mid-workout, because I was beginning to feel signs of heat exhaustion. If the management had at least bought a couple fans to help with ventilation downstairs and a few portable air conditioners, it would show that they are at least trying, but they haven't. The staff are generally great, but the management at this location clearly does not care about the welfare of the members.