LA Fitness

My boyfriend and I opened a membership at LA Fitness, expecting a good experience, but it turned into a nightmare. We were told our membership allowed us to bring two guests, but when we went to the Shadyside location, the staff claimed we only had single memberships. We had already paid for two months, trusting the staff who helped us sign up. The manager (owner) was incredibly rude and displayed the worst attitude, especially toward us as Asian customers. Instead of admitting that his staff might have made an error, he blamed us, saying, “You didn’t read the whole contract when you signed it,” and then printed five pages of the contract to make his point. English isn’t my first language, and I wonder how many people read every word of a long contract? When I asked to speak with someone else or the staff member who helped us, he claimed, “I own the whole place, and only I can talk to you.” Is this even true? Isn’t LA Fitness a chain gym? He treated us like we were trying to take advantage of the gym. We didn’t know it was a single membership initially, but instead of helping us, he refused to refund the next month and even said, “I can charge you $20 per day for bringing a guest.” This experience was beyond disappointing. I’d like to ask: what kind of gym owner behaves this way? ❗Update: we're not the only clients who experienced It.

The grossest, worst gym I've been to in a long time. I only joined for a couple of months while my gym was being renovated and oh man, it's bad. 1- The air conditioning is terrible upstairs, which is of course where all the cardio equipment is. I tried to use the treadmills on hot mornings (when I want to run inside because it's too hot) and it's OPPRESSIVELY hot. 2- The treadmill safety key clips are in rough shape. Literally this morning I couldn't get one to clip on because it was rusted through. 3- The only cleaning equipment available is measly wipes that are never saturated enough to adequately wipe down the equipment. Please, for the love of God, get some paper towels and spray bottles so people can adequately wipe the equipment. 4- The locker rooms look nice but they stink, there's no floor-length mirror in the women's main area, and the outlets in the women's area are all a disaster waiting to happen. They don't hold the plugs so if you pull even lightly on your hair dryer, curling iron, etc. it falls out of the wall. 5- The water fountains on the second floor are grossly warm. Why on earth would I want to drink lukewarm water, particularly when it's already atomic upstairs? The water fountain downstairs it better but it's also incredibly slow and it's small so it's difficult to fit my water bottle in to refill. In terms of trying to cancel your membership - good luck. They make you either show up in person during business hours (because obviously members don't have jobs they need to be at) or print and mail a notice (which of course requires you have access to a printer) to their HQ even though the membership contract says you can cancel by bringing a notice to the home club and "asking" for the operations manager. I dropped off a notice outside of the operations manager's shift and got an email saying I had to print a notice and mail to HQ. Called the club and they kept claiming I had to come in person to cancel, during those business hours, which isn't called out in the contract as any kind of cancellation requirement. It's misleading and deceptive and clearly a BS hurdle to prevent people from easily cancelling. When I pressed the staff on why I couldn't talk to the operations manager over the phone to process the cancellation I just kept getting told "that's just how it's done". On the plus side the morning staff is sweet and friendly, and it's never very crowded during that time.

Great gym! Love the intense saunas. Jermaine and Gabriella helped me out and were very kind

I’m very disappointed with my recent experience at LA Fitness. My son signed up for a membership at $39.95/month, and the salesman assured him that it included two guest passes. However, when I drove 30 minutes to join my son as a guest, the front desk staff informed us that this was not true, embarrassing my son in the process. Eventually, they said they would ‘let it go this time,’ but the entire experience felt deceptive and unprofessional. It’s no wonder so many people prefer Planet Fitness, where their Black Card membership is nationwide, includes guest privileges, and is half the cost of LA Fitness—all while being open 24 hours, five days a week. This kind of customer treatment makes it hard to justify the higher price tag at LA Fitness. Note: top floor bathroom has no toilet papers!

I’ve been a member of this gym for 6 years and have loved it - but it’s falling apart. The central air (AC) has been broken for months. It’s unbearably hot. We have essential pieces of equipment that have been broken for months, door handles are falling off the doors and it’s always dusty. I’m so disappointed at how it’s deteriorated. I would not have joined 6 years ago if I’d seen it in this condition. The staff are excellent - and there are still aspects of this gem that I enjoy, but they really need to step it up.