24 Hour Fitness

Pros: Decent clubs.
Cons: Not honest.  Corporate policy to ignore and stonewall complaints. 

It's been about three years, but I'll never forget. I worked out at the Hollywood, CA 24 Hour Fitness.  I had my lock cut in the locker room and lost my wallet, expensive watch, IPod, cash, car keys, etc.  Because I had my ID in my wallet and ...

Pros: None really.
Cons: Inconsistent clubs, horrible customer service!!!!!

I have been an all club member for the last 7 years. Recently I TRIED to close my account due to the fact that I am pregnant and want to join a gym that is closer to home and offers prenatal classes. So I called on July 19th to cancel my membership. The ...

Pros: Convenience- in a mall. Cheap. Obviously.
Cons: Dirty, deplorable service, overcrowded and no parking at night.

It's too bad, because the facility is pretty decent, but the people that run it aren't qualified to run a 7-11. Here's why: Although they usually provide soap/body wash in the showers, they always run out. It's so nice to get in the shower, all sweaty ...

Pros: Cheap
Cons: Dirty, often broken equipment, disinterested and outright rude staff.

Rant: I have been going to a 24 Hour Fitness now for 3 years for 5 days a week. In all that time you would think that someone would have learned my name at least. I went to a small gym before this one for several years and unfortunately had to move jobs ...

Pros:

Nice people. Lots of machines. Big pool.

Cons: Lots of people. Complicated machines, at first. Lots of chlorine in pool -- LOL

You can lose 30lbs without a gym -- I got my brother to lose 180 lbs in just over a year -- he stopped eating McDonald's 2 times a day, started eating smaller portions of meals, stopped snacking on sugar, and walked 1 mile a day!Before that, he ...

Pros: Lots of locations
Cons: Rude, incompetent sales and receptionist staff.

I live part time in San Diego and part time in Murrieta. As a friend has a membership at 24 Hour and as they have clubs in both locations, I decided I wanted to try out the San Diego club.I went to the club with my friend who had a guest pass. ...

Pros: I can't think of any (honestly)
Cons: CrowdedPoor customer service at HQMisleading contractsNo one cares about anything except your money

    After visiting to see if I liked the gym, I was forced to walk around with a trainer to have him show me around.  This is fine except they turn the whole thing into a sales pitch.  All I wanted to see was the free weight ...

Pros: Great equipment, multiple locations, outstanding amenities, qualified trainers, and superb operating hours.
Cons: Products are a little pricey, and the facilities can get a little crowded.

I joined 24-Hour Fitness about two months ago and hired one their personal trainers to get me started. Since that time, I've lost over 25 pounds of fat and gained 10 pounds of muscle. My blood pressure and resting pulse rate both went down, considerably. I'm off many of the medications I had to take before joining 24-Hour Fitness, and I receive multiple comments regarding my improved appearance. 24-Hour Fitness provides the equipment, schedule, trainers, and products necessary to lose weight, improve cardiovascular fitness, and increase both muscle mass and tone. If you join, get a trainer for at least two sessions, and get serious about your workouts. Also, I recommend using a location with a sauna, steam room, and hot tub in order to reward yourself after grueling workouts.

Pros: Everyone's left. No wait for equipment that works. Front desk folks are great and friendly.
Cons: Dirty, filthy, equipment always broken, pushy sales people.

24 Hour Fitness started in Boise with 3 clubs. One new and two buy-outs. The new one was a work to behold. Huge new facility, but only 2 shower heads in the mens locker room...what a concept...what a view at the noon rush hour. Anyway it folded and sold to Gold's.
The other two clubs have gone consistently downhill. Almost all of the regulars have left- which is nice for me. The places are like a ghost towns, and no wait for equipment.
The maintenance is horrible; furry mold and peeling ceilings in the showers, urine colored and soup smelling spas (when they work), broken equipment that takes up to two months to fix, etc...
My wife changed my membership last year, so I'm prepaid for two years, so I'm stuck. But the clubs have become so dirty, I think I'll move on.
By the way, don't bother sending your concerns about your filthy club and broken equipment through 24 Hour's web site. Nothing changes with these guys.

Pros: The club itself is actually very good.
Cons: Hard sell pressure tactics. Every day is the "last day" of a big sale.

I have been a member for 10 years, and was pressured back then to buy a bigger, more expensive package. It was "let's see your credit card and we'll work you a great deal..." So when my wife wanted to join, we did, and I once again had to haggle. This time however, we were given a trial package with "any four days a week." This actually turned out to be only four CERTAIN days each week. We are now out $129.30.

There has got to be a better way...

Pros: Many clubs so that you can work out in different clubs and cities.
Cons: Once they get your money, they don't care about you or the facilities.

I've been a member of the 24 hour chain for about 5 years and have witnessed it deteriorate from a cheap club to an often run down, dirty, club that continues to cut member services. There are some nice clubs, often the newer ones, but many of the clubs are dirty, the exercise machines are neglected and often broken, and the staff is incompetent and turns over quickly.
When I first began going the clubs had a full class schedule. They have cut the number of classes almost in half and anyone can be an instructor with no previous experience.
My local club does little if any maintenance and, for example, out of about 20 exercises bikes only about half work properly.
Some may say you get what you pay for but with 24 hour fitness you don't even get that.

Pros: I have no pros.....You want sarcasm great place to go.
Cons: Too many to list. Money, non supportive staff, non supportive environment, intimidating for the novice.

I take kenpo karate about 4 times a week and needed to supplement my routine. I joined 24 hour fitness thinking it would be a supportive environment. WRONG... well it is if you have money to pay for their trainers to even show you how to correctly use the machines. If you have a question about a machine or anything else for that matter they tell you to get a trainer. Now I do not expect to not pay for a service but if you are not sure how to use a machine, you can possibly injure yourself. I actually heard a staff member say to another staff member how people where using the machines wrong.... well show them. Oh that's right that will be 75.00 dollars please.They take your measurements and find your BMI tell you can lose the weight you need to lose in a time frame and them tell you that would be 300.00 for the diet and trainer for 6 sessions.

Pros: clean environment, tons of equipment, always open (except certain holidays), good staff on hand
Cons: fitness trainers always trying to get you to buy training

Not many people do take it to the extreme but it is nice to know that you do have the opportunity to work out whenever you want. I have been a member with 24 hour fitness since the age of 12 (family fitness back then)and i am now creeping up on my tenth year. The price is just fine compared to other fitness chains I have worked out at. The gym equipment is new and state of the art. You could go for a weeks using the different equipment and still not use everything. 24 hour fitness is great about having a clean environment and weights almost always racked. The fitness trainers are also there to lend a helping hand if you need it, of course they are trying to sell you fitness training but you cant blame them because it is a business after all.

Pros: Membership fees are reasonable, gym is clean, equipment new and in good repair.
Cons: Robs you going in and leaving. Check out the lawsuits against them.

When I ran into trouble with my Personal trainer at 24-Hour Fitness I thought she was just a greedy monster for trying to force me into taking more sessions per week. Not so. Apparently Personal Training contracts are a scam. There is a six month time limit within which all the training sessions must be taken and the goal is to sign people up for 60 sessions for $3,000.00. That means over two sessions a week for six months. Any bonus sessions, or sessions cancelled because your trainer was sick or on vacation are money out of your pocket. And, of course, if you only want one session a week you lose your money for all 34 that were paid for and not used. We won't even talk about the meal bars, powdered drinks, and vitamin supplements they tack onto the $3,000.
They will tell you they will extend your contract. They lie. They won't. Plus the contract says you can't sue.

Pros: Good facilities if you actually get to use them.
Cons: Can't actually use facilities because of extreme overcrowding.

24 hour fitness oversells their membership by a wide margin. They seem to care little about existing members (i.e. those that have already paid a large upfront
membership fee) and focus entirely on new membership sales. My local 24hour fitness gym in Austin, TX is extremely overcrowded to the point of being unusable at least during conventional exercise hours (I have not checked at 5am
as suggested by one 24hour fitness manager). Attempting to resolve this issue with 24 hour fitness management has been futile.