Blast Fitness Downer’s Grove

I’ve been going to this Blast Fitness location since they first opened back in 2011. It was very nice in the beginning, but has gone steadily downhill ever since. I wouldn’t be surprised if they are close to going out of business — signs of that possibility are more apparent with every passing day.
No way could I recommend that anyone join this Blast at this point.
There are signs on the walls in the gym saying that it’s under new management. But the facility is nevertheless showing no signs of improvement and only getting worse as time goes on.
I am experienced at working out and lifting weights, so I have never needed any help from the Blast staff. But from what I have seen since 2011 when I started going there, the people working there are all very young (18 – 25) and don’t strike me as being particularly knowledgeable or experienced. A few of the employees appear to have some work ethic and go around cleaning various things, but most do not and just stand around talking and laughing with one another. The only time a lot of them seem to get serious about actually working is when they have to talk to a new customer and sign them up for membership.
Blast was originally open 24×7, but they’ve since started closing at midnight on weekdays and 10pm on Saturdays and Sundays. That is definitely a sign of trying to cut costs and the rumor mill says that they have lost a bunch of customers to Xsport down the street that is still open 24 hours a day.
The equipment was magnificent in the beginning when it was brand new, but as the years have passed Blast has increasingly been neglecting its maintenance. More and more machines have pads ripping and things breaking on them, but they aren’t being fixed. Another sign of cost-​cutting.
The men’s locker room is now a disaster. Like everything else in the club it was great in the beginning when Blast first opened, but now many of the lockers are filthy and broken. I usually have had to go around testing lockers to see which ones are still lockable with a functioning door before changing my clothes to work out. Allowing gross disrepair to persist is definitely a sign of a business in trouble.
As of last year, they’ve started turning off many of the TVs on the cardio equipment. It wasn’t like that in the beginning and is probably another desperate cost-​savings measure.
Canceling your membership is cumbersome. You have to get a paper cancellation form from the Blast staff, fill it out, and either snail-​mail it or scan and e-​mail it to a company called ABC Financial who handles their billing for them. You can’t just cancel right there in the gym and be done with it that day like you would think. As soon as ABC e-​mails you back that they’ve received your cancellation, you are then cancelled, but 30 days later. So they basically are forcing you to give 30 days notice of cancellation instead of letting you cancel right on the spot.
Here’s THE WORST:
I decided to quit Blast and sent in my cancellation to ABC back on 1÷16÷16. So my last day of gym access is a month from that date on 2÷16÷16. Coincidentally, the annual membership fee of $ 50 they charge me is due to be charged on 2÷15÷16 — THE DAY BEFORE MY LAST DAY. I tried to talk to the Blast staff about it, but they referred me to ABC saying that ABC handles all the billing concerns. ABC told me that they can’t erase that fee without getting approval from the Blast facility (yeah, the same people who told me they couldn’t help me and to contact ABC). ABC customer service e-​mailed Blast for me, but replied back a few days later saying that the contract says that if the annual membership fee falls within that last 30 days, they charge the customer anyway! Blast won’t waive it and neither will ABC.
What kind of shady business charges someone an annual membership fee THE DAY BEFORE THEIR LAST DAY and weeks after they gave notice of cancellation? That’s a load of crap and it doesn’t matter if that winds up being the situation per the contract. A business with integrity and class wouldn’t do that to a customer who had been with them for 5 years.
That’s like a cop giving a person a speeding ticket for going 1 mile an hour over the speed limit. Yeah, it’s technically breaking the law, but issuing a ticket in that situation is just not done. Common sense and reason prevail. Not at Blast apparently!
Don’t even think about joining this sinking ship of a fitness club..

I had a similar experience to other users in that I had a bad experience canceling my membership. I went in to cancel because I was going to be moving and wanted to get this taken care of. I was told that the general manager might contact me for further information, but if he didn’t then I was good to go and wouldn’t have to take any further action. I gave my phone number and name, etc. but I never heard from the general manager and about a month later saw I was charged for another month (naturally — these things are never easy). I called Blast to see why I was charged when I had already cancelled and lucky for me (so I thought) the general manager answered. I explained my situation and that I had already cancelled and he basically made it sound like I was lying about going in and canceling and that the process has to go through him, etc… I told him that I was told he MIGHT be contacting me, but if not I had cancelled. He said he had a binder of names of people who wanted to cancel and I wasn’t in it (not my fault in the least). He asked if I filled out a form or sent an email and I told him no and that I had only provided the information that was asked of me. Putting the blame on your members for not canceling the correct way is ridiculous. He proceeded to tell me the «correct» way to cancel my membership and didn’t even offer to reimburse me for the month I was charged which I shouldn’t have been in the first place. He wasn’t the least bit apologetic or friendly whatsoever. Some of the staff are very nice, but would not recommend due to poor management. Things like this are the last thing you want to be dealing with when going through a move.

Just finished my second visit there. Like all gyms, this too seems to have its own clique. The place is beat up. It looks old and disorganized. The floors under the machines are dirty. Restrooms are as they would be after a flood of business: in need of of regularly hourly maintenance. But come on, it’s cheap. Get in get out.
On my first visit, I introduced myself to the manager, Daniel. A pleasant young man. The TVs on the cycles in the Women’s section are broken… the sauna is filthy, without instructions of operations anywhere to be found. After a few accidents with injuries, I would persevere. I was offered a free consultation with the personal trainer and I took it.
Of course, Willie, the personal trainer, is not employed by Blast. We all know Blast makes money from his efforts, or he wouldn’t be there. At first meeting, he was very pleasant. I made an appointment with him for 9:00 am this morning.
When I arrived at 9:00 am, he was nowhere to be found. I asked the manager when he was expected. He said Willie does not keep a schedule with the club, but he is usually in by 9:30−10am. Hmmm. Perhaps I was mistaken about the time?!? So, I went about my workout. I hung around in the main area till 9:28am… no Willie. I finished in the Women’s section, completing at 10:00am.
I rechecked my phone, and had the appointment listed for 9:00am, as I thought. But, despite the fact that I always double check with my appointment person when I put it in my phone, I may still have made an error in time.
As I left, I went up to Willie and said, «I think we had a 9:00am appointment this morning.» He said, «No that appointment is for tomorrow, not today. Remember, you had something you had to do today, so we made it for Thursday.» Gaslight 101… make the person feel like it is their fault, not yours. Nope… not going to work here. I explained that I would NOT have made the appointment for Thurs., as I was coming from one appointment to another. (I don’t have a car, so have to combine my trips.) He asked my first name, looked at his computer, said, «There it is. Have a nice day mam,» ignoring me, going to do something else. Passive agressive!
When I got to my car, I dug through my wallet to find the biz card he had given me, where I had written the time and date, Wed. 1÷13÷16 9;00am… not 9:30… not Thursday! This is 2 places I had recorded our appointment and would have verified. OK arrogant Willie, you can try to make the world wrong, but this was YOUR mistake. AND, if it had been mine, you, as a good businessman, should never have been so arrogant and dismissive.
This is NOT someone who you would want as a personal trainer… for SURE!
You get what you pay for!

What a worthless gym. Everyone who works here is pathetic. Everyone is rude. You ask a question and you get a snotty response back. I signed a contract and there are all these hidden fees that they don’t make clear to you. And then when you cancel the gym they make it such a long hard process. They told me it would take a month to submit my cancellation. Now how would it take that long?! So in the mean time they were still charging me.
Would never recommend this gym to anyone. Nothing there is clean, everything is broken. Never again

I go to this gym almost every day and honestly the women’s section is awesome. I love that I can go in there and comfortably workout. The bathroom could use a little more cleaning especially in the showers but I go there only to workout and always leaving feeling great!

After getting ripped off across the street at Xsport, I joined a fitness program thru Bliuecross that allows me to access thousands of gyms nationwide for $ 25 a month. This was the first one I attended and found the place to be a real dump. Busted lockers, no working showers, many of the cardio machines didn’t work correctly, I certainly wont becoming back here

Sometimes you hear horror stories about gyms and cleanliness and you think to yourself «I wonder where these stories come from?» It’s blast trust me. The place couldn’t be more disgusting, even the laminated sales sheet they had looked gross. The bathrooms were a wreck and the machines had tears and were clearly worn down. The thing that got me was the sales rep. When I walked in they didn’t tour me nor notice me. When we sat down to sign up she mentioned the «sale» for the month was just $ 10 a month which sounds great on paper, in reality that’s there price all year why can’t they just be transparent? Wouldn’t recommend. Scratch that I would avoid at all cost.

Always great customer service. Love the classes, the ladies only area, and the sauna. Cant beat the price for all the things they offer.

Recently went in to sign up and the staff was extremely friendly and helpful. The process took no more than 10 minutes. The gym was being well kept up with. You can’t go wrong with $ 20/​month!

Not a bad gym. The number of machines are adequate and the price of membership is reasonable. Some of the members appear to have never used a gym before, because they sit on a machine not in use and use their cell phones. The only other gripe is that machines that are down for repair are down for a long period of time.

I have been coming here since they opened. First of all, the price is $ 10/​month for use of just equipment alone, and $ 20/​month for equipment and classes, so keep this in mind when critiquing this place. I was a member of Lifetime Fitness for $ 100/​month, and I did not get much more out of that membership than I do at Blast. I use the gym to workout — that’s it — and it serves its purpose. I love the classes that I attend — RIPPED on Sunday mornings, Pure Muscle Tone and Spin on Tuesday nights, and I also go to Zumba once in awhile on Thursdays. I have also attended the yoga classes that are offered on different nights and Pure Muscle Tone on Monday nights, and I love them all. The machines are ok — sometimes the TV’s do not work, but they try to put signs out on the machines that do not have a TV. It does get annoying when they do not fix the equipment in a timely manner, or clean it, but I always wipe my machine down before and after use — so I can’t complain about that. They do need to enforce the rules a little more and keep people from working out in non-​gym shoes and grunting while working out. I have not used the babysitting service, so I have no idea how that works, but all in all I love this place. 5 minutes from my house and it is pretty consistent.

Half of the good reviews were written by family and friends of the staff I think. That’s the only logical explanation because most of those things are just plain not true.

I love this gym! Its convenient, close, and everything that you would need for $ 20/​month.

For $ 11/​month the gym itself is completely fine.
The gym has a ton of cardio equipment and a pretty large weights section as well. The ladies area is a nice touch and I like that it’s walled off from the club. It’s small though and the only section of the gym I’d ever really describe as full. If you go late at night it does smell off but it’s not so bad earlier in the day.
My main complaint is the condition of the machines. More and more of them are sitting broken for extended periods of time. That looks bad, but it’s not the end of the world because of the size of this place. However, I have been a member for a while now and I have yet to see an employee wash down a machine. (Heck; I haven’t seen an employee deal with trash, sweeping, anything really.) Other gym-​goers don’t bother to wipe machines after themselves either. So that’s disgusting.

Don’t join!!! And if you do join, best of luck canceling! I sent their corporate a letter medically having to cancel my membership. They continued to attempt to «bill» me then said I never cancelled. Finally they cancelled my membership, after sending a 2^nd letter to them, but I now have a balance. Hoping they go out of business soon! just don’t do it. Go to Xsport across the street! I should have done that!!! The daycare is gross too. It’s moldy and one teenage kid watching 15+ kids.

For 20 bucks it’s not that bad. People don’t really get in your way. Everyone minds their own business. The sauna is pretty small, fits around 4 people comfortably. The tanning booth is stand up and it’s a pretty tight cabin to change. The women’s room is pretty spacious. It has four ellipticals and around 5 treadmills. They have some arm machines and leg machines. Mostly everything is out in the main room. I can bring a guest anytime I want too. When I cancelled the first time I didn’t have a problem since I was going away to school, so I didn’t have to pay any cancellation fees. Overall it’s fine. It’s not a lifetime that’s for sure.

DO NOT JOIN BLAST ! They are lying stealing bastards! They are conducting unethical business practice and are stealing from the people. They are trying to force old members of Ballys to pay Blast.

just an update… after 12 months of non-​use on my membership. I went ahead and canceled i t… the cancellation process was unnecessarily cumbersome (may be a purposeful practice in this industry). After calling the customer care number, I had to show up at the club in person to sign a «waiver» form a certain time to see a certain person, and then fax a copy back to the Customer care center… all this 30 days in advance of termination. Anyways, once i got the ball rolling I had to see it through and I had no regrets about leaving the club which tells me that it wasn’t such a special place after all, even with the very attractive rate. Then, I looked around the club one last time and noticed that there were no more members working out than what I saw 12 months ago, which tells me that this club is not growing or worse loosing lots of members like me who signed up in the initial months.

This place is A JOKE! All the employees are completely clueless teenagers who have no experience dealing with the public. If they aren’t gossiping or hitting on each other they are on their phones every time. The cleanliness is appalling none of the paper towel dispensers are ever full, the garbage is always over flowing, and they NEVER clean the tanning area. «This bed has been sanitized» Yeah and I’m the Pope.
As far as the personal trainers go, ANNOYING! I had a trainer call me to say that he noticed I wasn’t coming in as often as I should and would like to book a free half hour personal training session. I understand he might have been trying to busy himself with appointments, but I think 3 times a week was often enough for my busy schedule. Not only that, but the constant harassment I would receive about setting up an appointment with the inappropriate text messages from Shawn. Not ok.
I recommended my family members and 3 of my really close friends here and frankly I am embarrassed I referred them over. They all tell me the same thing about the staff being completely IGNORANT.
Want to cancel your membership… GOOD LUCK! I cancelled back in January both in the gym and faxed over the cancelation paperwork to ABC and was STILL getting the payments taken out. When I called to correct this I sat on hold for AN HOUR!!! before I got frustrated and hung up.
They also advertise it’s a 24 hour gym when it actually closes at midnight.
I’d rather pay an extra 10 $ a month at LA fitness.

Pro’s —
A gym 10 minutes from my house.
Unlimited classes with Platinum membership (finally there are classes!) — albeit kind of tight right now but that’s to be expected during the first quarter of the new year… I know eventually the regulars will have their time and space once the «resolutions» are forgotten.
They have a ladies only work out area for those who don’t want to be in the main room
Reasonably priced membership and friendly staff
Free baby sitting near the member area you can peak into
Con’s —
The «sauna» is a joke
I would not shower here because of the flimsy curtains…
I didn’t get a discount because I don’t need the free tanning :(
Overall more pros than cons… can’t ask for more