Blast Fitness E. Providence

Manager is the required to terminate membership. Every time I attempt to go in to cancle surprise there’s no manager. Havn’t used this in forever there now stealing in my opinion

I’ve only been going to this particular Blast for a couple weeks now and I gotta say, in comparison to the one off Reservoir Avenue behind the Popeyes, it’s freakin night and day! There are two floors full of working equipment, and whatever time of day I go, I can do what I came to do, shower and head out. The front desk people are friendly and make a point to acknowledge you when you come in AND as you leave, unlike the robots at the Providence location, and there’s something of an etiquette here; at the Providence location, fake gangsters strut in wearing jeans and construction boots and just grab the weights, while their friends crowd around and chat as if they’re at a cookout hovering around the grill. At this location, you don’t feel like you might get shot for sneezing. Keep up the great work!

I have been a member of Blast since September and go to the gym 6x a week. I have the platinum membership which is 21.00 a month.
I think the gym is OK, but the classes are what keeps me signed up.
They have classes 7 days a week and my favorites are the Brazilian Butts and Guts class with Evelyn and the Pure Muscle class with Harold. They both have great classes that helps work out your whole body. They are also great instructors that keep us all motivated, but doesn’t make you feel like you’re in bootcamp.
Back to the gym– it has standard cardio and weight machines, but several machines are always being serviced at a time.
I don’t go to the free weights section often, so I can’t comment on that.
There is an indoor track which I find convenient and a sauna that I have never used.
The gym could be a lot cleaner and a lot of the machines need some updating.
Overall the gym is just OK. For $ 10 or $ 21/​month, I don’t expect perfection. I’m able to get a great workout and my body looks good so I can’t complain.
Staff are friendly (they are a lot more attentive and visible now) and I’ve met some very nice people there.
I do wish they were opened later on the weekdays (close at 10pm) and weekends (close at 6). I like to work out later in the day, so that is an issue for me.

Gum on floors, bathroom smells, flies in showers even in Winter, never any soap. Poorly managed from a sanitary stand point, just like most Health? Clubs

There has been a huge change for the worst, in the management since the gym changed over from a Bally Total fitness.
The gym’s pool, hot tub, and spa area has been shut down. It lays drained, and vacant.
Although they recently bought some new equipment, they have removed some equipment making it off limits to members.
I personally don’t appreciate their business model. They work on grabbing lots of members, and locking them into contracts.
When I started the gym it was because of the plyometric area. I could use stretching tables, medicine balls, Bosu balls, Kettlebells, jump training equipment, and many more items. After my yearly fee was paid all this equipment was deemed off limits to members. It can only be used by personal trainers.
There are a few memberships. One allows extras to personal training, and tanning. Since the agreements were written saying membership one allowed access to everything except trainers, and tanning I opted for that membership. However, now they are beginning to remove access to certain equipment.
I personal feel misled.
I complained to the onsite manager who passed me off to the website for complaints. When I called the customer care number on the website they transferred me to Bally Total Fitness. Bally Total Fitness was very confused why Blast Fitness transferred me to them. I did a Google search and obtained another number. Upon calling this number you do not receive a representative, you get a recorded message even during business hours. The message asks you to leave a message, or fill out a form online. I left a message, and filled a form out online.
The recorded message says I’ll hear from a representative within 48 hours. The online form says you’ll hear from a representative in 48 hours as well. However, when you hit send, and receive an automated response that message moves the time frame to 3 – 4 days.
I’m going to try to receive a refund on my yearly fee, but from what I read online I’m mostly not going to be successful.
I would not recommend this place to anyone. BUYER BEWARE!!!
It’s easy to see their business model is to lock in as many members as possible, hope they don’t go to the gym but pay the fees, and if they do go brush off members with complaints to a network of poorly designed service lines, and websites.
Instead of removing members who don’t respect the gym, which would interfere with their mass membership model, they treat all their members like children with off limit areas. I solid gym would build a fun workout environment by removing troubled members. I speak from experience. I trained, and worked at this gym throughout the 1990s, and early 2000s when it was Bally Total Fitness.

watch out for wow! the gym is ok but abc financial used to process there payments are rip off artists! beware!!!

Join WOW, you’ll have a blast! With its platinum membership you get unlimited tanning. While they have no tanning booths feel free to stand near the windows and catch those rays. Plenty of equipment to work out on, so some of it’s old and broken, who cares right? The locker rooms are the best with many broken lockers to choose from. That membership also gets you half priced cooler drinks but as they have no coolers feel free to go to the vending machines and pay full price. At Work Out World its all happening!
Seriously someone needs to contact the attorney general and health departments about this place. I’m a member and only stay because they do have great trainers and staff. It’s managers and owners who suck.

Do not sign-​up for a membership at this or any other WOW facility. It has been an awful experience for me. I signed my son (20) at the time up for a college-​3 month membership. They charged me for 2−½ yrs there after on a quarterly basis. I finally caught it and complained. They gave me a 2−½ yr FREE membership to make-​up for their mistake. Now I am getting emails form collection companies saying that I owe them money. I never used the FREE membership and thankfully my credit card expired from when I first signed my son up. What a mess. I finally got ABC Financial (their parent company) to cancel this membership and waive any fees. I get it that I am kind of at fault but this is exactly how they make their money. When their MEMBERS are not paying attention. Be careful!!!

Wow! How this place stays in business is unbelievable.
They advertise unlimited tanning without one single booth in the building.
The whirlpool is roped off like a murder scene & the swimming pool seems to be growing some type of brown algae.
Lighting this gym is sparse. Not because of the lack of fixtures, but the lack of working bulbs. I can only assume that the lights are «dimmed» in order to hide the filth.
The weight room is reminiscent of a Planet Fitness since it’s been stripped of any dumbbells weighing over 75lbs.
Consider taking a look at the WOW on Pawtucket Avenue, World’s Gym or Planet Fitness in Seekonk before joining. You’ll be glad you did.

I was a member of Ballys for over 10 years. To save money I cancelled my membership there and joined the WOW on Pawtucket ave since it would be quite a bit cheaper. When Ballys became WOW, I transferred back since its closer to my residence. BIG mistake.
First off I will say that I have no complaints about the staff, they are all very pleasant, and quite friendly. This is the only good thing I will say.
The equipment is horribly dated. That location has had the same equipment since I joined Ballys in the 90s. Many of the machines are broken and have been broken for months.
The gym boasts of the many benefits a platinum membership has such as tanning (does not have), a woman’s work out area (does not have), state of the art equipment for all members (does not have).
The only thing this club has to offer that the others don’t is a pool, which is broken on a regular basis.
Want to join a decent gym? Go to WOW on Pawtucket ave.

Like many other reviewers, I also joined this gym when it was Bally’s and signed a 13-​month contract. When I heard the facility was being sold, I used that as my get out of jail free card since my contract had a clause stating that if the club was ever sold, I could cancel my contract without penalty. Well, I mailed my cancellation to Bally, but my membership was cancelled by the new owner – Blast! Fitness.
Bally will not give me a refund since they didn’t technically cancel my membership, and Blast! Fitness employees must be masters of the runaround because I’ve been sending them weekly emails for six months now.
Every time you email them, you get a new person. The new person doesn’t have any of your previous emails, so if you just needed to clarify something, that gets lost in the ether. Every time I’ve written saying I’m owed a refund, I just get an email back saying «You’re no longer a member.»
I went in there recently to try to deal with it in person, and the surly woman at the desk just told me «I can’t do anything, fill out this form.» I’ve tried calling, but that is no help either.
Since the facility has been sold, it looks like a yard sale. When I went in, there was no one working out (it had previously been pretty busy all the time), the front office was piled up with boxes, no one was at the desk and the whole place seemed like it wasn’t even open.
Also, a co-​worker of mine who had been going there until recently told me that the pool was broken for about three months and that even though she had used that facility for five years, she was told she’d have to pay a new membership fee and would lose her month-​to-​month discount. She has also left, as I imagine most customers have.

Has a lot of potential but needs to be seriously updated. I do dislike how they call themselves a Blast Fitness which boasts a large women’s only area and tv’s for every cardio machine and neither are true. Their hours aren’t that great either, especially on the weekend. If you want a basic workout its nothing special.

I’ve gone to this location for over 20 years. For the vast majority of time, it was a Bally Total Fitness club. It was a bit dated, and lacked many of the traditional amenities of more modern clubs, but it was a solid club with a solid management behind it.
In early 2012, it was bought by ‘Blast Fitness’, and advertised as as ‘Work Out World’ club. Man, was that ever the death knell! Already using 10 year old equipment, many pieces of equipment has been broken for over 2 months at a time, and the place is never clean, despite the club staff vacuuming constantly (perhaps it was because the ownership terminated the overnight cleaning company!). I’ve complained internally to their corporate folks, who always reply quickly that they care about customer satisfaction, but in 4 months, not 1 item has been rectified. Now, the sauna is erratic and whirlpool has been broken for 6 months and is now simply roped off with caution tape. The manager is powerless and needs authorization to address even the most minor things. They falsely advertise perks like suntanning (melanoma, anyone?) and $ 10/​month, but its really $ 20/​month if you take group classes.
What was a robust group fitness program under Bally’s has dwindled, and even the very best and loyal instructors are disheartened. The stereo systems for both the cycling room and the aerobics studio have been broken for 2 months and instructors told to bring in their own boom boxes. They say ‘state of the art’ equipment with individual tv screens – just where is that? not here, that’s for sure!
But, hey, what do you expect for $ 20/​month. Clean?
Update – 3/​17/​13
Well, someone at BLAST fitness has a brain! I just wish s/he’d use their intellect trying to fix things (like a stereo system for group fitness classes!), rather than trying to get members to improve their ratings with bribes! Check the photos I just uploaded begging members to write ‘Awesome’ reviews on Unilocal and offering them free water (Jeez, I hope it takes more than water to lie through one’s teeth!). These signs have been up most of this week.
All the power to Unilocal – at least it got their attention. Now, I think I’m becoming a fitness club consumer advocate! Just fix the equipment and clean the place – like moldy showers… pretty please. I’m not going anywhere!
I’m sure they won’t be pleased with my comments. Thankfully, truth is its own defense! If they spent their energy keeping the club maintained, they’d learn that they’d EARN good reviews, not solicit BRIBES for them!
Hey, maybe this’ll become a blog. For those considering membership, until this club gets updated, there’s a really good ‘Work Out World’, just a couple miles away on Pawtucket Avenue, as well as a Planet Fitness close by, too.
Comment on owner’s character: