Cardinal Fitness of McHenry

Okay, when I first signed up years ago, I thought, wow this place is great. Now the honeymoon is over for me and it seems management as well. Problems I see go far beyond the tiny locker room, but let’s start there anyway. The shower curtain is so far into the shower it is difficult not to rub up against the slime coated plastic. I asked to have it moved out and when ignored I tried to do so myself only to find it is screwed into the tile wall. On the weekend I can only assume that the front desk folks are hung over from the prior night because the lights over the reception desk is most often turned off leaving the entry dull and grey. I find this very unprofessional and un-​business like. The upholstery is aloud to remain in disrepair and screws that fall out of benches remain that way for far too long. Last weekend someone cleaned the locker room floors. When I arrived at 8AM Saturday morning the benches were still on top of the lockers. So from open until 8, no one took the time to put the locker room in order and management left it up to the members to drop large awkwardly heavy wooden benches from far above ones head. Somewhat hazardous. Today is Monday and one of the three benches are still up on top of the lockers. It is clear no-​one pays attention nor cares to. I tried to make contact with the corporate office but their website states all concerned be directed only to club management. Well, that’s what I have to complain about so how far will that go. My gosh, this is a business and it’s being run like a grade school backyard club. Someone needs to step up and treat this place and it’s members with the respect deserved. Other clubs are coming. I wish for this place to excel. The only bright spot is the morning weekday folks running the club. Darla watches over the club like a mother hen over her chicks. She is the first to greet everyone and the last to make sure your noticed leaving. Quite frankly, she should manage the business. it would be a far better place for it. But as it stands today if a friend asked my opinion I’d say, what for the next one to open before making a decision.

The management turn around at this place is out of control… which hints at something wrong behind the scenes.
I have been a member of this gym for over 4 years and recently was informed by a newly appointed manager that my fiancé (a local speed and agility trainer) has been banned nationwide due to the insecurities of the Charter trainers. It was explained that there was hearsay regarding him training at the gym and the trainers were complaining. After discussing this matter with both the local manager and the Sr. Reg. Manger of Charter, the staff trainers lack of confidence was confirmed by the Sr. Reg. Manager’s statement that, «…they were threatened by his presence in the gym and felt as though he was taking food out of their mouths». This place is a joke!
An All-​American high school football player, who played on a professional stage in both the US and Canada and has proven success of coaching speed and agility to football, soccer, softball and MMA athletes, is not a threat to a freshly certified personal trainer, who is training on basic information such as how to lose weight and use machinery. Any athlete that is looking to train or be trained by a professional, who has years of experience, will not seek training at a gym that is ran by a recent high school graduate with a staff of trainers that allow someone working out at a gym with a friend’s son, to intimidate them.
I can expect this behavior from an eager to please, freshly appointed, college freshman but not from the senior management. Discrimination is not okay… regardless of if it is due to race, weight or profession. Selectively pinpointing someone from a crowd of people, who are all working out/​training each other, based on hearsay and your staff’s lack of confidence in their own abilities is flat out, in your face, DISCRIMINATION!
***Note*** The system will not allow you to post with ZERO stars so I am forced to give 1star!

Wow, I’m really on a bad luck spree here.
I opened my account with Cardinal (now Charter) last year in September. I moved to Palatine in June and haven’t been to the gym since then. I called in and spoke with an employee in July asking if I could cancel due to relocation and he said that if it was out of state I could provide a copy of my ID and they would cancel with no charge. Ok, so I just decided to pay the $ 19.95/mo until it ran out in September. I asked the cancellation process, he told me send a written notice of cancellation with my first and last name, agreement number and the reason for canceling, which I did. I log onto my bank account today and I was charged $ 19.95! So, I call up the finance company that runs the payment and they said that the cancellation notice should have been submitted to them directly, not the fitness club and that there has been no cancellation on my account. I called Charter and spoke with a very rude staff member named Kelly. She states that I never canceled my account. I explained how I had spoke with a gentlemen a couple months back, but she didn’t want to hear it. Not only was she not helping me out in anyway, she was talking to some other customer while on the phone with me??? Really? If you’re just charging people’s accounts whatever and whenever you’d like why can’t you hire more staff to make sure each customer is handled with respect, I AM paying for your services! Basically she told me I was SOL and that I should’ve come in to cancel my account, even though I would still need a written notice. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I finally said well I’m glad to see you guys practice great customer service and hung up. I sent my cancellation into ABC Financial, via certified mail and a copy to the fitness club as well. Seriously who is running these companies?!

The worst. I was a member here a little over a year ago and it was a total waste of money. Cheap monthly rates yes, but not worth it. Staff is rude and unhelpful and when I tried to cancel for get it. They still were trying to charge me a month later and a admin fee to cancel a monthly contract?

Cardinal Fitness is clean, well-​ish maintained, and if you catch the staff right they can be polite, but this is not a gym I would consider good.
I was a member of this gym for two years and their first year in business they were great — good management, good staff, and good machines. By the end of their second year, after a change in management, the staff had become frequently rude or dismissive and the staff rotate so often that few, if any, are familiar with company policies enough to answer any questions.
The men’s locker room is also grossly undersized. It can accommodate maybe — maybe — four guys changing at once. And that’s if those four guys are REALLY comfortable with each other. Also, the handicapped shower is not ADA-​compliant. The seat in it broke two months after the gym opened and no one ever fixed it. In addition, the contractor who put in the tile did a poor job and put the drain at the floor’s high point. So the floor is constantly slippery and with puddles of standing water.
Also, be sure to bring a lock if you store stuff in a locker.
As for the machines, by the time I quit, many had splits in the cables, tears in the seats, or a permanent white… something… in the cevaces of the cushion’s vinyl.
As for the music here, the music selection depends on who is working. Often, when no manager was on duty, the staff would play (sometimes quite loud) heavy metal, electronica, and uncensored music stations (from whichever satellite music service they use.) One time, when I asked to have the volume turned down (my ears were ringing), the staff member said, «yeah, sure I’ll do that.» Then he walked in the opposite direction and talked to one of the other staff members. The music volume was never turned down.
The parking lot here is way to small for the business and people park along the curbs. This makes for a very dangerous situation and often I was almost hit by people taking turns tight to avoid hitting a parked car. No one does anything about this. I’m sure it has nothing to do with the fact that a lot of area cops work out here.
The worst part about this gym was that, when I joined, I was over-​billed for six months by more than double the monthly fee. It took six months for the error to be corrected and another two months for the company to refund the overcharges. When I quit, the paperwork was — amazingly — lost for two months and I ended up being billed for four months after I completed the paperwork to terminate my membership.
For $ 20 a month, just buy yourself some free weights and running shoes. Go jog outside, enjoy the outdoors, and lift on your own time. There’s no need to have a membership here.

Very clean. No towel service. Friendly staff. Separate room for the kids to play while mom or dad work out. Good machines and both free weights and machines. Big screen TVs. Easy parking.
Kind of full now that the «New Years Resolution» people are there, but they’ll mostly be gone by end of February.
Trainer available.
I’d give it more stars for having towel service, but that’s a big reason why the place is so reasonable.