New York Sports Clubs

Customer Service? What is that?
If you get a chance to speak to the «Customer Service Manager», Shaheem Taylor, please take a moment out of your day to give him a couple examples of good customer service. Either NYSC does not train its managers or this poor guy was out sick when they did.
As all of you who go to this gym know, finding a fully functional cardio machine at this location is near impossible. Either the TV doesn’t work, the sound is non existent/​muffled/​crackling in only one ear, the input is dangling from a cord near the ground or the machine wont even turn on.
Two days ago I actually saw some poor girl on the treadmill jump off as the slats making up the running surface flew off one at a time and up at her. Luckily a few patrons came to her rescue, shut the machine down and helped her off. The staff… well, they stared for a while not knowing what to do… or not caring. Amazing.
So, after checking the same machines for months, with no repairs made, I finally wrote down several of the machine numbers and took them to the front desk. I tried to give them to the manager but he said– «I don’t need them– we are aware of the broken machines and they are being fixed this week». I was amazed by the response but gave the guy the benefit of doubt.
Fast forward a month, this month… I checked the usual suspects only to find the machines were still broken. I felt too tired to do anything about it until I broke my headphones trying to get one to work. That was the last straw! This lack of diligence on the part of NYSC has now taken money out of my pocket. So, off to the front desk again. I asked the manager on duty, Shaheem, if I could see their list of broken machines. He told me he wasn’t able to share that list with me. I asked if he could tell me which treadmills were on the list. Again, he said no.
I asked him for his manager’s name and number… he writes the main customer service 800 number on a torn off piece of paper.
The one nice thing about this is, if you are a member, you wont be alone in your frustration. In every corner of this place you will hear people complaining or just giving up all together and going home.
Tonight I terminate my membership. This has been a horrible experience. Best of luck to those left on this desert island.
Mr customer service manager… enjoy your career at the bottom.

Sorry to say this club has hit rock bottom. It used to be ok (just barely) and in the last year or so has just crumbled.
At any given time ¼ of the cardo equipment is broken and good luck getting a TV that works, either no or bad picture and the sound is no better.
This club is also disgustingly dirty. There are sweat stains on the equipment and the smell on the 4^th floor is pretty bad.
To put the final nail in the coffin they closed the 86^th st location so this club is busting at the seams.
Oh and good luck finding a manager, I have tried repeatedly and always gotten the response «oh they is no manager here right now…»

over crowded… and very HOT. They have been working on the air for over a year. Machines are out dated and not well maintained. Avoid the weekends. Since 86 street closed very very crowded.

Shady cancellation policy. They don’t honor what is written in the contract and make things up to justify their charging you extra after you tell them you want to cancel. According to the written contract, moving out of state (where no sports clubs are) is a valid reason for immediately cancelling the agreement, but they claim it’s not. They give you the run-​around. I called member services, and they told me to call the club. I called the club and they told me to call member services. They just want to extort every penny out of you, and have no interest in maintaining a good relationship.
Signing up was also a horrible, uncomfortable experience. I felt they were trying to get all sorts of info about my personal life to sell me extra services I didn’t want. I don’t want to tell you where I work, what time I get home, or what my salary is. Creepy.
The gym itself is fine for what it is, small and crowded but convenient if you’re local, which I was. Don’t make it a destination if you’re coming from somewhere else.
If you have no other choice, then just be super careful when you want to end your agreement.

Have been going to this location for over a year now. It was okay before but now with the 86^th street location closing it is dangerously crowded. Spent twenty minutes at this location today and had to leave. Couldn’t actually work out there was so many people everywhere. Its filthy too. VERY FRUSTRATING

If this gym wasn’t bad enough, with closing of 86^st location it’s become dangerously overcrowded, and if course still filthy and full of broken machines. Worst though is you can’t get into any of the classes because of the absurdly overcrowded conditions. It’s so not worth saving a few dollars over the much better gyms in the neighborhood.

This gym only gets worse & worse. The LAST thing this cattle-​call gym, with «rickety-rack”/never maintained or cleaned, equipment & steel-​wool towels, needed, was for the largest NYSC on the UES (East 86^th Street), to shut down, in January, when the bonus «New Year’s Resolutioners» stream in! The place was PACKED on a Saturday afternoon @3:30 p.m.!! Of course, as NYSC & its corporate owner, TSI, haven’t prioritized its regular/​long-​time members for many years, and have instead, completely focused on maximizing personal training numbers, they made no contingency plan, to provide an additional gym to go to, for us who live in the East 70’s/80’s, and, also, provided no advance notice of such a shut-​down. Working out @NYSC — East 76^th Street is like working out in HELL… And it’s hot as HELL too in there… I wish I could not only give this place ZERO stars ( Unilocal, please start allowing ZERO stars!!), I wish I could give it LESS THAN ZERO stars!

I checked out this location recently, since my current main branch (E.86^th) is closing. The gym is cramped in comparison. There is plenty of equipment and weights, but its all-​jammed in there and sometimes during your workout you may need to go to different floors for another type of equipment. The equipment is somewhat beaten up although usable. One of the weird things was that one of their studios is located down the block and on the other side of the street! I was there before the rush hour and while it was ok at that time. I get the feeling if there is a rush this gym would be a real pain to navigate around. My primary interests are cardio and weights, so I did not try out the classes. I’m pretty sure I am going to look into other options.

Now with wi-​fi, the gym is at the right price point. Clean and nice front desk. Only wish is a larger stretching area.

2.6 stars
Among all NYSC locations I am a regular to (10-​ish) 76^th and 1^st falls into the ones I dislike the most.
Generally speaking, you likely know the pros and cons of being a NYSC member if you have join a while ago. I could make a list of bad things about NYSC. And it wouldn’t be short. Logistics are so bad that sometimes is even funny. For those trying to figure whether is worth it to join or not, I recommend you to do so particularly since the huge flip around on their membership types that started in February 2015. I believe there is certain restrictions in membership types depending on the location, but neighborhood ones are a wonderful option and it can cost you barely $ 25/​month. Manhattan. pickier as with other things. Research around and make a plan about which location works better for you. If that helps, think on the classes offered and how that can change your work out routine. Then, we will agree on how worth the clubs are.
This particular location offers many things that I like. The instructors I usually go to, which I knew from other locations, are fantastic. To name and to remember Erin Coggins (Pilates), Adrienn Deak-​Estevez (BodyPump, Core conditioning) and Stephanie Teng (Bodypump).
Layout is as weird as the club is split in two. One being at 76^th between 1^st and 2^nd which is the main location with an studio for Pilates and the weekend classes. The other being at 1^st Avenue located between 76^th and 77^th St. and holds just the cycling studio and the studio for the classes during weekdays. I believe only the main club is open on the weekends. People at the desk holds interesting personalities and I dislike most of them. But whatever, because that really is not important and had no weight on my dislike for this location.
My main critic came indeed because of the members that frequent the club to attend the classes. It is so incredibly annoying and uncomfortable to deal with a crowded class where people look around suspicious trying to keep their little space to work out. Politness and good manners glows by its absence in a shameful way. People, we all have more than enough space or we will make it to happen if we are collaborative. I feel in a hostile room. Like seriously.
Go to those instructor’s classes if you can but maybe somewhere else. For me, being that it is located 10min walking from my work place it is often the one that works better with my schedule. Even so, I try to avoid it as much as I can.

Gym has gone downhill fast! What was once clean and a great place to work out has become awful and unenjoyable! This week was the lack of air conditioning. It’s been out for almost a week now!!! Spoke to the manager victor and he said they are working on it. What a crock!!!
I’ll be canceling and going to Equinox!

I love this gym BUT the personal trainers (especially Mike – the one who has a body of a 12yo boy, yet is somehow a trainer) are extremely thirsty for new clients. I was once thoroughly insulted by this specific trainer. His behavior was very aggressive and unprofessional. If I wanted to workout with you, I’d sign up for personal training – it’s that simple. The front desk is awesome. Spacious gym. I always get the machines that I want.

There is little to nothing to complain about at this NYSC location. For a very reasonable price, you have your pick of a good selection of cardio machines, as well as a pretty good selection of strength training equipment. I typically go before work, and it is not overly crowded. When I have been after work or on the weekend, it was fine as well.
The staff are very friendly, and there has never been a time when the place was not pristine.

This gym smells like shit. Not sure what the problem is and why they can’t keep it clean. 4^th floor reeks.

It’s a meat market! Every time I go here, I get hit on by someone, including staff. Not very professional. It’s so close to my home, though, so when I go I just wear a long shirt and ear phones and avoid eye contact.
Otherwise, it’s an ok gym with all the necessary equipment. The floor exercise area is tiny. The front desk people are usually nice, and I love that the sauna is always empty and clean.

I have not been to a NYSC in NYC that has been good.
So crowded on week nights and weekends. Try and go before work if you can drag yourself out of bed. Can get whatever you want then.
Pretty skimpy on towels if they have any.
The trainers are so rude. They leave weights and other equipment laying around. Don’t even ask about working in with someone they are training. If you even get close to them they turn into mother bear protecting their cub. Jason is the only nice one and will give you tips on form or a new exercise.
They air conditioning is always going out on different floors and then it just smells like sweaty ass.
On the plus side it is clean and the sauna is amazing in the winter to warm up.

This is my go-​to UES NYSC location. Overall, it’s what you would expect of NYSC – not as upscale as Equinox, but also not a Retro Fitness-​type place where you’ll encounter every juice head and his mother. The front desk staff has always been friendly and welcoming. The women’s locker room is clean, fitted with a sauna, plenty of towels, and a few blow dry/​mirror stations.
As for the layout, the first floor is primarily cardio equipment (with a small personal training area) – many treadmills, ellipticals, bikes, and stair machines. The second floor is home to the locker rooms and some strength machines. Third floor is dedicated to cardio, also, but with a group fitness room, too. And the fourth floor is strength – mostly weights. The machines are always in working order (a problem at some other NYSC locations), and rest assured, there’s always something available (granted I’ve never been here during peak week-​day hours).
I can’t comment on their group fitness classes or personal training services, as I only ever come here for a solo workout if I’m staying on the UES.
Having been to several different locations throughout the city, I can say that this one falls near the top. So, if you’re looking for a decent gym experience, typical UES crowd, and don’t feel like shelling out for Equinox, then this is your place.

My regular gym. You get what you pay for. Some of the weight machines could use some updating (and I can see they are in transition to phase some of them out), some of their mats, towels, and cardio machines can get a bit rundown as well. But overall, I tend to choose off peak hours to go, and never have a problem using the machines I’d like.
I have used a few NYSCs across the city, and this location falls towards the upper middle of the pack.

First, I’ve got to say that I am a utilitarian gym goer. I require certain machines for certain exercises and really don’t care too much about amenities, as long as there are fresh towels and a hot sauna, I’m fine.
That being said, this location is great. They have proper Concept2 ergs, Gray Cook bars, and plenty of weights. If I want to run, there’s always an open treadmill. I can’t speak to the classes because I am not a class type of workout guy. Also, this gym is NEVER crowded (I go between 5−7am, after 6:30, and on weekend afternoons). I have a long 18 set exercise using both sides of the cable machine and no one is ever really on it. There are always open benches in the free weight area which is great if you don’t like to dilly dally about. Another awesome thing about this gym is that I’ve never seen kids there. The last gym I went to allowed middle and high school students which was awful. Thankfully I’ve not seen any here. The men’s locker room is fairly spacious and I’ve never had trouble finding an open locker. It appears to be clean and it looks like they upgraded the shower doors to actually close.
The only gripes are minor: one of the Concept2’s needs maintenance, the sauna is usually off which takes a while to heat back up, and they need more attachments for the cable machines. It would also be nice if they had a steam room, but that may just be lack of space. Others have griped about bad smell to which I have to say: it smells like a gym, how else do you expect it to smell like?
Overall, great gym with great hours, lots of open equipment, no gripes. Gets the job done!

This place sucks. It is a truly shady organization. I suggest you check out their Better Business Review page, too. The complaints are perfectly in line with what I’ve experienced.
Good luck with canceling. It’s almost impossible to find a number, and when you do, you wait on hold until you give up. I’m currently on minute 20 of being on hold. Their website, buried deep in their terms and agreements, indicates that you must cancel either in person or by sending a certified letter to their PA office. Canceling in person means that you trust these shady scum bags enough to actually process your cancellation, which I wouldn’t.