French Riviera Spa

DO NOT JOIN THIS GYM UNLESS YOU WANT TO GET SCAMMED
Joining this gym has proved to be one of the worst experiences of my life. The gym itself is subpar– the equipment is outdated and no one who works there knows what they are doing. What really pissed me off though was the relationship with their billing agency. They have a sweet little racket cooked up. When I joined, I explained my personal time requirements to the manager– that I needed a month-​to-​month contract, etc. The manager said fine, no problem– but the billing agency may be a little tricky. We talked about all of the ins and outs and by the end of our conversation, I felt comfortable that I would not be charged for an additional month that I knew I would not use. STUPID ME. Not only did the f-​ing MANAGER not put my cancellation notice in the computer, but NO ONE at this stupid gym would even attempt to help me in any way. Basically they screw you and blame it on the billing agency– then you call the billing agency and they blame it on the gym. WHAT A SCAM. If I could give this piece of crap gym 0 stars I would– based only on their super unhelpful staff.
Only join this gym if you want to spend about 1,000 hours pulling out your hair trying to talk to someone who knows what they are doing, wants to help you, and isn’t trying to scam you out of another monthly payment for their stupid gym. Awful. The worst.

The gym itself is mediocre at best. Lots of cardio equipment, and weight machines, but not a great free weight selection, I felt like I was always competing with other members for space on certain racks and benches.
DO NOT SIGN A CONTRACT! They will NOT let you out of any contract you sign with them, they had absolutely no mercy on me, and were not willing to work with me when I joined another gym I liked a lot better! And when you do cancel your membership they still charge you for another month.

It’s cheap and they have the basic facilities I want, but to some degree you get what you pay for. For example, they open at 8 am on Saturdays, but as I’m writing this review at 8:32 am, the place is still shut down with no sign of opening anytime soon. People are waiting outside for them to open, and I’ve watched about 8 people get in their cars and leave, or drive up and then drive off. So, I got up early on my day off, motivated to get a workout that I pay for monthly, and they’re not even professional enough to keep their own hours.

I’ll premise this review by saying I’m not a gym rat, nor am I remotely interested in the fitness lifestyle. The only reason I joined this gym is because 1. I’m not getting any skinnier, younger or stronger 2. It’s easy to access for me 3. Affordable.
The complex is clean, amply lit and organized. There are plenty of machines to use and I’ve felt that there were more than enough units to accompany the number of guests even when it’s busy. There’s a «ladies only» workout area which I think I’ll check out more this week as the main floor CAN be intimidating, but that’s mostly because I’m new and don’t know what I’m doing.
The reason for such meager stars falls mostly on the staff. After joining, they ask that you schedule a physical fitness evaluation to see where you are, what your goals are and how to get there. Unfortunately for me, they left out the «how to get the results you’re looking for» part. They essentially used that half hour of time to push their physical trainer program which is not included in the $ 15/​month basic membership plan. At one point the trainer Kyle, said «95% of the people here don’t know what they’re doing here.» I thought, oh great, that means you’re going to help me not be one of those people. Wrong. I left after my workout session feeling discouraged and without guidance. Instead, I now have to do homework on my own since the only way the trainers are going to walk me through some basic workouts is with more of my hard earned money.
I would suggest to FRS to add the following question to their physical exam questionnaire; «Have you ever been to a gym/​when was the last time you spent time in a gym» to get a better assessment of their members rather than assume just because we don’t know what we are doing, we are willing to spend above and beyond our membership plan to achieve our goals.

French Riviera is one of the most shady and unwelcoming businesses I’ve ever been involved with.
The equipment is outdated, and strongly resembles a scene out of Venice Beach during the 1980s.
I joined this gym thinking it was a monthly membership, and could cancel at any time, but this simply wasn’t the case. The gentleman that signed me up assured me that this was the case, only to proceed to tell me the following month when I tried to cancel that it is actually a yearly contract and that you have to call a 1 – 800 number to complete the cancellation upon the end of the year.
My membership expired August 1^st, but since this day was a Saturday their canceling agency was closed. I am now paying another month for the gym.
I started going to the JCC in November, and have been so impressed. I would strongly recommend this alternative for just 15 bucks more a month!
Anything’s better than dealing with these sketchy jerks.

I never feel compelled to write Unilocal reviews, but I was so offended by my visit to French Riviera Fitness that the internet must know! The gym itself seemed fine. It was clean and not too crowded. It’s also really cheap. George, the manager, however, was so awful that I never want to go back. In a 15 minute interaction, he was casually and effortlessly racist, misogynistic, and homophobic. He also made fun of a personal trainer for being overweight. It’s a real skill to malign that many groups in such a short amount of time. George is not your average, armchair bigot. He is a seasoned professional. He would have earned a perfect bigot score if he’d managed to work «retards» into the conversation or use Jew as a verb. Oh well, a girl can dream. Some highlights: «This free weight area is for men; we don’t ever want to see you there. There is a separate women’s area upstairs» and «They [French Riviera] always put me at the worst gyms because I look intimidating, you know, because of the African Americans.» Then he told this weird story about how the owners are Mormon and that the African Americans and the homosexuals are starting to come to their church and isn’t that awful. I feel guilty that I didn’t say anything at the time; I was just so stunned by everything that came out of his mouth and I chose the path of least resistance of getting the fuck out of there. I wish I hadn’t written down my home address on the form…

I know the world has been waiting for my review and it is now time…
I have been to many gyms in my day from real fancy to real basic so I can honestly say I know my gyms people.
Price. Okay this is a very reasonable priced gym at $ 19/​month (21.70 or something). It’s really a deal. Leaving my last gym was a full 200/​year difference. My gym before that was $ 80/​month more. So you really can’t beat the price. The only thing is that it is a 2 year commitment. So if you are not into the contracts this may turn you away but it’s a good deal. The cost only includes this specific location fyi, there is a different pricing structure if you want to be able to go to all the French Riviera’s in the city.
Location. It is definitely in a good central location. I’m able to get there from work as well as other places in a reasonable amount of time. Definitely no issues in that. This specific building is connected to other buildings. The location is medium and is two story (with the second smaller floor being dedicated women’s gym). The location pretty much has all of your workout needs no matter you level of fitness. There are also locker rooms, with showers as well as lockers, and dressing rooms.
Atmosphere. I love the atmosphere. Every time I’m here its filled with serious people trying to make a difference in their bodies. They are getting things done and even further motivates me to get pumped up. This is the gym you go to, to get things done. The staff is friendly enough and answers questions as needed. No problems here for me.
Parking. This may be this locations biggest issue. The main parking area is shared with other businesses and it’s just small. Behind the building connected to Auto Zone is additional parking, which is also small. Depending on the time of the day you visit this gym you can have a tough time parking so be advised.
Keep in mind this gym closes at like 10, so it’s no 24 hours. Also, it is closed on Sundays. Not a problem for me but if you have a specific workout schedule make sure to check this out.
Lastly, there is a classes such as Zumba and other aerobic classes available.

I would give them 4 stars if not for the fact that they were really sneaky about putting me into a year-​long contract. They never mentioned any contract, only that it was going to be $ 19 a month and all I’d have to do was fill in a form on one of their computers. If you don’t mind being on a contract, the place is good.
Pros: lots of different work out machines, I always see the janitorial staff cleaning things, there’s a variety of work-​out machines, the people are nice (albeit sales staff are sneaky, but nice), and the sales staff also inform you about nutrition and how to work out.
Cons: Besides the contract, they play the same music all the time, they’re not open on Sunday (the day I’m off!), and some of the machines need to be worked on.

It’s a nice place to work out and convenient but they really give you a hard sell when joining. I was offered one thing and my contract said something quite different. MAKE SURE YOU READ THE CONTRACT WHILE YOU ARE IN THEIR PRESENCE. Don’t trust that they will make agreed upon changes and don’t agree to any of the special offers as they don’t exist as far as I can tell. If you can get over the sense that they worked you over on the membership, it’s a convenient place to workout.

Aside from the 2 yr contract, the price and location were the sellers for me. I’m a commitment phobe when it comes to contracts, I didn’t know there was any other choice until afterwards when I heard someone else pay a tad bit more a month and just paid for a 3 month block. I wish I would have known that. oh well, at least I’ll be obligated to work out for 2 years, which isnt a bad thing :-)
I love the fact that they have a ladies only workout room equipped with weights, treadmills and ellipticals. I never really thought about it before, but after using it, I kind of like the privacy and not working out in front of sweaty men. The individual TV screens on the ellipticals and treadmills are great– I plug in my earbuds, surf all the channels, and before I know it, Ive watched 2 episodes of Friends and I want to keep watching, thus increasing my workout time! I know, its silly, but it really is a great little motivator and makes the time fly.
They offer free classes (aerobics, step, cardio, yoga, Zumba, etc) but I have yet to try one, so I can’t rate those, but mentioning they have it for all you Unilocalers out there.
The only reason I didn’t rate this place higher is because everytime I am in the ladies locker room, it smells like someone took a dump. Either I have really bad timing, or the locker room could use a little air freshener. It appears clean, but the smell of sweat, frequent traffic, showers and the bathroom just gets a little smelly.
This location is closed on Sundays, but Metairie (on Vets) is open Sunday, so I just take a little drive out there.