LA Fitness

If I were only reviewing the gym, I’d probably give 4.5−5 stars. The have a great variety of equipment, I think it’s pretty clean (maybe the men’s locker room is different?), and I like the layout and feel of the place. Also, when I requested to downgrade my membership, it was processed and confirmed within an hour, no questions asked.
The reason I have to knock off two stars is due to the clientele. The place gets packed to the point where it’s virtually unusable, and there are some very sketchy and inconsiderate people who workout there. People who don’t put back weights, take up precious bench space while talking or texting, and walk around like they own the place. And then on the opposite end of the spectrum, people who workout in boots and jeans, take wildly inaccurate guesses as to how the equipment should be used, and do weird shit like eat breakfast in the locker room (i’m talking fruit, milk, and a bowl of cereal all spread out on the bench). Just has a very low-​brow vibe. It’s basically a non-​purple planet fitness.
Not to sound like an ass, but I wish they would charge a bit more to thin the herds a bit.

It’s not perfect but it has a pool and a hot tub and MORE IMPORTANTLY, it doesn’t have shady payment schemes unlike Gold’s Gym.
I just hope they add more classes in the early morning, like right when they open, that time before a lot of people have to go to work.

Caution!!! This place has this imaginary initiation fee that doesn’t really exist. They can waive the fee if they want but they won’t hesitate to charge you at all. It is somewhat a scam of a commission the practices they take. They will offer you what seems like a good deal when it all comes out to roughly $ 350 a year anyways. They will twist it up where they make you pay more now and less monthly but it still comes out to roughly $ 350 a year. Just know, whatever they offer you is a scam regardless. They want the money for themselves! I wouldn’t be surprised if these thieves pocket some of that money. And what pisses me off, after I sign up, they offer free sign up. They do it randomly so people like me if we want to sign up, we have to pay this imaginary fee. Why not make everyone sign up for $ 30 a month and call it a day!!! Because the initiation is fee is a nice little bonus for these thieves pocket, that’s why. Please someone look into this robbery. I signed up for 2 initiation plans claiming that one was cheaper than the other. $ 100 the first time and $ 200 for the family plan to save money. Initially they say one price, but charge you an extra first and last without asking! So it’s really $ 160 and $ 280. Then you get a bill after the first month, and every month after that! They make you pay $ 15 for friend’s a visit!!! After giving you all that money, you want to still charge me and my friend more? They’re by law, not supposed to allow you to sign up twice –BY LAW– the chief told me, but it was too late to do anything. They already pocketed my money and bought themselves a nice little present. Beware and don’t believe their initiation fee bull crap. They can waive it if they want. Trust me, one of the employees (will remain unnamed due to common courtesy) said so off record. IRS needs to look into their tax fraud and write offs. This place writes off so much tax evasion, it’s not even funny. Fuck their overly cocky staff with a big one, no lube, just big.

If this was a house… It would be condemned.
There is no other place where you could find as much overall filth and abandonment of maintenance.
I dread coming here and won’t be for long.

Pros:
1. It’s a gym
2. I liked the cardio equipment on the 2^nd floor
Cons:
1. If you want a training session they give you their best trainer to have you a free mini session and then sell you an expensive training package. What happened to me is that throughout the year trainers quit and I was still paying each week and then my membership expired and I lost all those weeks I didn’t have a trainer = $ 1000!!! NEVER get a trainer EVER!
2. The men’s bathroom in the men’s locker room is disgusting. They don’t clean it well and it smells like urine. There is snot on the walls and none of it was has been cleaned in a year. Half of the time they were out of soap and the trash was overflowing.
3. It was very difficult to speak to management. I called multiple days and never got calls back. Customer service is lacking here. I understand why all of my trainers left now :/

This review is only about the Saugus facility, Stoneham is better.
I feel that the management does not care about their customers anymore.
I have been a member for a long time and it was not always that bad. I used to see a maintenance person cleaning around but unfortunately I don’t see that anymore .
I wrote to corporate headquarters and the response was they were sorry and would send my complaints to the Saugus facility, not sure that will be helpful.
It’s too bad this gym has gone downhill rapidly over the past few years, they have some really awesome instructors, Lyn’s weight class in Saugus is a great workout, Diana Hebert in Stoneham, along with Lori are some of the best instructors I have been to in my 30+ years of being a «gym rat»
Sadly I am looking elsewhere.

I usually go to the Stoneham gym however, I started attending classes on Thursday nights at Saugus MA. I went into the gym at 6:45PM, there was a cop in the parking lot– seemed to have been monitoring any suspicious activity, but when I got out to my car at 8PM, my passenger side window was smashed and my purse and all belongings were stolen. I panicked and ran into the front desk asking what to do, they informed me that they do have cameras in the lot but only «covers certain areas», they also informed me that because the back lights were broken (and have been for months and fixing it has been a «work in proggress») they have a cop patrolling the lot because there has been break-​ins but oddly enough, this cop was nowhere to be found when the incident happened. They called the Saugus police to report a break-​in, who took clse to 45 minutes to arrive to the location, filled out a report and said there was nothing more that could be done. I later was notiied by my credit card company that there were several charges made to a card I had forgotten I had in my stolen wallet at stop and shop in Saugus, I immediately called the police to inform them but theyre response was «okay thanks for the info». Saugus LA fitness is not safe, they make no efforts to monitor their parking lot or bother to fix any issues such a lighting/​camera coverage, this is an issue. I pay $ 30 a month to use the gym and it is ridiculous to have to worry about your car being broken into at a place you pay to go to.

This gym has great potential but it fails because it hasn’t upgraded any of their machines in the 8 years I’ve been going here. The cardio equipment is always broken or not working properly. They never have paper towels to clean the machines. The bathroom is filthy. The pool has way too much chlorine. I had to shower twice to get it off of me. I continue to go only for one reason. Because this is the only gym that has the cardio upstairs and the weight downstairs. So I don’t feel like I’m being watched when I run. Its also the only gym that has my favorite cardio machine. If they ever get rid of those I’m switching. Although they don’t have enough of them and the few they have are broken. So I have been considering looking elsewhere as I walk on the treadmill since I can’t use the machine I came here for again.
They do have a lot to offer as far as weights and classes if that’s what you come for. And a basketball court and racket ball if that interest you.

This review is solely on the sales staff not the gym itself. (I actually like this gym.)
So first off, I came in with my sister who was considering joining. She actually has a gym membership elsewhere. I told them I had a guest pass for her. Apparently they do not honor the 3 day guest pass or the VIP guest pass. What’s the point of advertising this if you can’t use it?
So whatever, she opted to pay for the $ 15 day pass since we were already there. Instead, the sales woman kept pushing for her to join. She came up with every scenario possible and kept stating but «why not, just join, cmon just do it.» She kept pressuring her to the point I wanted to tell her off. She didn’t even offer to show her around or anything, which is the only thing she wanted before making any commitments. She left us with a really bad impression, we eventually just walked out.
I do like this gym, but they need to train their sales representatives better.

Great gym, staff and overall facility.

I’m not sure what all the negativity and crazy reviews are from… Anyway I like this place the people here are of all fitness levels. The men’s locker room is clean, including bathrooms and showers. I’m a germaphobe I’m not grossed out by those areas. I think that some people think that when 100’s of people go into an area that it should look as clean as if maids came every 5 minutes. My reason for 4 stars is that they are slow to repair machines currently 1 deltoid machine and 1 ab crunch. The pool and spa seem to finally be fixed with correct temp which was unreliable for a few months. Also 1 shower is broken and never repaired. The only other issue is during peak time getting on equipment is a pain. I’ve been to the place at close and have seen them picking up after everyones weights they didn’t put away wiping all the machines and equipment down, so many false reviews here.

Not many complaints. Over all well worth the money considering the choices in the area. Having used most other gyms in the area I like this place the best. Location is A+. Large, clean, and very diverse gym. Free classes, many machines, just wish the free weight area was expanded some how. Sometimes people mingle hogging up very popular stations, especially at prime time. Solid 3 star gym. I have yet to goto a 4 star one and I doubt a 5 star one exists!

Great facilities to bad it’s horribly managed. Equipment broken for weeks sometimes months and dirty. Clientele here are mostly pigs. Giving that fact it needs to be cleaned continually. Staff sits there on their smartphones while club needs attention

PROS:)
The layout of the place and all the amenities are just so perfect.
The way the sunlight finds its way to hit in the inside is just so amazing!
The location is great. The driving distance for me is even greater: It takes me only 5 minutes to get there.
Despite the (almost $ 300) high down payment I had to put when I first joined in 2 years ago, I pay now (only) $ 20/​month.
CONS:(
Staff in general is unfriendly. They have low levels of social and interpersonal skills. Even though I’ve noticed some slight changes for the better (from a few of them) the discrepancy still speaks louder. Good luck trying to stay courteous by acknowledging their existence. I’m kind of almost giving up on that…
And they change staff quite often. Before you have the chance to become familiar with faces, new ones pop out of nowhere. The «hitting on girls» crew seems to have disappeared as well, which is a great thing.
Cleanness is very inconsistent throughout the day. Certain hours the place is spotless. Certain times it’s filthy.
The type of crowd (members) varies between being excellent — those are the ones that go there mainly to exercise, they are courteous and they clean after themselves (HA!) to the ones being the «trashy» kind– those are the ones that go there to do anything but exercise. And I feel bad to be using «this word», but that’s exactly how they behave.
There is this old saying: «The school doesn’t make the students. The students make the school.» And I completely see all perspectives. I truly do!
CONCLUSION: Overall EXPERIENCE is a 50/​50, which would be a 2.5 on a 0 to 5 scale.
At the end of the day, I am a pretty decent person that EXERCISES my duties and I am also the paying client that is entitled to the right of having an overall good EXPERIENCE.
…And FREE WILL is somewhere in between!

STAY AWAY!!! Staff is absolutely disorganized. Cynthia has no control over personal trainers that will not show on time for appointments. Larry has no control over front desk staff that will not deliver messages. Calls are not returned. Deceptive sales practices. There is a reason they don’t let you review the contract before you sign up. Over $ 1200 billed to my VISA the day I signed up. It should have been only $ 450. Nothing promised by Mike D when we signed up was delivered. STAY AWAY! I’m still working on getting refunded and cancelled over a month later.

Please please BEWARE of this place! Read the negative reviews because you will find out all the shady practices that this company uses to «lock you in non-​sense contracts» I have never had any issues in the past with any other gyms. LA Fitness shady contracts are for sure a synonym of «scam.» Last year, they were pressured by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to change the smallprint in membership contracts (google this information. You will find tons of law suits and class actions they have against their assess) They were forced to stop their shady membership contracts but now, they have «Personal Training Contracts» that carry clauses that locked members into long-​term deals of up to 24 months and made it difficult to quit.
Again, please beware! I thought of having more information about personal training on the same day I was signing up for the gym. I never thought I will be received misleading verbal information. I was told I could stop these sessions before 30 days, but the personal training manager ensures that you sign a 1 year contract by letting you know that you can «break the contract within 30– days» and giving you several «free sessions» .you know, this is their BAIT. Despite me approaching to the personal training BEFORE the 30 DAYS were up to let her know that due to financial reasons I will not be able to continue paying for these sessions, and she VERBALLY agreeing to contact corporate and stop the contract. That never happened and I continue to get hit with $ 188 plus the $ 29 for gym facilities. I asked several times for a resolution to this situation until I was told that I cannot get out of the 12 month contract. I called LA Fitness Corporate and after 3 weeks of back and forth conversations, they told me again I was locked into this long term deal. I also met with the Operations manager at LA Fitness Saugus (Larry) I was shocked by his lack of empathy for what I’d gone through. His customer service skills suck! He kept repeatedly saying «you signed the contract», «you didn’t do your cancellation in writing», «you continue to use the sessions» I was explaining to him that: Yes I did sign this (shady) contract! But I did it under misleading information given to me. I was told I can stop the sessions before the 30 days. I VERBALLY CANCEL this agreement before the 30 days. I asked him: «you will not honor what I verbally expressed to the personal training manager?» He said «you continue to use the sessions» but WHAT AM I SUPPOSE TO DO? I kept getting withdraws for $ 188 for those sessions. So, am I suppose to keep paying and no use for what I am paying for? Sorry for the length. Hope this review stops many of you from getting into this situation. LA Fitness staff has no sympathy to the financial reasons I gave. They asked for me to pay 50% of the contract to «unlock me» This means close to a $ 1,000 dollars. I am writing to the Attorney General, to the BBB, to the OFT, and all social media sources. I will not hesitate to continue to take action because their practices and contracts are evidence of how consumers are being unfairly treated by this industry

Its a huge gym, its clean and im sure you will get so excited when u get there but dont forget they will give you hard time if u wanna cancel the contract ! they change you r debit card … Cintya and Mike these 2 people pretened they care about you when you registering but if u wanna cancel the membership or contract they dont give you a shit and even dont talk to you. the day you registering they give you all respect and smile that u get so shocked what a great gym u going to but they are not real they lie to you and they hide many things u need to know … they ask your signiture on the screen wihtout u even reading what u signing ! the whole team the whole people wokr there are trained to use you somehow ! I wish the CEO could do something for these people ! good luck but just be careful !

I love this gym. Every time I walk in here I get motivated to workout.
The layout of the gym is perfect.
They have a sauna, a pool, a hot tub, a basketball court, a variety of classes, a smoothie bar and a kids area. The price, I think for all these amenities, is affordable.
The women’s locker room is always clean from what I’ve seen and there’s always a cleaning person in sight.
The only reason I didn’t give 5 stars is because there are times when the equipments are out of order and they would be that way for days or more. Also there have been times when the paper towels are out especially upstairs in the cardio area.
All in all if you are willing and motivated you can come here and get a really great workout.

This was happened around October 2013.
This place is very unethical. The people work there tried push me to join their gym. After i confessed that i still have contact with BSC gym. One of the associate told me a way to cancel my contact with BSC by getting a doctor note. That state i have problem to workout so i can waive the cancellation fee from BSC.
This is very unethical thing and BS i ever heard. Of course i dont listen to them.
Now back to the Gym’s review i would rated 3Stars. The layout is not bad for $ 35 a month especially it have suana. However i dislike the machines, changing room, layout, the crowds isn’t motivate.

Place is a joke; staff are unprofessional, disrespectful & outright rude (possibly connected to the average 6 months in employment length); they don’t bother fixing anything quickly (plaster coming off the walls) but back to the staff (management, no less)…as a member, I’m tired of hearing about your sexual escapades and for every sentence to be littered with swears. Time to graduate middle school and start acting like big kids!