Vision Quest Sports & Fitness Gym

I wish they had an option for leaving no stars, because that’s what I would have rated this gym as. I worked out here off and on over the years from 2006 until 2011. During this time, the gym has changed ownership and names more times than I recall: Pure Fitness, Xplore Fitness, and Vision Quest Sport & Fitness.
Most of the time, equipment was broken, freeweights were never racked or organized and you would have to walk around looking for a matching 70Lb dumbbell or move up or down to the next closest weight. Benches had torn padding, and no one ever bothered to wipe down the equipment. The music was flat out annoying, the few televisions they had were CRT televisions (that’s right, tubes), or a single LCD monitor that showed advertisements.
The gym CONSTANTLY had sales reps out on the street handing out two-​week trial memberships, even if you were a member. It was annoying and ridiculous. In the locker room, lockers were frequently broken, or there were not enough free lockers. Forget about locker room etiquette, I will defer from mentioning other things that went on in the locker room here.
Often, the spa/​hot tub was broken for weeks on end, the showers were mildew covered, the sauna also suffered disrepair. It was like no one at this place cared, their only intent was to cram as many members inside as possible.
Lastly, after being injured in a severe accident, I stopped in to cancel my membership. At the time, my arm was in a sling, and I advised club management I had a broken back but they still insisted I get a doctor’s note. I had to go back to Harborview Hospital and get a doctor’s note to prove the extent of my injuries.
From what I have read, the gym has changed ownership yet again, under a new name (LA Fitness). Unless every single employee who worked there previously is gone, I would not expect anything different. Worst gym I have ever belonged to.

I’m a member of LA Fitness, so access was free since it was recently bought out by LA fitness. Its located and crammed into an old bank building built around the turn of the century, so the locker rooms are in the basement and the old bank vault (only cool thing about this gym) is now the coed spa, the main floor houses the weight machines and the too cramped free weight area tucked to the rear area, the cardio and studio rooms are on the old bank mezzanine.
Decent variety of machines. I only used the free weights and the old equipment looks like hand me downs from other clubs and they are too bunched together, making it difficult to rack or re-​rack the weight plates.
Men’s locker room is a sketch place and I was reluctant to leave my belongings there. Didn’t even bother checking out the shower, etc. No parking, except pay parking on the streets (free after 8pm), but they close at 8 pm on Friday and even earlier on weekends. I don’t get it … maybe that should have been my first clue to avoid coming to this place.

Hmmm 2 stars or 3 stars? What to decide?
To be quite honest, you get what you pay for…$ 19/​month for gym… you can’t expect a whole lot. I didn’t sign up expecting a whole lot, but damn it, at least I expected real gym wipes… and there are NONE. Absolutely none. I am contemplating buying lysol wipes for myself because I am that much of a germaphobe at a gym… especially of all the skin diseases you can become vulnerable to. Meh.
Anyway, their wet sauna is amazing. No one is ever there and I love how relaxing it is for me to use it… I don’t mind the darkness… yes there’s no light… but it’s more intimate and relaxing to me. I like that. Their wet steam room doesn’t work though… it’s supposedly in the works to being fixed… but so are a lot of machines that have broken signs on them haha.
Okay, first, there is poor ventilation in here. It is not going to be a 24 hour fitness air conditioned, cool, breezy, non-​stuffy gym. yes, for $ 19 you are going to get a gym on the go and some stuffy breathing, some icky weird feeling that makes you want to shower or go to the sauna. Their towels also smell of bleach… so I am hoping they are being washed at least properly. If you want to wipe down a machine, find a bleach bottle and a towel (which they give you at the front, thankfully) and wipe it down. I wonder if I need multiple ones to truly sanitize and disinfect a machine? Hmmm. Anyways, their TV sucks. There’s like 5 channels… and none of them are really that great. They’re mainly news related things or boring talk show stuff.
However, I must say, I LOVE LOVE LOVE their workout music. GOSH. They know how to make me dance and try to get it while I’m on a cross trainer or a treadmill or an elliptical. That I must say, is my favorite thing about this place! That is something I can boast about.
I’ve gone to one class… Zumba. My FAVE workout of all time. SO disappointing when you come in at lunch. I guess I’ve been spoiled with a great instructor because seriously, I am not a big fan of this instructor. Her moves are SO complicated and she doesn’t do a great job of explaining or showing them. But I guess it’s because I was the noob… everyone else seemed to know it. I’m guessing it’s the same moves and similar songs? Ehh. I was so disappointed with it that I left early because I was not sweating like all the others. The room also sucks. That upstairs classroom smells and needs a good airing between classes. There are mirrors everywhere… but the pillars are quite an annoyance for a class like Zumba. Very hard to see the instructor at all times. I probably won’t be going again :(But I am looking forward to trying one of their new classes, «Butts & Guts.»
Overall, they are friendly staff. So far, I haven’t had a problem. They are nice and informative people who seem helpful. I wish I had more time to come for their classes because I would probably get more out of them as they do some intense training and I want that kind of stuff. I heard it’s busiest during lunch hours… and like a dessert during off peak times… which I LOVE. I’ve gone in the morning and it was NOT busy, and at night and it was almost ghost town. I LOVE that. Their lunch rush isn’t too bad either… I’ve had a machine fine. The weights look busiest though. The machines are kind of bunched together too. I wish it was more spread a part. But equipment looks new (same for some cardio) and does it’s job.
So it’s true… it’s not the cleanest… hahaha. It is convenient though… and that’s obviously how they’re making money. I wish they were open later during the weekends… which is probably why I will be canceling it b/​c the hours aren’t late enough as I’d like.

Wow, people who write these negative reviews have really high expectations for what $ 19 a month will buy you.
The gym is FINE. There’s nothing fancy about it — it’s not ultra clean but it’s clean enough, there are enough machines to workout on, and they give you towels. I’ve never tried to shower here so I can’t speak to that.
This place gets the job done. And for $ 19 a month, I can’t complain!
I also do personal training with Darnell here. He’s really quite awesome — works hard, gives me the full hour, and corrects me when I’m doing the exercises wrong. I’d recommend him if you’re looking for personal training.

I’ll try to keep this short and sweet:
Pros:
— cheap
— multiple locations
— can usually get a groupon to make it even cheaper
— most classes are free/​included in membership
— one free personal training session per month
Cons: (downtown Seattle location)
— many machines are semi-​broken and dirty (as the sanitation spray stations/​paper towels are few and far between)
— when trying to cancel my membership I was told I needed to go in person, only to find out that the ONE person who could do it had already left. I have now done this twice and neither time has someone been able to help me. I will now be billed for another month of membership.
— after my free training session, the trainer used the paperwork I filled out to contact me for non-​training/​gym purposes… nice.
— scale in women’s locker room is broken as are many of the other locker room amenities
The Tacoma location was great though! Awesome deal for the price!

When I saw that this location only had a 2-​star review, I thought that maybe they were comparing this gyms to other uppity, super flashy gyms in downtown. But I’m actually comparing it to other Vision Quest locations, as well as others gyms I’ve been to (24-​Hour Fitness, Golds, LA, etc. and it still stinks.
I’d already done a grueling work out at the Lake City location, & came here after work to do a little bit of cardio, tour the gym, & go in the hot tub, steam room, & sauna. This is the only VQ location with the wet rooms. Both the hot tub & steam room were broken and unusable when I arrived. I paid for street parking in downtown for nothing!
I also mentioned to the staff that it was my first time at that location. Nobody offered to give me a tour.
I asked how to get to the steam room & the front desk staff had to ask another staff to give me directions. How can you work there & not know where things are? Even if that staff member had been new, they should have gotten a tour themselves to help direct the members. I worked front desk at SAC Northgate for a while, and I knew where everything in that gym was, even if I didn’t personally use it.
I decided to try the sauna, since my other options were out due to repairs. I normally read in the sauna & since I’m not bored, I can sweat it out for like 30 minutes. But the sauna light was broken, so instead I sat in a completely dark room. Creepy!
The scale was also broken. I mentioned this & the sauna light being broken so staff, they didn’t seem to care. Must be normal to them.
On the pro side of things:
— huge shower room
— it’s a «Signature Club» and you can tell its got potential if they put effort into it
— friendly staff
— great price
Cons:
— everything written above
— elevator seems to be blocked by ellypticals (doesn’t seem ADA)
— lockers are too small
I’ve written reviews on tons of gyms and this does seem to be the worst rating I’ve ever given a gym

I went to vision quest once. The gym is basic but has decent equipment. Nothing special. It’s pretty dirty. The one star is for the sales staff. These guys are worse than the shadiest used car dealership. I barely could leave the building even though I told them upfront I was checking out other gyms and would not be joining on that day. High pressure sales don’t work for me. Since then they have continued to call me repeatedly despite my telling them over and over to take me off their call list because I will NEVER respond to sales tactics such as theirs. If they got a new approach on how to treat potential customers I might have joined. If you go there be prepared.

Finding a gym that is inexpensive is a rare thing in Seattle so when I found Vision Quest it was perfect. I had quite a few months of good workouts, but after a while ended up switching to another gym for these reasons…
Ladies Locker room: many broken lockers, ceiling in shower room is coming apart (there was a big water bubble under the paint that eventually exploded out onto the shower floor and it took them two weeks to take care of it).
Cardio Machines: many are old but that is okay, they work. When they break however, expect about a month before they are back up and running again.
Sports Drink Machine: Forgot to bring a water bottle so I purchase one from the machine, it was broken. When I went up to the desk, out of everyone working (there were about 6 clueless meat-​heads working the counter and) no one knew what to do. 20 minutes later, a maintenance guy finishes his breakfast and finally convinces the counter girl to give me my couple of dollars back. *face palm*
Personal Trainer: this was a case experience, I know a lot of the personal trainers there are probably great people and hard workers and can give you really great tips for certain parts of your body you want to work on. My trainer had a serious memory problem. He forgot my name and our workout regimen paperwork every time we met, and forgot that I told him I am very nutrition savvy, so he would bring me over and give me a supplement speech every time we met. Bad trainer, bad.
That being said, I bet you could have an okay experience if you avoid those things!

When a company gets it right and corrects a mistake they deserve to be told so the same way we rip them when they don’t.
When rating a gym, knowing who is rating it is so important because people in different seasons are looking for different things. That said:
Who I am: Male in late 20s, works out regularly, athletic as a hobby, not a profession.
Short and sweet:
You get more then you pay for here, my expectations were on the floor because of the price. The staff has been friendly and hands off, the equipment is diverse with a nice selection and most importantly there is room to actually workout without feeling slammed. Towel service/​showers/​sauna/​steamroom/​hottub. This is a place to come workout, not a pretentious place to show off, I love that its full of normal people. When I had a payment issue it was literally addressed right away and corrected without having to yell or whine, that is awesome.
Detailed:
I joined the gym because it was close to work and I couldn’t beat the price. Like all of you I read the Unilocal reviews first and I was a bit concerned because there are some legit complaints on here, but I decided to give it a try and here is my experience.
Best: The staff, perhaps others have had a different experience but I was treated really professionally and have not had problems. I saw people complain about being harassed while working out to join a class etc… I wear headphones, but it looks like everyone else does to and I have never been approached during a workout to chat, that would be awful form.
Good: Equipment and facilities. To be clear, I am not looking for a health spa, I am not looking for a place to show off. I am looking for a place that is NOT pretentious, with normal people trying to get in shape or better themselves, this meets that without doubt. The equipment is all functional and for the amount of people in the gym I have not had a problem getting the equipment I need.
Could be improved: I would personally love to see some more free weights and benches, I am a free weights person and while I am thrilled with the selection they have there could be more. To many gyms these days are just a collection of treadmills and elliptical.

As you might expect from the adertised price, this is a very basic, no-​frills gym. It gets most of those basics right, but it’s got some significant drawbacks. Most of these I’m willing to deal with because of the price level, but for others I’m not.
Good:
I go during pretty typical peak hours (5pm, after work), and there’s enough equipment that I almost never have to wait to use something.
Bad:
There aren’t enough lockers. About a month and a half ago, they replaced all the lockers with bigger ones (twice as tall, half as many) with electronic keypad locks. Sounds great, but about ¹⁄₃ of them don’t work (broken keypads, door frames missing the part that the lock bolt catches). I think they bought the lockers used from another gym, which is great (recycling!), but they desperately need to fix the broken ones. It’s been over a month. I don’t want to have to carry my stuff around the gym and watch it while I’m trying to exercise.
Their advertising is deceptive. Most of their ads day «$X/​month, $ 0 enrollment fee». There *are* one-​time fees you have to pay when you join, but they aren’t called an enrollment fee. On my contract, it was a $ 49 «one time processing fee».
The rest of these are minor, but worth mentioning.
It seems like they play the same 40ish song playlist every day. It’s like top 40 but with less turnover or variation in tempo. It’s also loud enough that I can hear it through my headphones at my usual volume.
They are constantly trying to «upsell» to you. Personal training sessions, pills, in-​house chiropractic visits, classes… you get the picture.
There aren’t enough cleaning stations, so people don’t wipe things down. This is such an easy fix: provide frequently spaced cleaning spray, and make sure someone replaces the cloths regularly.
Bottom line, you get what you pay for. It’s a good deal, but when my contract expires, I’m going to treat myself to something better.

I ended up signing up at VQ out of convenience, because it’s so close to my office, and overall I think it’s a pretty decent gym. Since the idea of paying more than $ 50/​mo to go to the gym makes me want to shudder, VQ is a great fit for me. I’ve been a member for almost a year and I plan to continue coming here.
I’ve seen people complain about the sales tactics here but I don’t think it’s a huge deal. Kill them with kindness, and hold your ground (as you would do with any other sales situation) and you’ll be fine.
If you’re expecting the same kind of environment that a $ 100/​mo gym membership will buy you, then this isn’t the place for you. (Don’t expect to drive a Mercedes at Toyota prices.) BUT it gets the job done — I never have to wait for machines, the staff is really friendly and helpful (I get free nutrition and work out advice and tips all the time). And, seriously, for $ 15−20/mo it can’t be beat.

Terrible gym. The first personal trainer I had hit on me, the second was a cross-​fit trainer with a lot of misinformation, the third I liked a lot and he WISELY left after a few months. The facility is not very clean, things are often broken when I want to use them. The location is terrible if you’re driving. And I paid up-​front for a year, was told I would get the second year for free. They did not tell me I’d be charged $ 30 the second year for some ridiculous extra fee. I told them how ridiculous this was and they only agreed to waive the late fees I’d accrued, not to remove the extra hidden fee they slid into my contract and did not verbally inform me of when I signed up. Sleezeball central, all they care about is money, not your actual experience.
As a certified personal trainer I would NEVER work here or recommend anyone go here.

I’ve been going to VQ for about 6 months now, since I started working downtown, essentially across the street. Its location was just too convenient for me to heed all the warnings that are clearly, accurately, and consistently mentioned in all of these reviews.
Just wanted to add my two cents — and reiterate that, in addition to all of the sleeze, the $$ issues (which I have yet to face, though I’m preparing to cancel my membership, so we’ll see how that goes…) — the place is an absolutely dump. The lockers are falling apart, rotting — there’s mold on the floors in the men’s locker room, the equipment is generally filthy, falling apart or in some manner disfunctional.
Literally every time I leave there, I feel disgusted with myself for putting up with such an incredidle joke of a business.
On my way out today, I saw a sign that encouraged gym-​goers to pop on to Unilocal and write reviews about how much they loved VQ — so, here ya go VQ. Good luck surviving much longer.
I feel only a minor twinge for the very few polite, helpful and kind staff members that I’ve seen there. I also have witnessed some of the personal trainers who look to be great at their jobs. I’d suggest anyone who finds a trainer there that they enjoy sets up a deal with them outside of VQ to avoid possible tetnus infections, stolen wallets or a mysterious sense of shame that seeps into you if you’re there too long.

I’ve had a good experience with this gym for two occasions when I purchased a Groupon for a 6-​week membership. It does not have the fanciest or newest facilities or equipment but has everything you need at a very good price. They have a fantastic yoga teacher who has biweekly classes after work that I enjoy and I also take full advantage of their unlimited tanning, sauna, and steam room. Close to work and friendly (though forceful) staff are always willing to help.

If I may speak to the gym itself — not the apparently shitty billing practices.
I’ve been a member of VQ downtown since the Pure Fitness days. I’ve seen this location have its ups and downs, and lately, at least, VQ seems to be doing alright.
Do I think it’s weird there is no pec dec? Yeah. Are the machines crammed together? Sure. But you should be using cables and weights, anyway. Is it a bit scuzzy? Well, yeah. Far from the cleanest place on earth. Luckily, I’m here to sweat, not get a pelvic exam.
I luck out as an early morning user, and get in on any cable set-​up or free-​weight bench I want, for the most part. I get a solid workout in, and when I do cardio in the gym (normally I run or bike outdoors), I like the options afforded me.
Towel service is tops, and while I wish they would clean the showers better and more often (not to mention the steam room… that bitch needs a grout cleaning something fierce), I find the state of the locker/​shower room fair enough, and gives me reason to haul ass and get home after busting my ass (so I can get that damned protein shake in).
And the price is great.
Yes — the sales staff can be pushy if you let them. But if you just come in and workout, you should be fine. And the morning girl is super nice. For $ 15-​$ 20 a month, you can’t really get anything better downtown.

I went experimentally, expecting nothing. Here are the highlights:
–The dance-​remix pop music was pumped up so loud that I couldn’t hear what the meaty gym-​dude was saying on the tour. I turned my headphones up as high as they went and I still couldn’t drown it out. Even the yoga studio was deafeningly loud.
(I saw they have a massage parlor there, too. I can’t help imagining how nice and relaxing it must be NNce-​NNce-​NNce-​NNceifyou beLEEEive in LIIIFE after LOOVE after LOOVE after LOOVE!)
–The towel I was given had brown stains on it, for my convenience and pleasure.
–The ladies’ locker room smelled funky and ripe, quite akin to aged period panties. Thanks guys for conjuring that scent! Also my flip-​flop stuck to the locker room floor.
–The cardio machines apparently reprogram themselves every few minutes. I assume this is to keep you on your toes in this rapidly-​changing world.
I stayed for fifteen minutes. Then I went straight up to 4^th and signed up at the Y. For twenty bucks more a month I can work out in a place that doesn’t feel like a prison, isn’t that nice?
Added bonus: in the last two days, people from VisionQuest have called me four times. Every time I’ve asked them to not call me, informed them that I sampled their wares and am not interested, take me off your list please thank you. If they call again I’m filing a harassment complaint against those skeezbags.
I’ve never even BEEN to a luxury gym, but I do have a modicum self-​respect. If you also have self-​respect and think you’re worth more than smelly fungal-​scum trash, then I recommend you also avoid this place! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Weights are heavy and plentiful. it’s a gym staff… so yes, they are douches. Also like all gyms, they do an over energetic hard sell and tell you you’re special WAY TOO MUCH. Towel service is a plus. Space is kinda cool as part of an old bank.
This would all get them 3 stars in my gym rating scale. But they managed to fall horribly on their face at the end of it all. I cannot believe that they don’t let me cancel my membership over the phone or via email. They said that’s their policy. I said it’s a horrible policy. I’m hundreds of miles away and have no way to cancel. They said I could send in a certified letter. Who sends certified letters!!! for banking or secure items sure, but for a ridiculous gym this is an insane policy and they are not willing to budge. So they get another 3 months payment out of me.
I will continue to scream at whoever picks up the phone there and demand that they cancel my membership, and they will not. Soon I will become a sociopath and it will all be their fault.
Also worth mentioning 24 hour fitness was sued over their policy on cancellation. VQ, like 24 hr fitness, charges you for an additional month after you request cancellation. This policy brought 24 hr into a class action lawsuit which they lost and had to pay back tens of thousands of dollars. Get ready VQ… you’re next.

I bought the $ 20 groupon for a 6-​week membership with this gym. I walked in for my tour and to get signed up for everything. While I appreciate a nice welcome, I felt that the staff was overly fake and somewhat condescending. One guy, who I will refer to as Nick Cannon, since he had that kind of TV show host quality about him, came up to me, put his hand on my shoulder (hey there!) and told me how «Blessed» they were to have me in the building. Wow… blessed?
They want to give me a tour, but with all those people behind the counter doing nothing, they set me up with a kid who had just gotten done working out on his lunch break. He was nice enough, but pretty much walked me around without explaining where everything is. I get it, it’s a gym, it’s pretty self-​explanatory. He did a good job for what he was working with.
My biggest issue was with the upsell at the end. I have had issues with gyms in the past so I thought a 6-​week membership for $ 20 would be a great way to try out the gym. But NOOOOOoo. They wanted me to buy in immediately. They sat me down and wrote down numbers and told me I was lucky cause I could walk out of there THAT day only paying $ 87 dollars for a year membership’s start-​up fees. I told them three times I was excited I ‘d only paid $ 20 for the groupon and I planned on using it. Pressure Pressure, blah blah… Did I mention Nick Cannon came over again and told me how «blessed they were to have me» and «Make sure to give her our best deal, she’s a VIP.» Yeah, listen to Nick Cannon. Leave me alone.
At this point they sent me on my way. I haven’t been back. Being a blessing is tiring and all that overwhelming fake happiness made me appreciate my home treadmill so much that I’ve worked out THERE every day since.

I decided to try Vision Quest out because of Groupon deal ($ 10 for 6 week-​membership and 3 PT sessions), and the fact that it’s a convenient walk from my work.
Long story short: you get what you pay for.
I went into the gym to redeem my Groupon voucher, and ended up held back by the infamous Emilio the Manager for over an hour trying to sell me a annual membership and PT sessions. I had told him multiple times that I would *consider it* AFTER my 6-​week Groupon trial. After my 1.5 hour «negotiation», he finally let me go when I told him I needed to leave because it’s 7pm and I want to actually get a workout in (that’s what I came in for, right?!).
We finally agreed for me to sign up for the membership, but with a 3-​day cancellation grace period. I would have the opportunity to cancel without penalty fee, for whatever reason I had. So, I signed up to get him to shut up and let me go.
It was ridiculous that even after 1.5 hours, Emilio couldn’t remember my name (he had asked for my name multiple times as we were completing some paperwork), AND he wanted to sell me Protein powder so he «would get the credit». Word for word, no joke. I don’t think you’re supposed to tell customers that.
All I wanted was: to go in, redeem my voucher, and start goin’ on the elliptical. Instead I got stuck with Emilio who wasn’t engaging in conversation. His eyes kept wandering and looking over at girls behind me. Hmm.
The facility is old and windows are often times covered with neon-​colored paper with «TODAY ONLY!!!» deals. Quite tacky. But alas, they do have good equipment and they try to maximize the facility space by shoving every workout equipment in every nook and cranny.
Three days later, I decided to cancel that Annual Membership that Emilio had me to sign up for. When I told Emilio that I wanted to cancel because Costco’s 24-​Hour Fitness package was far better, he didn’t say anything and threw the «Membership Termination» form at me, and turned his back around. Other employees at the counter saw this and were baffled.
On a pleasant note, the Personal Trainer I worked with for my 3 free sessions, Brandon, is absolutely fantastic. He was fun to talk to and pushed me to work out hard. If it wasn’t for the crummy service I had received from Emilio in the beginning, I would have given this place 2 stars.
People, if you have a Costco membership, consider the 24 Hour Fitness package, or any other gym in the Seattle area.
All in all, just be aware of what you’re signing up for.

I wish I could give a negative rating. You don’t deserve one star, you good-​for-​nothing gym.
I made the mistake of joining via a Groupon discount. When I took my printout in, I was told that it had expired. It hadn’t. The employee was very insistent, and when he realized he was confusing my Groupon with the Living Social deal that had recently expired, he was all jokey and «Aww, Boo, I’m just messin’ with ya, it’s all good, I’ll hook you up with extra free tanning, see, we’re cool.»
I received a tour of the facility, which was interesting. I liked the vintage grungy feel of the former bank-​vaulted rooms. Then I met the guy who would be my personal trainer.
He checked my body fat and weight measurements and made– not one, not two, but three – comments about how my body is «already perfect» and that he would have to do his best to get me in shape because, wow, my body is already in such good shape that I’ll «make all the other women jealous» and that made me so uncomfortable I almost walked out right then and there. The very last thing most sane women want is for her personal trainer to be checking her out in an unprofessional manner. And also he was full of shit and just trying to butter me up because, hello, I’M JOINING A GYM BECAUSE I’M OUT OF SHAPE.
I ended up only going to VQ a total of three times before my trial membership expired, due to travel and my work schedule. I decided to give them another chance about six months later because I had received several phone calls from various employees the last week of May, urgently telling me that if I came in *THAT DAY* I could join for $ 14.95 per month, no enrollment fee. I asked «So, what’s the commitment, what else does it cost?» and I was told nothing. «No minimum on my months enrolled?» No. I thought about it and decided, okay, $ 14.95 per month was a good deal, and one that my broke ass could afford. So I trekked it all the way from Bellevue, where I left work a bit early so I could go to VQ and sign up before they closed.
I was approached by a swarm of employees with flyers immediately at the sidewalk who were giving them out to passerby. Balloons and flashing lights were all up in my face. I went in and sat down with Guido or whatever his name is, who claimed to be one of the owners. He tells me it’s «only $ 14.95 a month» and gives me the papers to sign and I see something about a $ 63 fee due that day. I ask him about it, and he tells me that is my «service fee» for using the gym. I protest and tell him that the phone calls and fliers do not make mention of this erroneous fee. He tells me he will throw in free tanning. I laugh because I don’t tan and this won’t work for me. Finally he tells me they will waive the $ 63 and knock it down to half that price. Fine, I say. At this point I just want to get out of there.
The next day I see that my credit card has been charged $ 63.
I go back to the gym and Guido isn’t there, but a nice kind-​looking dude at the front helps me out and cancels my membership with no problem. I take my paperwork and he tells me I will receive a check in the mail for $ 63 within six weeks.
I received the check in the mail two months later. However, I ALSO see that my credit card has been charged three times since I cancelled my membership, all monthly fees. WTF. When I call to discuss the situation, I am told that the only way I can prove I cancelled my membership is to provide that piece of paper given to me. The check for $ 63 I deposited from them that stated ‘refund’ wasn’t enough proof. I go to the bank, cancel my credit card, and file a claim against Vision Quest.
SPARE YOURSELF and pay for a real gym with honest employees, not shmucks like these fartknockers.