Planet Fitness – Succasunna

Heard a lot about Planet Fitness, mostly cons, but with the price point of this gym, I decided to give it a shot anyway. All I need is to go in, get my workout done, and leave, don’t need anything too fancy.
I have been at this gym for about a month now. The place itself is in a convenient little shopping center with a big parking lot so no issues there. Had a bit of a problem with the initial sign up/​membership though.
I first signed up online for the basic membership which was $ 10.70. They asked for my checking account number as well as a credit card. Gave them both and was charged… on both accounts. Tried calling into Planet Fitness customer service number on the website, three times. Never got a phone call back after a left a message, nor did I ever get a person on the phone anyway. Had to go dispute the charge to get the $ 10.70 back. Eventually I wanted to upgrade to the black card membership so I’m able to use other Planet Fitness gyms near me but wasn’t able to do that online. Called this gym and was told they can’t do that over the phone, I had to come in for it. It was a little irritating since I couldn’t make it there for another day or two since it was on the weekends and I’m nowhere near the area on those days. I work in Budd Lake so it’s convenient to come here after work.
The staff here is nice, haven’t had any issues with them. When I come around 5 ish, it is quite crowded but expected. My biggest issue with this place is the free weights section. They are NEVER in order, they are always scattered around. Sometimes I’ll find one 20lb weight and can’t find the other, only to look for it and find it in the 55lb area. Also, there are no benches for the bench press area, you would need to drag one over which then TAKES AWAY FROM PEOPLE WHO NEED THE BENCH IN FRONT OF THE MIRROR. Sorry, just thinking about how many times I couldn’t get a bench there frustrates me quite a bit.
The place is full of cardio machines, as in rows and rows of treadmills etc. There are some machines for your arms/​legs/​abs. but not a huge variety. They also have tanning and massage chairs? That’s interesting I guess. There are signs all over about a no intimidation or no judgement zone, which I think is quite hypocritical considering they have a huge «lunk alarm» sign in the front. Never heard it go off yet but still. I think that’s more of my issue with Planet Fitness itself, not this location. They also have pizza Mondays and Bagel Tuesdays? Lol… alrighty then.
Anyway, this gym itself is okay. A little disorganized and lack of equipment, but for the price, it’s not a huge deal.

I’ll start with, I am NOT a gym rat. I hate going to the gym, but I really like this one.
As the ads say, there is no judgement, no lunkhead mentality. We go early, before work, and it has worked out great. The staff is very nice. The people working out are just nice, normal people trying to maintain health and fitness.
Sure I’d rather be out walking or playing golf, but I’ll admit it, I am enjoying going here.

for $ 10 per month its a great deal. Sure there is no pool or basketball court but at least they have a useful free-​weight section.

Really I guess this should be 2 stars but given the bad experiences I have I can’t justify doing so. But I’ll try to be fair and spare you the details of my personal ordeals (although it should be noted one of them involved getting NJ Consumer Affairs involved and them having to reinstate my membership).
Pros:
I’ll echo the sentiments of prior reviews. It is a great deal if all you’re interested in is cardio. $ 10 a month– no other facility comes close to that and not being locked into a long term contract is great. The facility for the most part is bright and clean.
Cons:
Their whole business model is about getting as many people as possible to sign up. They don’t care if people are packed in like sardines making it difficult to get on some equipment. The place will never expand so the situation will never improve. If you can go on off hours it’s not an issue but for the afterwork crowd this is generally a problem.
Staffi I’d break down in 3’s ¹⁄₃ is friendly and knowledgeable. ¹⁄₃ is friendly but not knowledgable. And ¹⁄₃ has no business being in the customer servicl biz… i.e. they’re young kids who aren’t fitness pros and don’t take pride in their gym. The free weight section for example has never been in order. You’d think at some point a staff member would show some initiative and clean that section up. And little things like on a hot summer day they’ll shut off the fan 15 minutes before closing. A lot of staff definitely more interested in quitting time than giving customers a good experience.
In regards to the «machines» they’re so-​so compared to other gyms. The bench presses are the worst of any gyms I’ve been at. And in the 3 years I’ve been there they’ve never added any new equipment. Unlike Hanover they don’t have any stepmill machines which I like. The mentality is we already have tons of customers so we don’t need to improve the gym.
Lastly getting up on my pedestal here (hey that’s exercise). but for what PF stands for I can’t rate it higher. Their Walmart approach to fitness is hard to root for. You’d get a much better overall experience at a private gym but with fees that can be 3−5x it’s hard to stomach paying that much more for a membership. My advice before joining a gym is what are you looking to accomplish? If it’s just cardio consider investing in a machine for your home. If you’re the kind of person that has trouble sticking with a membership, consider going to a place that offer classes or something fun that also burns calories. I switched to playing workout tapes at home and my weight is the same as when I was going to PF 3−4x a week. Don’t just join PF because it’s really cheap.

Planet fitness is really an amazing deal besides the hidden fees that they may or may not tell you about now. The price is unbeatable. It will cost you 150 a year for the basic membership, undercutting other gyms in the area by a large amount. The facility isn’t to large but it has enough space to have almost everything you would want.
The people who work there are friendly and its not that crowed generally except maybe between 5 – 7 when people get out of work. Seasonally January is also a pretty busy month with overweight people drinking there liter size regular coke walking on treadmills, but the irony is worth the hassle of it being a little crowded.
Some problems are there billing cycles. They have screwed me twice with this. The first time my credit card was put on hold for a questionable charge and they could bill my card when, i found out i went in and tried to pay it in person, just happened to be the day the billing was processed. But apparently they can’t take payment that day… so i just paid the fees? and a second time I had to cancel my card when my wallet was stolen, this happen maybe a week before the bill was due, so I tried going in to either pay for it in cash or switch it to another card. Apparently you can only change you billing card before a certain day and there about 10 days between that and the month due date that your in limbo. So they basically said they couldn’t do anything about it and I would be charged a fee again upon the next billing cycle. Unsatisfied with that answer, i went in to speak with a manager the next time they were in and caused enough of a stink so they he waived the fees. Which I still don’t understand how they had to charge me a late fee even though i was trying to pay early!
Regardless of the trouble for the price they charge and what they offer you can bet it.

You get what you pay for at $ 10/​month. Adequate facility, plenty of treadmills, elipticals, and bikes. Weight machines are decent as well, with a wide variety and enough to accomodate most everyone (few times it does get really packed, but generally only right after New Years for a month or two haha).
Free weights are always a mess (more a fault of the people who don’t put them back properly), and there are the occasional clowns there who act like they own the place. But that’s to be expected at any gym I suppose.
Only 3 stars because of the annoying bait-​and-​switch they pulled on us when we all joined. Myself and several friends joined last August, and we were told «$ 10 month, no membership fee to sign up!» To which we said, «awesome!» Of course, they neglected to tell us about their annual ~$ 30 membership fee, placed every year in October, even after we asked about other charges and were told «none».
Overall: an OK gym, and not bad for $ 10 a month.