I'm Giving Gold's Gym a D-minus

I used the gyms at Burnet@183 and at Lincoln Center. The gym facilities are adequate, but I often found myself waiting a few minutes for treadmills, machines or freeweights on weekdays. It slows down your workout. My GF often complained that the low-weight dumbbells would disappear and not come back. Personal trainers would take them to some remote corner where they could work one-on-one with their clients, and the rest of us be damned.

I had my membership for four years or so. I was paying $21.64 for myself and $32.46 for my girlfriend as a family add-on. When I canceled my 2 memberships (mine and my GF's), both memberships had completed their contracts and gone month-to-month. However, the desk rep informed me that I would be billed for 2 additional months for both memberships (for a total of $112.) Check the small print if you doubt it. The monthly fee for my primary membership immediately jumped $3.25 to $24.89. Didn't I pay a $289 sign-up fee to "lock in" my monthly rate? The corporate representative told me that there has been "a nationwide rate increase." Which just happened to coincide with the time I canceled my membership? And which only affected my primary membership, but not my GF's? I'm not buying it.

Finally, also coinciding with my cancellation, a series of ten $4.00 charges began appearing on my credit card. Apparently somebody in Washington DC is now buying Ice Cream Bars on my credit card. A manager at Corporate is working on this problem currently, but they seem more concerned with their own security issues than with my time or customer satisfaction. I give Gold's Gym Two Stars for an adequate workout experience, but it's an Epic Failure in customer service.