09/16/09

Stole my bike lock

by chopper99

The 56th Street location stole my bicycle lock. I returned from Labor Day weekend to find a sign posted over the bikerack outside saying they will clip locks left overnight, and my lock was gone, leaving me standing there foolishly in the middle of midtown with a bicycle and no lock.

I have been a member of the NYHRC, and have been leaving my lock there overnight, since 2004. I commute to midtown by bicycle, and shower at the gym.

When I reported the theft, the manager on duty simply shrugged and said, "We are not responsible for locks." It is one thing to disavow responsibility for locks; it is another thing to clip them.

I am now canceling my membership. Be forewarned: it is an arduous and expensive process. You cannot cancel in person; you must send a registered, certified letter to headquarters 30 days before your next "collection date." The $350 annual locker fee I just paid is non-refundable.

Between the non-refundable locker fee, the lost bike lock, and the useless extra month, I'm out more than $600 to the New York Health and Racquet Club. I cannot recommend joining them. There are plenty of other gyms in the area.

• Cons: Thieves

01/10/09

$$ comes first, not the customer

by benolielg

These people are greedy.

This week I went there with a guest and they charged me $20 for my guest although I am supposed to get several guest passes each year and have never used any.They said they would reimburse the $20 if I can get them a guest pass within 7 days. From where ??

I immediately canceled my membership. Avoid this club. Priority is the money not the client. Go to equinox, LA sports club etc...

• Pros: relatively cheap
• Cons: small pool, rude staff

11/17/08

Worst experience at a gym

by nytango

This place has the most rude and unprofessional staff I've met in about 12 years of going to the gym. Definitely not upscale at all. And the worst of them is the floor manager Danny Kavaldo who must truly believe he's some kind of a rock star and acts like he's doing you a favor by letting you work out at his gym. Oh, and they're all buddies, so don't even try complaining.

Before joining, do yourself a favor and try discussing the contract or something with these people, just to see their attitude... I've been a member at various gyms and, as far as treating their members goes, this is by far the worst.

• Pros: pool, relatively cheap
• Cons: STAFF STAFF STAFF

05/23/08

Nice gym, don't get membership for the beach: there is no beach

by happywinter

A member for 2 years. I love to be able to use any location around the city. Some locations are better than others. 23rd street is the most complete and it tends to be clean, but is decaying: showers are broken more often, and the locker rooms and bathrooms in general show signs of heavy wear. 23rd is also overcrowded: often at weeknights you will have to wait for a locker, wait for a long while for cardio equipment, and for a turn to take a shower.

In general I like the convenience of the different locations and to have pools available even if they are small, classes in all locations is a plus too, staff seems efficient. As a basic gym this is all good. But certainly do not get a membership for the extra-offerings. The biggest letdown so far has been to find out they mislead in their advertisements.

We went to check out ?private beach? last summer: There are a few nice clubs that are located in the same area so you are not alerted right away. When you get there, is actually a hidden driveway behind a bigger club. The attendant informed us the price fee and emphasized on the no-reimburse policy once you pay. We joked with him: Is there something we should know? (we were being funny). Well, he says, let's us say that the gyms in the city like to exaggerate.

He finally let us go inside and decide before paying. The overall area of the club is very small, is extremely crowded and not clean. The pool is clearly for kids and family play. Loud radios and food everywhere. The beach is just a tiny stretch (8-10 meters), just a small section of sand. Strong fences at both sides.

I am surprised nobody has mentioned this in any reviews. The attendants said they were used to people coming from the city and getting back angry at finding out.

Now I see all these signs and the big size letters saying BEACH, and it feels pretty bad they can go ahead and use this as a hook for sales.

• Pros: classes, trainers, mostly clean
• Cons: misleading advertisement, decaying facilities

05/20/08

Overall Positive Experience

by sweetepy302

Everyone here is complaining endlessly about the cancellation policy... I was a member here for a year and a half and had absolutely no problems. The only reason I left it was because I moved to Brooklyn. Anyway, when I went to cancel my membership, the girl at the front desk explained the reasoning for their cancellation policy it made perfect sense. They have you send your cancellation form registered or certified mail so that you have proof that you sent it. If the staff were as "shady " as all those below seem to think, I certainly wouldn't want to leave my cancellation form with them, just in case it accidentally "falls behind a desk" etc... Also, I appreciate having the reciept of my cancellation form, b/c then headquarters can't claim it was lost in the mail.

I do agree that its a bit ridiculous that you have to send in the form 30 days in advance, but that's my only complaint with the cancellation process.

About the gym itself, I found the staff to be competant, not stellar, but overall polite and accomodating (A general note on that - I've found that if you approach people with a smile they'll almost smile back - I have to wonder if perhaps some of the complainers below might have deserved to have some attitude dished right back to them). The sales guy and personal trainer I spoke to when I signed up seemed a bit pushy, but I'm guessing they work on commission. The gym got a bit crowded in the early evening hours (5-7ish), but I tried to avoid those times (proactivity works so much better than complaining on a message board ;-)) The equipment, main floors, and locker room were all clean and well maintained.

Overall I had a very pleasant experience at this gym. A few things could be improved here and there, but isn't that true of almost all places?

• Pros: Competant Staff, Well maintained
• Cons: Somewhat pushy sales staff, could have a little bit more customer friendly cancellation policy

05/16/08

TERRIBLE BUSINESS PRACTICES!

by juju00

why they are listed as almost 5 stars on citysearch is beyond me considering those other reviews I read. I had totally the same experience with their "no commitment" cancellation scam. In fact, I was told that I can sign up by telephone - I just had to give them my credit card number and they would give me a membership card. I had initially wanted to freeze my account but was told that they would continue charging me until I unfroze - at that point, I decided they were being dishonest so I told them that I would just quit being that I was a "no commitment" member. That's when they tell you that you have to mail in the cancellation form by registered / certified mail - you can't drop it off at one of their gyms or at their HQ or send it by email.

Also, their facilities are generally awful. The only "nice" gym that they have is on 23rd Street. I tried a couple of the other ones and they are complete DUMPS. One of the "yoga instructors" that they had was a chubby, older man who couldn't even do downward dog himself (he was not a substitute but a regular instructor). After having us do some basic stretches, he had us do kinda ballet/dance steps. It was the WORST yoga class I've ever had - and not much of a dance class if that was what he intended.

• Pros: 23rd street gym
• Cons: all other facilities; dishonest membership and cancellation policies

05/06/08

SCAMMERS, SKETCHY, DISHONEST & CRIMINAL 2 SAY THE LEAST!!!

by jerseycityd

Where do I begin? For starters they oversell trainer packages. When you're signing up in the office the trainer happens to coincidentally appear at the same time and he/she won't take "no" for an answer. If you don't pay for training sessions don't even think about asking the "paid employees" any questions regarding anything related to the facilities. The locker rooms are gross and smelly. The swimming pool is the size of a tub. The final straw is the cancellation policy... I signed up as a "PAY AS YOU GO" member; which sounds like once I wanted to discontinue my membership I should have been able to cancel, right? WRONG. This is the reason for the title of my review: they give you a "ELECTRONIC MEMBERSHIP CANCELLATION AFFIDAVIT" which means you have to send in a request to cancel your membership via registered, certified or next day mail. On top of that the letter has to be received 30 days before your next billing cycle begins. They'll continue charging your card until your cancellation is processed; and this takes at least 1 month. You sign up in person with no strings attached, but you've got an easier time getting a registered hand gun in New York than you have to cancel your "GYM MEMBERSHIP." CHELSEA PIERS or REEBOK is a much better choice than this piece of s@#t gym.

• Pros: You can only get duped by them once???
• Cons: Cancellation Policy is a SCAM.

02/23/08

No Commitment cancellation scam

by susandada

New York Health and Racquet Club has a borderline criminal scam whereby they force you to go to e location IN PERSON, pick up a cancellation form, then send it back by certified mail 30 DAYS before your next billing date in order to cancel. That's right. You have to pick up a form in person, but you can't drop it off: it has to be sent registered mail, and if it arrives less than 30 days before your next billing period, you'll be billed again. And that's just for the "No Commitment" cancel anytime memberships. If you have a 2 year membership, you need to provide a medical note stating that you're handicapped and can't work out.

See ripoffreport for more

• Cons: Fraudulent cancellation policy; awful staff

11/08/07

Could have been so much better

by jay2002

I've been a member there for 3 years... the location is amazing - very central, amazing size room, good equipment, yoga rooms, pool, the works. I mostly use the pool. I would highly recommend it if I felt good about the way they manage it. The front desk always has people who are not very well trained, the pool always has the wrong temperature (either too hot or too cold, mostly the latter), and the water is always opaque i am not sure what they do with the chlorine to mess it up, when there gets to be a line the life guard has no clue what to do or how to keep a waiting list because there is a new one changing every week and they have not sorted out the training. The lockers could be much cleaner. As far as the HRC chain goes, this is the best location. I've seen their others and most of them are in pretty bad shape. That said, i still go there, and i enjoy myself, but i feel it has so much more potential. check it out and make up your own mind, but look around for these clues if you care about the things i mentioned.

08/02/07

MY FAVORITE

by maxlosk

I love this club !

After being with Ballys for 2 years I feel like I am brand new person here at NYHRC. Yacht, Beach club, Clean pools! I'm lovin it! And the most important thing - no trashy crowd! Almost not at all!

• Pros: clean, high end, upscale