GoodLife Fitness

This is not an honest company. i called and cancelled the membership but they continued withdrawing the bi-​weekly membership amount. i discovered it by accident when i was reviewing my bank statement and when i called the customer service i was told that the agent didn’t put the cancellation note. is it my problem that your agents are not competent or not doing their job. i’m pretty sure this is what they are told by their management. i found other reviews same as mine. and when i called again this morning i was told that they were supposed to follow up with me (since April). does this make sense? anyway, i disputed the charge and my bank will get back this amount. it is not a question of amount, its the principle.
i wanted to share this so every one would check his bank account and not trust such an dishonest company.

Been a long time member of Goodlife. Today I was in early to train when the front desk informed me my pass has expired. My wife and I have a Corporate membership and it’s in the process of being renewed (finalized this afternoon).
Despite being a regular patron of this location, despite the front desk recognizing me as a regular there was no offer to allow me to train under the circumstances.
The service I’ve experienced here over the last 2.5 years and customer appreciation STINKS! I will never train at this location again considering how all that matters is the bottom line.

Good life as a company isn’t a bad one– very popular and they have great beliefs. With that being said– you’ll always find helpful people and are nice and oftentimes funny too.
So great people and awesome that they have so many classes of group workouts available.
Facility here at rideau is convenient for location– right downtown. Only thing being that unlike St. laurent, they’re not ²⁴⁄₇. Okay– not like it’s absolutely necessary, they still have relatively late hours.
The machines themselves are in decent condition albeit some a little old/​worn.
I’ve only been a couple times– and the community seems like a nice one, I didn’t notice any real lingering creepy stares.
The gym is coed– so you’ll have to be comfortable working out around men and women.
Anyone who is with the government or the ottawa hospital have great deals with GoodLife– but outside of that at aprx 25 – 27 $ biweekly it could be costly (especially for people who don’t necessarily workout– you may be wasting that money if you don’t go frequently enough)
Good gym– but there are better: P

I didn’t think it would be as bad as the reviews indicated, but it is. The place is really old. In the basement so no natural light. Its small with not a ton of equipment although probably enough types of cardio machines. The locker room definitely feels old and not that clean with an open shower room but not towel service. Go to a different location. The one on Queen nearby is far superior.

wow. where do I begin?
I’m giving this place the 0.5 stars it deserves. The only redeeming quality of this gym is the location.
backstory:
I’m from Toronto, visiting Ottawa for 7 – 8 weeks. I was a (monthly) goodlife member in Toronto, and enjoy that particular gym (monthly because I’m a university student and see no point in having a membership during the school year). I walked into the Rideau Centre location ready to purchase a month membership, but figured I would start with the 3-​day pass to milk the freebie. Yeah… thank god I didn’t buy that monthly membership right away.
–So first off, an employee brings me over to a table and sits me down. I explain my temporary situation to him, and he starts going off about the year membership. He was pushing really hard, even though I made it very clear that I was not interested in a yearly membership. He kept bringing up the fact that I would have to give my banking information, but he said it in an evasive tone that caused warning flags to go up in my head. Terrible salesman. The very last thing I’ll do is give you my credit card information. It got to the point where I actually told him that I don’t care about saving money on the yearly membership. He was really over-​selling it, and I was getting sketched out. He was making me feel very uncomfortable. Anyway, he told me to give him a call and he’d set up one free workout (wtf dude? what about the three days?).
–I sent him an e-​mail the next day saying I would be there in the afternoon. He never replied. I went to the gym anyway, and he was there. He let me through, told me to enjoy my workout, and that he would give me the 3-​day pass (damn straight!) when I was done.
–I walk into the changerooms. Oh my god. It smelled terrible. The locker rows were small and packed close together. It was muggy and musty. The whole gym smelled bad.
–I was unable to find 2 pieces of equipment that are vital to my usual shoulder day. This is gym is bigger and more popular than the GL I go to in Toronto. what the???
–The only employee I could find on the gym floor was training a customer. I tried to politely ask where a certain piece of equipment was. She interrupted me mid-​sentence and said «I’m with a client, you can go to the front desk and find someone who will help you», a sentence which took more time than simply (let alone nicely) saying «over there». Meh, if I worked in a gym where everything has absorbed decades of disgusting body odour, I’d be a bitch too.
I left, workout incomplete, and walked straight past the desk. You’d have to pay me to go back. Going for free would not be worth it.

This is definitely my least favorite goodlife in Ottawa. There always seems to be a musty gym smell that doesn’t go away. However I guess you can expect that from a basement gym! The changerooms absolutely stink! And the facilities seem quite old as well!

My boyfriend and I joined Goodlife at the same time. I find it to be an annoying place with excessive crowds, or as my boyfriend says, «I was a different man when I first became a Goodlife member. A youthful, idealistic man, with a spring in my step and a sparkle in my eye. Beaming widely, I approached the counter at the Rideau location and with much excitement, expressed my wish to join. Within moments, I was guided to a nearby table where an attractive woman shook my eager hand, gave me a tour of the state-​of-​the-​art facilities, and even offered me the staff membership rate! Naturally, I signed up and prepared to reap the rewards of good health and rock hard abdos.
Alas, all that glitters is not gold. And sometimes, things that glitter are actually the faeces of a horse who has ingested some sparkly craft glue fed to him by a well-​meaning –but ill-​informed– child. Two years since becoming a Goodlife member, I sit before you a tragic serving of human Jello; Goodlife has not only turned me against gyms, but against fitness and good health in general. I linger in this darkened, tartar sauce stained room, writing this review between swigs of cheap rum and futile attempts at using atrophied arms to locate my genitals in the undulating folds of stomach fat. Though my tale is sad and my complaints diverse, my highly limited cardio-​vascular fitness only permits me to type so much before collapsing. I will therefore stick to a few of my main objections:
1. Relentless crowds: I will not begrudge Goodlife their success. They have convinced pretty much every person to join them, likely due to their convenient locations and shiny outward appearance. The result is that every workout is an experience akin to boarding a Calcutta train without a ticket five minutes before departure. Luckily, Goodlife offers an abundance of machines to accommodate these crowds, that is, unless you want to use something exotic like a squat rack, bench or treadmill. They only have a couple of those, so get in line, bud! Luckily for the majority of us (who only want to work out our teres minors and hip abductors), we can probably find a free machine after 20 minutes or so. The locker rooms are similarly well-​peopled, and bring to mind a mosh pit, only with stickier floors. By no means should you sit on a bench to tie your shoe or reach for something in a lower locker, lest your eye be gouged out by an errant dong.
2. Lies, damn lies, and fitness statistics: Goodlife deals in all of them. It begins when you are told of the fortuitous circumstances of your visit: „We are currently having a one-​day promotion, and if you sign up right now, we will waive the membership activation fee!“. This is invariably followed by „I’m not supposed to do this, but what if I offer you the special staff rate?“. Of course, no one has ever paid an activation fee and the staff rate is as real as my chances of recovering the chicken Mcnugget that I just dropped between my thighs. Anyway, I know that such sleazy practices are standard in the world of sales, and though I find them distasteful, I will give GL a pass on this. Worse, however, are the methodologically suspect „fun facts“ displayed on every screen in the facility. „Did you know that 40% of people who make over 80K$/a year are Goodlife members? Goodlife membership causes success!!“
3. Cancellations: God help you if you ever try to terminate your membership at Goodlife. Even if you were murdered and all traces of your existence were systematically erased by special agents as part of a massive government cover-​up, these guys would find a way to continue billing you. You’re in this for the long haul.
In short, if you want to work out, there are many superior options. I would recommend the YMCA, City of Ottawa gyms, your own home, the yard at Riker’s Island correctional facility, or a post-​Apocalypic wasteland in which man is hunted for food before I would recommend Goodlife Rideau.»
I think it’s pretty stupid too.

Worst gym I have ever set foot in. I have been to the Queen street and and the Rideau locations and they are both terrible. Old dingy gyms with 20 year old equipment. The staff are rude and unhelpful and don’t seem to really care about their jobs which makes sense since Goodlife as a franchise doesn’t seem to care at all about their reputation. 100% slimy sales 0% customer service. And if you get a trial membership DO NOT give them your banking info!