Boston Sports Clubs

Still filthy. Treadmills and other equipment have been broken for months. The pool has been broken for months. Unbelievable. Things have gotten worse since my last review, despite a delivery of new treadmills. Even those new treadmills don’t work. Several have broken TVs already. WTF? Rumor is they’re trying to find a buyer.

After years of spotty on-​time openings on weekends this location just cannot get it right. Keep in mind that weekend opening is 8 AM for gawd sake– even a narcoleptic teenager with sleep apnea could make that time.
Despite many many many complaints by many many many members– and despite management assurances of a new, «fool-​proof» plan that would make late openings «impossible», this location still cannot do it!
Again today, several members show up to a locked club, waited 15 mins, got frustrated and angry — and started to disperse.
Calling other local clubs for information and assistance is useless– though at least they’re open and can answer a phone. Their reply is alway «we don’t have anything to do with other clubs so can’t help you.» «And no, there Isn’t anyone we can call.» Don’t know how that could be but I guess you’re not dealing with the «top brass» here, if there is such a thing as top brass at this organization.
SO frustrating and SO VERY unfair and disrespectful to paying members who have busy lives and razor thin time margins for getting to gym and then to work or back to kids, or on with their busy days…

This place is getting filthier and more run down by the month.
Current situation:
1. Broken paper towel dispenser in womens’ locker room… elapsed time: 1 month
2. Missing clock in weight room. elapsed time: 5 weeks
3. Mirrors all over weight room covered with saliva from who-​knows-​who… elapsed time: 3 months. it just keeps getting worse
4. Dust and chalk everywhere
5. Only the realllly short cleaning lady who works there 1 day a week actually cleans anything. The other just fixes her makeup instead of cleaning
6. Dirty glass
7. Missing and broken down elastics and pads
8. Lockers that are broken for going on a year
9. Hair and filth everywhere
10. This place is abysmal.
As a former housekeeper and hotel manager, I suggest the GM here recruit the cleaning staff who work the lobby and common areas in 1 Financial Center… not a fingerprint or speck of dust ANYWHERE.

BSC South Station negative star!
The only great thing is the instructors are really good but everything else is terrible.
They charge premium for not so premium equipment and service. The classes are usually full, you’ll have to really reserve in advance online, calling is not always sufficient, I pay for the membership for the classes! there is constant maintenance work and the staff just say sorry, it is what it is.
So I’ve been wanting to cancel my membership and called few times. First time, I was on hold for good 20 min because I have wait for a manger for cancellations. 2^nd time, I was told that I need to come in for cancellation. I’m 8 months pregnant, coming in isn’t always the best option. but after much ‘discussion” i was so fed up so decided that fine i will come in. So when I finally manage to come in a day after the billing cycle, the guy at the counter told me that i will be charged for a full cycle PLUS the 2 days. Which makes no sense at all to me and no one told me about this policy. Mind you, I’ve already call twice to cancel this membership. I’m so fed up with this gym and their bogas policies. I strongly advice anyone not to sign up because they really don’t care if you like the gym, they just want your credit card number, no refund under ANY circumstance.

I’m surprised at the overall negative reviews for BSC. I am a new member and find it to be very convenient with two locations within a 5 minute walk from work. The class schedule is great too offering a variety of options before work, during lunchtime, and after work. I think BSC is a good value for the monthly fee when compared to some of the other clubs in the area. The one downside right now is that the pool is closed, but I can only assume it is closed for renovations/​improvements.

Customer service is horrible. Go somewhere else if you can! I canceled my service in person in June and realized I was still getting billed. After calling multiple times, I finally received a cancelation confirmation, but it is not effective until end of September because I have no «proof» that I canceled in June. How is it my fault that your employee did not process my cancelation correctly? It is horrible customer service to put the blame and burden of proof on the customer. I am telling all of my friends to stay away and you have lost my business for life.

BSC South Station
The good: many of the group fitness trainers are great; there’s an AM spin instructor, Kate, on Tuesdays and Thursdays who is awesome — she has a strong following and it’s a fun group as well.
But it goes downhill from there — awkward layout, poor club maintenance (there was a water logged ceiling in the women’s locker room that wasn’t fixed for MONTHS), and as others have said the AC isn’t strong enough for the space, and the locker rooms are too small.
However, like, others, it was cancellation that was the problem. At 9 months pregnant, I called to cancel (needless to say I wasn’t making it to the gym anymore) and was told I had to come in. After explaining my situation, I was told to call back and ask for a manager, who could potentially make an exception.
On calling back, the women would not let me talk to the manager and said her word was final — when I insisted, she told me that the manager could not talk but that the answer was the same. Nice customer service!
HOWEVER — I called the corporate service team and (after waiting on hold for some time) finally got to a lovely woman who helped me cancel then and there. She may have made an exception for me, but her service was great — as opposed to what I received from BSC South Station.
For those of you with membership issues, I encourage you to call their corporate member services: 877−258−2311 — be patient (I had to call back 3 times and eventually just hit 0 to get someone) but I received a clear email confirmation, though based on other reviews I’ll be double checking to make sure it’s all cancelled.

Same issue as everyone else on here. I’ve tried to cancel and I keep being charged even though Patrick on the phone told me I was all set. Now I’ll have to go in there tomorrow morning and fight to be reimbursed. Let’s see if that actually happens. They charged me twice in May too.
There are other gyms. Don’t go here.

[I am reviewing every gym in the city of Boston, check out my other reviews]
I worked out here last night. This gym layout is bizarre. You have to go up and down two sets of stairs to end up in the room over. Why not just create a doorway from the main hall? Call me crazy. There is not enough space to workout. People are cramped all over each other trying to lift bars and moving back and forth to let people pass.
There are only two flat benches in this gym. The most popular piece of equipment and only 2 of them. There seems to be a lot of equipment missing from what I am used to.
The locker room is horrible. Cramped, people on top of each other, a lack of showers! I actually had to wait for a shower to free up because there are only about 5, but 500 people working out at any given time.
Used care salesman said they don’t give out trials (umm, yeah they do), and I had to signup today in order to get the special rate. According to this guy, today was the last day to get a core membership before they were phased out forever. Seems like a big change from last week at another BSC.
Shady fees where you have to pay an annual fee on top of your monthly fee (why not just roll that into the monthly fee? And you have to pay an extra month after you cancel. Why?)
Not recommended

Don’t deal with anyone in accounting… I cancelled my membership last July as I was moving and turns out they never stopped charging me!!!
After four calls and being kept on hold for over ½ hour they told me that that department should have never told me that it was cancelled and there would be no reimbursement whatsoever. If I wanted to take it to court it would be my word against theirs…
Great customer service BSC… maybe your departments should communicate with each other or maybe just stop telling lies?
Worst experience with a gym ever!!! Don’t give them your money

Beyond awful. Besides the mediocre facility, and often broken equipment, the customer service is awful. the staff lied to me at the start of my membership and when i attempted to cancel it, and has overcharged me by several hundred dollars. stay away from these guys, it’s a company without scruples.

I’ve been a BSC member for about 4 years now, and have been very pleased. This location is laid out kind of weirdly but otherwise has pretty much the same amount and quality of equipment as any other BSC.
The problem is in the locker room. It’s just not an adequate size for the number of people who come here. If you go to a lunchtime class, figure in at least 5 extra minutes to what’s already probably a tight schedule while you wait for one of the six showers to open.
But the biggest problem with this location is the clientele. I have worked out in seven different BSC locations, and this is the only one where the members display such rampant douchery. Leaving wet towels on the locker room floor? Check. Leaving nasty sweaty workout clothes on the floor, spread in front of two lockers? Check. Wet towels and/​or tissues (ecccch!) in the shower stalls? Check. Spreading towels out on the floor across three lockers’ worth of space because your tender feet can’t touch the carpet? Yep. Laying wet towel across the water fountain? Yep! And don’t even get me started on that guy who’s always in the sauna in the morning rubbing his sweaty moobs vigorously enough to make a squelching sound.

If I could give them a 0, I would have. Save yourself the energy, headaches, and $$$ lost and don’t sign up here.
I thought my membership cancellation had gone smoothly, until I was charged. Just like others have said THE ONLY WAY THEY WILL LET YOU LEAVE THEIR GYM IS IF YOU DIE. I went in on several occasions to cancel my membership, and they kept saying that there was nothing they could do to refund my money. What a horrible business model and HORRIBLE customer service.
I initially walked in and some manager cancelled my membership on the computer. Little did I know that I was supposed to sign something and have the infamous «paperwork» to say that I cancelled. The manager said I was all set, and I believed him. WHAT A MISTAKE.
Finally someone on Unilocal helped me get my charges for 1 month refunded and confirmed that my membership was cancelled. However, i was still billed an extra month and they said I couldn’t have my charges refunded because there wasn’t any «paperwork». How about a DIGITAL TRAIL? If I’ve been going to the gym 10 – 20 times per month in the last year, what is the likelihood that I will not go for an entire month? 0 times??? Very unlikely. However due to their ridiculous rules and horrendous customer service, they refused to give me a refund for that month.
In addition, even after all of these shenanigans, and despite corporate saying I was cancelled, I JUST SAW I WAS BILLED FOR SEPTEMBER. This is SO ridiculous! I can’t believe how the BSC even stays in business. I will absolutely NEVER return to this gym, and neither will my roommates and friends who I’ve relayed this story to.
If you would like a LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP, please feel free to go and sign up at the BSC. Otherwise, I suggest HealthWorks if you are female (sorry, it’s a female-​only gym), since they cancelled my membership without any trouble. Otherwise, VIM is a good option (they have month-​to-​month options, unlike the BSC who traps you into a year-​long contract with cancellation fees). There is also Rock N Fitness (previously Planet Fitness) that is super cheap in Porter Square. Good luck!

Two words that come to mind are «sloppy» and «inconsistent.»
I’ll start with the good: the gym (for the most part) has great equipment, extremely friendly trainers who are nice and courteous, and friendly desk-​staff. Everyone who works out there are well-​to-​do Financial District employees who are nice and respectful.
The bad: blow-​dryers go missing or break, shampoo/​conditioner/​body wash can often be empty or the pumps are broken, boxes can sometimes be piled-​up in the corner.

I F’ing hate this place with a passion. If I didn’t have to work out with my gay lover, I would never frequent this place.
If you farted near the squat rack, I’m pretty sure the front desk would hear it.

It’s a gym. And it’s a block away from my loft. That’s the upside. On the bad side, about only 4 or 5 TVs at the treadmills work, the other 25 or so remain broken for a year. Plus, the pool is rarely vacuumed. The trainers are nice but management could really use to spend some money here.

This review is for the mega-​corp holding company that runs BSC, Town Sports International.
Three years ago I moved to Boston and looked at the BSC in Fenway. Gross, small, and the creepy front desk guy hit on me while giving me a tour of the place. Enough said, I went and joined FitCorp in the Pru.
I was literally at FitCorp doing crunches on the ground level area the morning a man was scraping the FitCorp logo off the big window that looks onto Huntington. Up went the horrible BSC logo. I was, to say the least, terrified. I joined FitCorp for a reason.
No letters had been sent out before this happened to say that FitCorp had be bought by BSC /​TSI. And two weeks later, after a few signs went up in the locker room, I finally got a letter. Of course that letter stated that rates would not be raised. And for the first two months they weren’t. And then, my rate went up by $ 20 a month. Shocking? Sadly not at all.
The day the water heater went out and I took a cold shower was the day I joined Equinox and cancelled my BSC membership. I got a receipt from Sean, the manager, saying I paid out and my membership was cancelled.
Four months later, I get a notice from a collections agency for past due balance. Funny, I have a receipt that says I own you NOTHING. But apparently they claim a billing discrepancy from October (now almost 6 months ago) and refuse to let it go. I was on monthly, automatic debit card payments. There was never an overdraft or any other problem. Your system effed up. Did this problem show up when I closed out and paid my balance? No, of course not. But I have no choice but to pay the discrepancy on the phone with the collections agency or have my credit affected.
Perhaps this is a better letter to the company, not Unilocal review, but hey, I doubt they read their mail from former customers.

I didn’t have a great experience at this gym. The staff was friendly at first, until I decided I needed to cancel my membership (which I was told at the time of my signing the contract that there would be no fee since I was a corporate member). Well, when I tried to cancel they tried to charge me an exorbitant amount and tried to tell me it was my fault that their sales guy lied to me. I ended up having to pay for the remainder of my contract and was unable to use the gym. Outrageous.
Lastly, it didn’t feel like a community at all. A lot of flash but not much comradery at all. I even remember a yoga instructor laughing at a student because they were having a difficult time.
I wouldn’t go back to this location if you paid me. Sorry BSC! Lower your prices and be good to your guests. I will say my experience with BSC in Watertown was not nearly as bad.

DON’T GO HERE!!! THEY WON’T LET YOU CANCEL YOUR MEMBERSHIP!!!
My wife got a membership here a few years ago but moved out of the neighborhood after a year. She tried to cancel her membership but was told that she can’t cancel her membership over the phone. What company doesn’t let you cancel a membership online or over the phone? So she continued to pay for her membership until we were able to get back into town to have dinner in the neighborhood. We went in on and the guy at the desk told us we couldn’t cancel because a manager wasn’t on duty. But he was nice and took our name down to give to the manager the next day. We called the manager and she told us that we have to come in to cancel!!!
We’ve gone back and forth with them and now it’s a year later and THEY WILL NOT CANCEL OUR ACCOUNT, nor will they reimburse us for a year’s membership wasted.
Don’t go to BSC!!! This place is completely mismanaged.
UPDATE: they just charged is again!!!

I give the gym:
4 stars for convenience. Boston Sports Clubs are everywhere, and there’s always been one near my home and office. They offer a wide selection of classes, lots of equipment, and all the basic amenities (towel service, soap/​shampoo/​conditioner, and yes, they have a swimsuit dryer now.
3 stars for class instructors. The BSC is very hit or miss when it comes to their instructors — some are amazing, some are just empty yoga pants. Either way, don’t get too comfortable, there is very high turnover.
2 stars for the administrative staff and facilities. Staff is notoriously slow to repair broken equipment (there are 2 – 3 spin bikes in the studio that have been broken for months). Management decided to enforce a sign up policy in certain classes by requiring instructors to waste 5 – 10 minutes at the beginning of each class taking attendance, but if you call the front desk and request to be signed up for a class, it’s a ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ shot they actually put your name down.
And 1 star for corporate strategy. BSC recently bought out a competing gym chain, and rather than expand into the new gym’s facilities, they closed all the new gyms and forced their members into existing BSC facilities, resulting in overcrowded gyms and full classes.