Fitness Evolution

THIS IS SUCH A BS GYM WITH A BS CORPORATE OFFICE!
I froze my account in October — and I have been billed monthly up until April! Fitness Evolution is one of those gyms that will do anything to get a dollar and literally wanted to send me to collections over $ 85. This is sad as I loved the gym and thought it was great — unfortunately they are unable to train their staff to provide correct information. The Corporate Office is a joke and not willing to consider anything. This gym has gone down hill fast and I will be surprised to see them open for another 2 years.
DON’T JOIN THIS GYM — IT’S NOT WORTH THE HASSLE AND THERE ARE PLENTY OF OTHER PLACES TO GO TO NEAR BY!
UPDATE AGAIN — The Gym posted «we offer freezes for up to 3 months» which NO ONE EVER TOLD ME… I would have cancelled on the spot… but of course the staff was «unaware» of this rule. It’s disappointing that there are companies that still take advantage of consumers.
This is a link to 7 On Your Side that was filed a couple of years back. I have contacted them as well as the BBB to make sure Fitness Evolution stops ripping people off! I literally just paid them $ 80 for nothing!

They make it impossible to cancel the membership. I followed all the proper steps to cancel and my credit card is still being charged, for random amounts too. So hard for the credit card company to monitor. I finally had to close my credit card for them to stop charging me.

I love this gym. I been a member for over 2 years joined so I have the $ 13.99 Prime member plan. Which I get a personal trainer once a month, get to use the massage bed and tanning room and the gym is so nice with the cardio theater and much more.
I like how R. J is always there to greet me when I come in to workout. So friendly. I started trying the Yoga and may be I’ll try others too. It’s a great place to be. unlike 24 hours you don’t have to worry about parking during the holiday season because it’s not in the mall. And the membership is so reasonable, I don’t see why everyone don’t upgrade to Prime.

For the 14.99 a month I pay this gym I think I get my moneys worth, my big gripe is the fitness schedule posted on line is never updated! I have shown up for a class at least 4 times in the past couple of months that the class has already started or I am really early because the times listed for the classes on line are incorrect. I have talked to the «kids» at the front desk numerous times about this and have been told Corporate handles the schedule they cannot change it locally, then recently I was told times are just an «approximation» as these are the times for all the gyms. Who the F*** hold classes at an approximate time. I cannot start my work day at an «approximate: time… IDIOTS!

Staff tonight at 10:05 p.m. Did not take my complaint seriously. They were engaged in conversation with each other. My complaint was in regards to a loud, obnoxious phone conversation a member was having in the cardio room.
Staff said a few okays and I walked off to cardio room to finish my workout. Neither male or female staff member ever left the front desk to inquire the validity of my complaint. The decibel level of the phone conversation continued until 10:25 when the member left.
I’m guessing this is policy as the owner is thinking dollar.
Thanks for nothing.

Great neighborhood gym. Today I walked into the gym and saw that wedding crashers was just starting in the theater room (lots of machines to work out on). I think I just spent 45 minutes in there sweating my ass off, and laughing out loud with other people doing the same.
What a way to get a workout!

This is a really good gym for anyone who is just starting to get into exercise: its cheap ($ 10 – 20 per month, based on the membership you get), and its got all of the basic amenities (machines, some free weights/​dumbbells, treadmills, etc). However, if youre an experienced weightlifter or an athlete, this facility is not going to be able to meet every need, but that’s to be expected because of the low price.
This rating is entirely based on the exercise equipment, I have not attended any of the classes, or used the free personal trainer sessions, so I can’t speak for them.

In a nutshell: You get what you pay for.
Parking can be horrible, I have to plan my gym visits around when I think there won’t be as many people there. Also, this location seems very dirty, I refuse to shower at this one. even with shoes on! There is really good food next door to this place as well and the aromas aren’t too motivating to go workout. The cardio theater is cool, if you catch a good movie, but I would also be afraid to see how dirty it is with the lights on.
But hey, I pay ridiculously low monthly dues and usually all their equipment works.

I’ve been a member since this place has opened. And I haven’t been going to the gym for approx. 7 months. But they still take my money every month out of my account. It bothers me that if you know a member hasn’t been coming in, wouldn’t be caring as a business it be good business to at least give a curiosity call to see if things were okay. They careless about you personal just want your money. You guys really suck!!!

This business cancelled my membership at my request and continued to charge me. When I asked for a refund, they wouldn’t provide me with one or explain why the charges keep happening.
Calls to their corporate office went unresolved.
I should note that two of my other family members were also getting charges well after cancellation. They too were not able to get refunds.
My recommendation, stay clear of this place and avoid giving your bank account number. If you must go, use a credit card (not debit) to easily put a stop payment on it and dispute the charges.
For anyone else dealing with this (there was a mother and daughter in there dealing with the same fraudulent charges as well), here is all the information I gathered.
Manager is Tasha.
District Manager is Conny
Their legal department is a Brule & Rooney at
Also, when logging a complaint, have them read back the case notes and visual inspect them. The notes they enter in my case contained libel and were not very professional.
Lastly, do not trust them to cancel your account. Go down in person and have them print out records showing your cancellation. This way, when you dispute the charges with your bank, you have clear documentation to back yourself up with.
Thanks for reading and good luck!
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Updated Note: I was contacted immediately after this review by Tasha who explained that corporate had called her and would have her fired for the review I left. She wasn’t supposed to read me back the case notes.
She asked that I take the review down or edit it to remove that specific part about the notes. I felt a lot of pressure to do that both from her and my own guilt (I didn’t think the situation was her fault), so I just removed the whole thing until the dispute was resolved. In her defense, she explained that I could absolutely post my initial review (minus the edit), after this resolution.
It’s been several weeks, and no one has kept their promises to return phone calls. Reposting this so you will not make the mistake I did and trust them in any capacity. If they pressure you to remove your review, don’t do it.

Everyone says you get what you pay for, and I was completely aware of what I was getting into when I signed up for this gym. I read the endless 2 star Unilocal reviews, I heard the gripes from my friends, but after going once or twice with a friend who had the Premium Membership, I thought to myself «this gym is most definitely worth $ 9.99 month!» and signed up for a Premium Membership myself ($ 14.99/month) in hopes I could drag my boyfriend with me.
Everything was totally fine: I accepted the teenager-​level of attitude and customer service from most of the staff because, hey, $ 15 a month ain’t too shabby for a place with plenty of cardio, weights and my favorite (even though they always seemed to be playing a Fast and Furious movie), the Cardio Theater! All the bare necessities are there and that’s sweet.
Cut to July when my two friends and I went to do our post-​cardio weights in the studio room only to find the door locked. The manager explains that they’ve put in TRX equipment and chose to house it in the studio room. She says since the equipment is expensive and staff need to be trained to use it, Fitness Evolution in has decided the members of the Martinez location should pay $ 120/​month to use it. My friends and I had no intention of using the new, expensive, costly TRX equipment– we simply wanted a space to lay out three mats, do some squats, planks, crunches, arms with dumbbells together. We expressed our disappointment to the manager (we’ve all been managers at some point and weren’t too thrilled with the way the gym decided to drop this bomb –it’s just $ 110 extra dollars a month-​) so cavalierly) and tried to accept her suggestion of finding another space in the gym to do this work.
Now, cut to mid-​November. My friend and I try to find a space to do all this floor work together which is hard because this gym is very small and extra, not to mention safe, space is hard to come by. We find a space, grab two mats, and go to grab two pairs of 5 lb dumbbells when, we realize, oh, there’s only one set. I ask the manager if there’s more anywhere else and she casually jokes that we can use two 2.5lb weights in each hand because, duh that equals 5. This did not amuse us. She says «I’m not going to lie, there are more weights in the studio room, but it’s the TRX equipment…» you know how the rest of that speil. We quit at the front desk immediately following our half-​workout. No more than one person can use the two 5 lb weights at a time because they want to charge you an additional $ 110 per month to have access the slew of dumbbells locked up in the studio.
I could join 24 Hour Fitness for a quarter of that price, or even the 24 Super Sport for about half the price and use that damn TRX equipment and a pool, and towel service.
I was happy to pay a cheap amount for a minimal gym, but the people of Fitness Evolution are simply delusional if they think people will pay that amount of money for that quality of a gym. In July I emailed Fitness Evolution customer service without response, and tweeted that I got no response to which I was given an email that I emailed twice and still never got any response. The manager at this location said they are losing memberships and that hardly anyone has signed up to use the TRX room.
If corporate happens to change their minds, I will totally rejoin this gym if they open the studio, but on principle, we had to leave! I liked this little gym for a number of reasons and was even willing to overlook a lot of the issues for the price, but that was just one too many for me!
TL;DR This gym and all its flaws was worth the price until they cut off half your access to it unless you paid an additional $ 110 and didn’t sufficiently equip the rest of the gym to counter this loss of access. That price is not worth what you’re paying for.
EDIT: Lol at these 5 star reviews. On our last day here I noticed a banner that said «review us on Unilocal!» which I decided to do, but now I’m wondering if there’s some sort of incentive if someone posts a 5 star review. I notice one of the 5 star reviews even got a response back!

This is the first gym ive ever stepped in and I was pretty nervous to get started. Brenda and Selena made everything so welcoming. (In fact every time I walk in)
When they said I had a free one time personal trainer I was also quiet nervous. However, when I met Daniel Zaniga. he made everything so pleasant. He has such a great understanding on how you can be a better you. He’s willing to help with anything you’d like to focus on.
He’s personable, passionate and a pleasure to be called a friend. I run into him all the time at the gym and all he does is smile and sends positivity into you like fire from a tigers heart!
I read the other reviews, and I can tell you so far I’ve had nothing but pleasant experiences and they seem like they wanna be the best gym you.

I got channel 7 to do an investigation on this entire organization.
Got my money back too.
Huge Scam!!!

I came here as a guest again with my gf this time. Toward the end of the workout, a member got all sassy and his «ego» came out telling me I was in his way while he was working out. Obviously with the confrontation, he was raising his voice, as was I talking back and forth because he was being incredibly rude.
I find it funny that 1) an employee was walking around cleaning up at the same time yet did not say a word during the altercation, 2) the confrontation was near the entrance at the cable machines, so my voice and this punks voice could be heard through that small wall (I am pretty sure everyone in the gym could hear us talking), 3) as I left I told the front desk and seemed like a Manager was there about it by telling them «One of your members was being extremely rude» and she had the audacity to say «I heard that, tell me about it what happened?»
Strong customer service, if you had heard or any other employee had heard, you should have gone to fix or calm the situation down, what if two people were being heated and started to become aggressive and escalated to a full on fist fight? Need to be trained on how to keep your members and yourselves in a safe situation for ALL members.
Front desk is extremely obnoxious as well, could here them laughing hysterically with each other and I was all the way near the treadmills located at the cardio room.
Besides that, I still was able to get a good workout in with the equipment provided. Went during the mid-​to-​late afternoon and was not as busy.
I really enjoy the Brentwood location as the staff is a bit more friendlier and members are also just as friendly.

*Update*
All calls to manager ignored. I would call and she was sick… out…lunch…never called me back.
Multiple emails unanswered from Corp. office, and voicemail.
Please if you value your money, DO NOT GO HERE!!!

I was looking to purchase a gym membership for my daughter and myself. I heard fitness evolution was reasonably priced so I looked it up online. I read ALL the terms and agreements to make sure the advertised deals (buy one premium membership and it comes with a free guest pass that allows 8 visits per month for the guest as long as they are with you) were included in my agreement. I chose the premium membership for $ 19.99 that includes guest privileges. I made sure that I read all the information regarding the terms for guests. Nowhere did it state that a minor may not be a guest. So I signed the agreement based on all the information included in the terms and agreement. When I called the gym the next day to set up my fitness evaluation with the trainer, they notified me that my daughter can’t come in unless she had her own membership. I told them that it didn’t state anything about age. The manager, Kenia, says that corporate is working on including that in future terms and agreements and that they get many complaints regarding the age limit not being included in the agreement that customers sign. I told her the reason for me wanting to get a membership is so that my daughter and I could go together. She is going to be 13 in one month and the times we would be going to the gym is after work and school which is in the evening and I don’t want to leave her home alone and that would defeat the purpose of a premium membership. I asked for a refund and she stated that I would need to physically come in within 5 days to submit a request and that corporate would then review the request and it was out of her hands. I asked for corporate’s contact number and she said she wasn’t allowed to give that information out. I asked to speak with her supervisor, and again she stated she wasn’t allowed to give that information out. She said she would email corporate and I would have to just wait. I then took it upon myself to email corporate via the «contact us» option on their website. I got an email confirmation stating they received my email and they would contact me in 72 hours. It has been 4 days and I just now got a response telling me I need to go in to the Martinez location to submit a request for refund by this evening or else I can no longer request one. I now have to rush to the location after work to submit and it is still unknown if they will grant the request. I asked for someone in corporate to call me and they have not. I requested this 4 days ago. I tried calling the store again and Kenia tells me it’s out of her hands and that corporate is known to do this. I looked at their Unilocal reviews and I see many complains of similar situations. I feel that they are being fraudulent because the terms and agreement that I signed is different than their actual rules they are implementing. I attached the terms and agreement they sent me. I also have emails from the gym manager who admits in the email that they don’t include the restrictions of minors as guests in the contract. With the response from management regarding the situation and how this is a common complaint, I know they are aware of how wrong it is and I think it may even illegal. Btw STEPHANIE working at the front desk. You are very rude and unprofessional. You have an attitude problem and shouldn’t be working in a place where you need customer service skills because it’s quite apparent you don’t have any!

Can’t complain about the quality of the equipment in this gym, everything is brand new. The staff are usually pretty friendly too.
The downside, which is mentioned in several other comments, is that they make it really difficult to cancel your membership. We are moving away from Martinez and when we called in to cancel our membership I was told both my husband and I have to make an appointment with the manager to cancel our service. We have to pay one more months worth of dues since we have to give a 30 days notice and give back our key card. The manager we have to meet with (by appointment mind you) is only available Monday-​Friday 10am-​5pm. We both work 9 – 5 Monday-​Friday so I have to use one of my days off to take care of this.
The other option is to send in a certified letter via the post office to say why you need to cancel.
Why are you making it hard for your customers to make changes? Shouldn’t you make it easy to do business with you so they want to stay? I hope any other members don’t have a life event that makes them need to cancel, you’re going to have some hoops to jump through.
FYI for anyone wondering what certified mail is or what it costs:
Certified Mail is a type of Special Service mail offered by the United States Postal Service and other postal services that allows the sender proof of mailing via a mailing receipt and, upon request electronic verification that an article was delivered or that a delivery attempt was made.
Current 2015 USPS Certified Mail Rates & Extra Service Costs
Certified Mail rates increased from $ 3.30
Return Receipt green cards costing $ 2.70
Return Receipt Electronic signatures $ 1.35
First Class 1 OZ rates increased from $ 0.48
Flats one Oz price increased to $ 0.98
Additional OZ of First Class mail increased to $ 0.21 per oZ.

let me start off by saying DO NOT get a membership at this gym. yes it is $ 9.99 a month and only a dollar to sign up, but it’s not worth it. And if I could give them no stars I would !!
I had gotten 12 training sessions that I paid for on a monthly payment plan. I had a trainer that I enjoyed and had two sessions with him and then I got a text from him saying that they moved him to another gym, so I went into the gym to say that I did not want to complete the rest of my sessions because my trainer left. they told me that I could not stop the payments and that I had to keep paying them. well there goes $ 300 dollars. another thing not one person told me when I signed up for ONLY 12 sessions is that I would still be getting charged monthly no matter what even though I said I only wanted 12 sessions. they then told me that in order to stop paying $ 100 monthly I need to send in a letter through certified mail (which if you don’t know that means they have to sign for it when delivered) so therefore they got it because on the USPS tracker it said delivered !! but today I called to finish the rest of my sessions and I said I should only have 10 left. they told me I had 15. furious I then asked to speak to a manager and they said she was with a client and had to call me back. still haven’t gotten a call. I went to look in my bank statements and they have been withdrawing $ 100 for the past two months. even tho I had already sent in my letter way before those two months & 30 days in advance from the next billing cycle and yet I’m still getting charged. So then I called again tonight and they said that the manager had left. well this is the second time i’ve tried to get ahold of her and she has never returned my calls, not tonight and not two months ago when I had a problem with the sessions in the first place .
I should’ve listened to all the reviews before saying how horrible the gym & staff was especially the managers .
If I don’t get my $ 200 dollars back I will be taking the gym to court because I have proof of my letter being sent and delivered which they were supposed to send to corporate so that they can stop my payments which obviously never happened !!

Let me preface my review with: I’ve worked in the fitness industry. I’ve worked gym sales, and I’m protective as hell of my bank accounts, and I read ALL the Unilocal reviews prior to walking in here.
I paid for a month membership in full, in cash. It was about $ 50, which is a LOT for this little gym, but it included access to their tanning room, which I «needed» prior to a trip to Hawaii, and their «hydro massage» rooms, which I wanted to check out.
I actually think I got my money’s worth. I get in good workouts here, although I’m definitely the only girl lifting heavy, and it was a little uncomfortable for me to see so many people lifting weight either WAY too heavy for them without regard for form, or way too light without knowledge of how to accomplish body goals. (Assuming their goals weren’t to just stay the same and kill time in front of a mirror.)
I chose to abstain from the complimentary training session from one of their coaches.
This place is fine for a workout if you REALLY know what you’re doing and can train yourself hard, or you don’t care what you’re doing and just want to say you’re a member of a gym and trundle along on their MANY cardio machines ad nauseum. They have great cardio machines. They have a lot of tvs. They don’t have a lot of free weights, but they also don’t appear to have a lot of members who USE free weights, so that’s a wash.
Overall, I’d absolutely continue to be a member of this gym, and I’d be thrilled if there were one near my place of work, but I would continue to pay in cash per month, and wouldn’t continue to pay $ 50 when there are gyms within 4 miles who charge less for access to a much larger facility with many more options.

Last review, five stars because for me it was easy. I sent a certified letter as the contract stated I needed to do to cancel my membership and I proved that I live more than 25 miles from a location, as the contract also stated.
Easy cancel because I read my contract!