Bally Total Fitness

Been a member 3 years and finally was allowed to cancel my membership. This gym has gotten so bad that I finally started driving all the way to the Huntington Beach location.
First of all, it’s crowded! Yeah, yeah, all gyms are crowded, but not like this one. I’ve waited 30 minutes to use a bench, only to get done and have to wait another 20 minutes to get on a treadmill, or a stair climber, I eventually just take what ever machine opens up. Typically there are 4 –5 broken treadmills that will stay broken for a month at a time.
The music is typically blaring. Even with my ipod maxed i can still hear their horrible R&B or disco music that is playing. I think the employees just play what ever they feel like rather than thinking about the hundred or so customers trying to work out.
The men’s lockeroom/​bathroom (they are attached) is indescribably horrific. It’ll make you want to tear off your nose and sometimes gouge out your eyes depending on what you see upon entering. I’ve been to lots of gyms and never experienced a smell close to this bad.
The one star is well deserved because of their juice bar. The Bally’s in Huntington Beach does not offer this. The Banana protein shake is great although it really depends on who makes it.
So if you do still sign up for Bally’s just know that even after your contract is over, you cannot just call them up and cancel. You need to send a letter (certified because they’ll say they never received it otherwise) to their corporate office and wait, and wait, and wait. All the time they are charging your debit card. Then you will have to call them to reverse the charges, and threaten legal action because they’ll do anything for that $ 19.00. Badly run company.

I have been a Bally’s member for over 20 years. I like the CM location as it’s open late and can handle a crowd fairly well. It would get five stars if it had newer cardio equip and flat screen TV’s. The ones in place are over 10 years old!
Also, they need to open earlier on Saturdays. How about 6 ish? Perfect!

If you’re into using the elliptical machines for cardio exercises, you might want to look else where. Practically 85% of the machines at this gym are broken ranging from cracked casing making buttons impossible to press to missing electrode panels for the heart monitor to work properly. Also, the restroom is a MESS! Toilet seat covers all over the stall floors and the lack of available toilet paper just shows how «ghetto» this gym has become. The staff just hangs out in their staff room and really doesn’t seem to care about maintaining the facility at all. Totally not going to renew my membership with Bally anymore.

I recently signed up for the 7 day guest pass with the BTF in Santa Ana. I was immediately greeted by one of the female representatives, who will remain anonymous. She was very nice and was talking to me as though she were a good friend of mine. Unfortunately, once I told her I didn’t want to sign up for a membership until I used my 7 day guest pass her demeanor changed. She stopped smiling, she actually looked as though she was pissed off at me. She said she needed to call in her sales associate to activate my guest pass. She returned 5 minutes later with her sales associate, who was a bit pushy. I told him I wasn’t going to sign up for a membership until I used my guest pass. He said I needed to sign up today or tomorrow or else I’d miss out on a great deal. After dealing with a two face representative and her pushy sales associate, will I be joining BTF? The answer ladies and gentleman is NO! I didn’t appreciate there superficial demeanor or their pushy sales tactics.

I don’t appreciate being kicked out by the scrawny Asian personal trainer for being on the personal training area. I wish I can give less than one star.

Although I am still upset this had to happen at all, I will say that upon posting this review, I did receive a phone call and my situation was promptly handled. A very kind supervisor called and apologized and fixed everything right away. A massive improvment over my experience thus far.

If u go in the off peak hours it’s great. That said expect a wait on most machines, and I never find the free weights in their place or the one I’m looking for, EVER!
The restrooms are never stocked with toilet paper after like 4pm
Lots of older people — 70 to 100 –, especially in the pool and jacuzzi.
PROS
Great Zumba instructor, Yoli. The class does cost an extra $ 3 a session and they don’t limit how many tickets they sell so it gets really crowded.
Intense and motivating spin instructor, same with the kick boxing class, those are free FYI
Cheap compared to other gyms
Quick cons
No toilet paper
Billing issues
Poor costumer service, phone and in person
Staff is useless for anything important
Dirty overall bathrooms.

DON’T JOIN BALLY TOTAL FITNESS.
I’ve been a member with Bally Total Fitness for almost four years.
I’ve hated Bally Total Fitness… for almost four years.
The summer before I started college I got the bright idea to join my local gym, and besides, Bally looked pretty big from the outside.
Despite its nice looks, the employees suck. First, I got roped into a three year membership with Omar, being told that it was «easy to cancel.» A year later, I tried to cancel but told to call the toll free number THAT DOESN’T EVEN LET YOU TALK TO A HUMAN BEING… so that leaves front desk completely useless. As you enter the gym, you’ll also find that there are random weights hanging around everywhere, the bathrooms stink, the atmosphere is just blah.
Four years later… I called a customer service hotline and hacked the system to talk to their operator, rose hell, and one monthly fee, one cancellation fee, and one service fee later (wtf?), finally, FINALLY cancelled my membership with this piss-​poor establishment. Don’t waste your time, money, or energy here. It’s not worth it.

This is a no-​frills gym and will do the job if you want a reasonably-​priced membership.
I joined this gym for more than a year and here’s the summary.
PROS
There’s a lot of equipment.
The cycling and yoga instructors are all awesome.
The instructor for the weights class on Mondays (Jill) is very cool.
CONS
Bathroom is disgusting. There’s a lot of people using it, and there seems to be an issue with lack of toilet paper/​tissues.
Floor of the yoga studio is disgusting especially after the sweaty aerobics class finishes.
They don’t allow you to downgrade your membership, they only allow upgrades. This annoyed me, since I wasn’t using other Bally gyms and didn’t need the nationwide membership.
I find the hot tub yucky. There’s mold on the tiles and I’m not sure how often it is cleaned.
There are no prenatal classes available.
Classes can get really crowded, and it can be hard to move especially with the aerobics and yoga.
All in all I like this gym except for the cleanliness.

Very pushy sales people. I signed up but later was told by husband who did the free trial that I was ripped off. He refused to buy a membership and they talked the regular price down to $ 12 without a startup fee. (He didn’t sign up anyway) Ugh it was really frustrating finding out you could bargain down the price!
After I got over this, I have enjoyed the super fun Zumba classes with enthusiastic instructor Yoli! Shes the best.
The machines work fine but some people forget to wipe down their equipment after they’ve worked out. I enjoy going to this gym but there is definitely something bothersome about their customer service when it comes to sales.

Out of all the Bally’s I’ve been to, I like this one because they have the biggest stretch area that I’ve seen. I’m usually doing situps, pushups, squats, stretches and a bunch of other things in that area, so for me that’s a HUGE plus, especially when all the other bally’s, 24 hour fitnesses, and la fitnesses only have a dinky tiny stretch area meant for only 3 people.
I also like the fact that the treadmills aren’t so jam packed together. I haven’t been in the pool yet or the jacuzzi, I don’t like how it’s shared with usually old men…
They need more variety in their group classes.
I keep renewing with bally’s because it’s only $ 8.50 a month… way cheaper than anyone else and it gets the job done.

Love this gym. Been coming here since 04.

From Daly City to Huntington Beach, this Bally Total Fitness was definitely my favorite one.
Parking is easy, there are plenty of machines and I love how bright it is during the day.
My only complaint is of the manager, Omar (?), he was too pushy about having me renew my membership and purchasing personal training packages. I was still a member and explained to him how I didn’t want to sign another 3year contract, but everytime I stepped foot into that gym, he basically hounded me to renew. I practically had to run out after my work out because I didn’t want to be bothered!

When you want to dance and have creepers hit on you, go to a night club. When you want to work out and have creepers hit on you, come to THIS fitness club.
Since my parents had been members of BTF (the one in HB) for so long, our membership rates were pretty low. And since this newer gym opened up 5 minutes away from my house, it only made sense to go here.
Gym details: The gym itself is okay. It’s not huge, but has enough machines for a standard workout. Some wait time here and there, but not too bad. The gym area isn’t dirty. In fact, the mirrors and glass windows actually make it look kind of nice. The locker rooms are decent. However, both men and women share the same small, dinky sauna. And it’s not the most pleasant place to be. They only have one lap pool with maybe 4 lanes and a small jacuzzi. The pools are usually heated, which is good, but the water is GROSS. I always had to bring my goggles with me to avoid post-​swim itchy eyes, and even with my goggles on, I couldn’t see more than a foot ahead of me because the water was so murky. (very white opaque particles floating everywhere! dunno why, where or what!!)
Experiences: The people at the gym used to be cool, but then they started hiring weird people.
1)There was this one dude (dunno his name, but let’s call him Dude) who helped me take my picture for my new membership card. At first he seemed friendly, but then I started to notice Dude and his friend looking at me every time I worked out. Probably just being paranoid and possibly flattering myself a little much, right? Finally, I was running on a treadmill one day with my headphones on. Dude was supposedly doing his usual walk-​thrus to make sure everyone and everything was ok. He then stopped in front of my treadmill and stared at me. Thinking I had done something wrong or he needed something from me, I slammed the stop button on the treadmill and took off my earphones, gave him the 0. o look and said, «yes?». Dude stared at me for another 2 seconds then was like, «oh. uhhhh how was your run? are you done? keep going.» WTF? No, I wasn’t really done running, but I think I’ll leave now. Thanks.
2)I tried to renew my membership of 6 years a few months ago (doesn’t mean I had been going to this location for 6 years!!), and the girl at the front desk was being a huge beezy about it. She was giving me rates that were higher than the rates I was promised (in a mail letter), so I told her I would rather go home to look for that letter and renew later. I asked if i could use a guest pass for the day and she rudely refused, saying that if I wanted to use the gym, I had to pay $ 10/​day until I renewed. Is that how you treat your older clients? I just decided not to continue my membership and havent returned since.

The staff at this location is incredibly rude and arrogant. They lock the front doors 20 minutes before closing sometimes, and ignore you if you want to get in for a quick workout. A member let me in recently! If the doors are locked early, post it! The free weights are scattered about as if there was a hurricane earlier in the day, and they were very rude to my GF, who was there for the first time, and sat on a bench in the instructor training area.
The TV monitors must be 15 years old. No flat screens for general viewing, and you can barely read the closed captioning on those old sets. They need to upgrade the place, instead of just taking in all the money they can and not reinvesting some of their profits. Some of the cardio equipment is set to read out in Spanish. If they are going to do that, label them as such, please.
24 Fitness at South Coast Metro is a much nicer facility. It’s time for Bally’s to get up to speed!

I get a good workout here most of the time, but I always find myself feeling really dirty when I leave — not because of my workout.

If you need a basic gym, happen to live close by, and already know what you’re doing, this place might do the trick. It’s certainly nothing special, but it’s at least functional and fairly cheap.
A lot of the other reviews here are spot on – super pushy sales people (I’m buying a $ 25 gym membership, not a freaking car) and the music in here is LOUD for reasons I’m not quite sure of.
My biggest annoyance with this place is that NOBODY, in the entire gym, puts their weights away when they’re done. There are dumbbells all over the place, and leftover plates on every single barbell in the weight room. Very odd, and very annoying to always have to remove whatever amount of weight the last guy was using.
It gets crowded on weekday evenings, but not as bad as some places nearby. Mondays are a mess, just like every gym in the country it seems. On the plus side, most members are pretty decent about letting you work in.
It has its positive aspects — the crowd here is fairly low-​key and I certainly don’t get that «look at me» vibe that I see in a lot of gyms. I don’t feel like I’m going to catch an infectious disease just by walking into the locker room, which is a step up from the LA Fitness locations nearby.

this place is lame. Alot of machines are broken, the staff is really rude. Lots of strange people show up.
they keep your id if you come with somebody, and they desperately try to make you join their gym its ridiculous.

Wow. I am a picky woman, first of all I would love to clarify. I am fancy as heck. I have had a super pricey gym before, then downgraded here for reasons I will not mention. Anyhow, I have been to several Bally’s gyms and this one is one of the more decent ones (the one in Cerritos and West LA are nice as well because they have the steam).
I went swimming here for lunch (yes it was raining today) and I thought I was crazy to even think about swimming in cold weather. But to my amazement, they heated the pool nice and toasty (a bit too much for me), and I was just amazed.
This is a great hidden gym. I don’t care what others Unilocaled. I am sticking to it! I do have to admit that the gym locker area and floor could be cleaner, however the low chlorine content of the pool and the small crowd more than makes up for it!
Awesome and pleasant experience, plus the people at the gym here did not gawk & check me out as much as other gyms!!! LOL :) Either that or I was not looking at people to save myself the headache. Met a nice older woman swimming LOL!

I liked the gym, but disapproved of the way I was treated as an interested member.
Here’s the story. I went on
and printed out a free one week trial to this specific gym, and came in expecting to check out the gym myself. A personal trainer came, greeted me and showed me around the gym. 5 Minutes later he takes me into the office and asks me to pay. wtf?
I politely told him I would like to workout and get a feel for the gym. After I am done working out, I went to talk to him and told him I would like to think about it before I sign-​up. He objected and told me that if I signed up at that moment, I would receive a great discount and had the option for a full-​refund before my week trial was finished. I politely told him no again and would like to think about it. He objected and kept telling me I was missing out on a good deal. I told him, I understood and would like to think about it. He told me «what is there to think about»? This went on for about 5mins. and he would not let me leave, for he had my ID. The next thing I notice is he brings another staff member and he keeps on rambling that this is the best gym with the best price and blah, blah, blah. I agreed and said I’ll contact him later on the day. I got my id back and left. NEVER GOING BACK.
Note: this gym is hispanic dominated.