Smart Gym

The gym is new and has nice equipment. But it gets way over crowded in the VERY small weight room. Also, when you cancel your gym membership they continue to charge you and no matter how many time you call them, nothing changes. I would have recommended the gym to others … But seeing as how I cancelled my membership in March and have been being charged for my membership even though I no longer go there is extremely frustrating. They always take a message and say «I’ll call you back.» … No, no, you mean I will have to call you back because nothing is changing.

I’ve been coming here since it first opened and I love it. I’ve invited a lot of people to workout here and they have loved it as well.
I’ve been to other gyms and so many of their machines are broken. I know that when I use one of the smart gyms cardio machines I’ll be able to enjoy my workout.
Almost every gym I’ve been to I’ve been bombarded by trainers and sales representatives to get me on other deals. This is the one gym where I don’t get that. They’re respectful and care about their customers.
This gym isn’t a place to find a date, it’s professional. Everyone that works at this location says hello and has actual conversations with their customers.
I recommend it!
Great equipment. Great classes. Great employees.

Shout out for Christian who was XGT Coach of the Week– designed his own XGT workout for today which was killer and my heart monitor showed 800 calories burned– nothing better than that in about an hour– lots of good energy in the class– Great gym and great group training concept–

Tyler called my wife and Mary sent me an email. They were both very nice and agreed to downgrade our accounts without a fee. It is still up in the air if there really is a downgrade fee or not though. I hate taking to Unilocal to accomplish something that should be able to be done online or with one quick phone call, but to save time and frustration it had to be done.
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My wife just learned that this place now has different plans and the amount we pay every month isn’t even an option anymore. We pay $ 19.99 and now there is a $ 10.95 plan that is more suitable to our needs. Not only it is almost impossible to reach the high-​ranking official that is the only one capable of managing such a complex transaction, but they charge you a $ 40 «downgrade» fee.
Welp…this is my 3 star to 1 star downgrade fee because of how difficult and costly they make the simplest of things.

I’m happy to say that the manager was able to resolve the staff issue… if you have an issue I can confidently say the manager is awesome and will fix it.

Was a member from the day opened in Scottsdale, liked it a lot and went regularly. Then they cancelled all classes and changed to an XGT format only which is not something I am interested and frankly is not the demographic of the gym. Orange Theory was killing them so they were forced to do that to stay in business. We were told we would be given a free month to try the new format, but we were all charged for the month and they pretended like they never said we would get a free month — really?
They are what give gyms shady reputations, I have made a dozen calls the not avail. The GM acts like we have never spoken, I caution about joining The Smart Gym, shady practices, and unexplained fees.
Too bad, it started out as a great value w great instructors/​classes but they got greedy. #warned

For months I went as a guest with my friend. It’s great that your membership allows you to bring a guest at no charge. Then my friend went on vacation for two weeks and I decided to join. I knew I would be moving soon, so I told him that when I signed up. They said no problem, I would need to give 30 days notice. I signed up over the phone and never signed anything. Well, I put my house up for sale and sold immediately. I went in to cancel my membership and give 30 days notice. At that time I was told that I was on a one-​year contract. Of course I was very upset, because I have never asked for that, and specifically said I was not interested in that. Tyler, the manager, called back within hours. I explained the situation to him. He asked what I would like. I told him that I’d like my membership to end with this month. He said no problem! I am very happy with the service I received!

I was a member for a year, and loved it. Sandra’s Zumba was the best. I got a great price for me and my two kids, no other gym with childcare offers memberships that affordable.
I was frustrated that the personal training is pushed so hard there, I just can’t afford that and hate having to tell them over and over that it wasn’t for me.
They recently cancelled all group fitness classes except trx, but the owner promises those will be taught by all of the same group fitness instructors. I’m pretty sure you pay extra for trx though. And Zumba was very well attended, it will definitely be missed at that gym.
Like other reviewers, I went in to cancel in Jan (within my 30-​day window) and was told to fill out a form and that the manager needed to call me before it was complete. I never got a call. I called and played phone tag with the manager but never actually talked to him. Sure enough, my card was charged today, so I went in and the owner was there and helped me with no pushyness at all. He was very friendly and helpful.
I’m a group fitness person, but am not going to pay extra for it on top of my membership dues.
Overall a good, clean gym with friendly staff.

I am very dissatisfied with Smart Gym. I originally signed up with the gym in November while they were running their Black Friday special, a month-​to-​month membership for only $ 19 and some odd cents. It seemed like a great deal, up until I got super busy and driving 30+ minutes each way to work out just wasn’t going to happen. I called to cancel and the woman I spoke to said that I would have to actually go in to cancel. Okay, kind of a hassle, but whatever. After Christmas passed and things died down again, I thought about maybe actually trying to make it up there — that is, until last week when I got into a car accident, totaled my car, and had to buy a new car out of pocket. Goodbye frivolous things like a gym membership. So I drove up there a few days ago, filled out the paperwork, and asked the guy helping me what I would be charged. He said that I would be charged the amount of my next month’s membership because their policy states that if cancelation is within 30 days of the next bill, it still gets posted. I asked him if that was it and he said yes.
Now, here’s the first thing that gets me — on a month to month membership, I am ALWAYS within 30 days of my next bill, which means that no matter WHEN I cancel, I will still be facing another bill. Second thing that got me is that when I checked out my bank account today, I had a $ 39 withdrawal from Smart Gym on top of the regular $ 19. When I called and asked why, the guy I spoke to said that it was an annual fee, which is always billed within two months of signing up. Why am I getting an «annual fee» if I am on a month-​to-​month membership? Why did the guy who helped me with my cancelation paperwork say I wouldn’t get charged anything else? And why am I getting an ANNUAL fee after TWO months?! That doesn’t make any sense! I am extremely unhappy with Smart Gym and I will be telling all of my friends to stay the heck away.

Joined about 4 months ago and so glad I did. All the equipment you need, clean, good hours, friendly staff.
I train one on one with Denny Garcia and truly love it. He genuinely cares and clearly enjoys what he does.
One downside is the lack of locker room showers… and no facial tissues anywhere… sniff sniff

My boyfriend has been a member for a year and we talked to them about renewing his membership and starting a new membership for me. We specifically told them that we were only interested in continuing until April, 2016, as we are going to be working in another state over the summer and they said, «no problem, you just have to give us 30 days notice.» We must have asked 4 TIMES to make sure that given our circumstances, all we had to do was give 30 days notice and every time they said, yes, just 30 days notice.
Now we are moving and Jay the manager said that we signed a year contract and 30 days notice begins only when we provide proof of where we are moving. The thing is, I never even had to get a membership… my boyfriend could have had me go with him as a guest on a continual basis, but I felt like the right thing to do would be to get my own membership. It felt like they totally worked us over. Neither my boyfriend or I ever received a copy of what we signed so that we could review the terms.
My boyfriend called the corporate office twice this past week and did not receive a call back. He also called the gym yesterday morning and was told that Jay was there, so he he asked that Jay stay there because he was coming right over. After the 10 minute ride there, he walked in to learn that Jay had «gone out for coffee.» My boyfriend waited 20 minutes and Jay never came back. He asked that Jay call him and at 6pm we still had not received a call.
Today we went in and owner Jim Hickey was there. After chatting with him about 30 seconds, he said, «no problem, I’ll take care of it and cancel your memberships.» We left and within a half hour, we received a call from him confirming that our memberships were cancelled. Thank you, Jim, for doing the right thing.
Other than that, we had a good experience here. The place is clean, the equipment works and there’s good variety. It’s not too crowded, the music’s not too loud, and the temp is not too hot or too cold. People don’t bug you and you can easily get in and get out.

I had a membership here through my apartment complex as they overhauled their own gym. It was essentially free. When the rehab was complete, my membership ended.
I liked the gym enough to want to continue paying for it. Hey, it’s reasonably priced.
Called the gym on Monday ¼ at 2:30 pm and got «Haley» who said the manager was busy and that he’d call me back.
By 4:30pm, no call. I called back and got Haley. Haley said the manager would call me back in 5 minutes or so.
It’s now noon on Tuesday ¹⁄₅ and the manager must be super busy doing gym stuff because he can’t be bothered to call me back.
Calling a third time is pathetic and offensive as a customer, so I don’t think i’ll be doing that.
They must be making a ton of cash if they don’t need my business. Good for them.
The owner’s a nice guy, but whoever is managing is dropping the ball and from the looks of all the reviewers who are having billing and cancellation issues, this may be a blessing in disguise.
EDIT 2:
My original review gave this a 2 star review for the reasons above (deservedly so) but I updated to 3 because I walked in and dealt with Bryan to sign up and he took care of me in a friendly manner. They still need to work on communication. 2 days for a telephone response is excessive. If the initial sign up had gone well, I’d have given 4, but it’s closer to 3.5.

And now 22 months after our last contact with these folks, and two full years after having cancelled our membership, they tried to assess us a ‘yearly enhancement fees’ of $ 39…TWICE.
Next step if there are further attempts: remedial legal action involving a court order to expunge all related records from their account and billing systems.

This place has jumped the shark. Zero customer service, as pointed out below. Every week there seems to be a new manager. The only thing they have in common with each other is that they don’t care about the customer. So at least there’s consistency.
True story. So they were putting in new equipment. They made a big production about this. So many of us went and asked for additional stairclimbers. There’s only three of them, and two of them are good and one is outdated. They are often all occupied. Meanwhile, less than 30% of the treadmills are occupied at any given time. So what do they do? They get more treadmills. And they sit there for about a month and occupy the stretching space. Then, they remove the treadmills. Meanwhile, one of the three stair climber (and one of the two good ones) breaks. I’m attaching a picture of that stair climber. It’s had the same sign saying that it’s broken on it for the entire month of September. Those of us who work out together at the same time have a pool as to (a) if it will ever get fixed and (b) if so, then when? My money is on A.

I’m a big fan of Smart Gym. High tech equipment, an abundance of free weights, dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells, TRX, and a great variety of weight machines. And most importantly (to me at least), the cardio machines all have TV’s with dozens and dozens of channels (unlike Most gyms who either don’t have TV’s on the machines OR they do but only have 10 channels and 8 of them suck). If I’m on the stair master or arc trainer for 40 minutes, I need a TV to take my mind of the agony I’m putting myself though. This is not negotiable.
I’ve only taken two cycling classes here but I truly enjoyed them. Both instructors were great & played awesome music. The cycling room is pitch dark (which helps keep the room cool temperatures wise) and lit with black lights. They keep it very comfy with blasting AC and low ceiling fans. I wish LA Fitness would take a lesson from Smart Gym with regard to this!
Overall I love this place! I frequent three gyms and this is by far my favorite!

…Smart gym is doing exactly what it’s purpose to do… Offer an affordable monthly rate and a variety of gym equipment to choose from… It’s up to you to get up and go to the gym!

Simply put, the worst gym in Arizona. Please save yourself the headaches and don’t waste your money, there are options in the area.
Smart Gym needs to give stars back to Unilocal just to get up to 1 star.

I’m having the same problem as a lot of other members, it seems. I moved and need to cancel my membership, so I went into the gym during traditional business hours and was told I needed to email the manager and was given his business card. I emailed twice and never received any response, but continued to get charged the membership fee for two months. In those two months, I called repeatedly but managers were never available to talk or didn’t «handle membership.» I was finally told that the person I had been trying to email no longer works there and I needed to contact the new GM. So now I’m going through the same exact process all over again. Clearly it doesn’t matter who is in charge, their customer service is just terrible.
Pay the little bit of extra money and just to 24 Hour Fitness up the street from Smart Gym.

Like many others here I’ve experienced the games and cons of the billing office when trying to cancel a month to month membership. I think their belief is if they just don’t return your call then they can keep charging your card every month and maybe you won’t notice. To me thats a sign the business is struggling and may not be here one day. After canceling the membership in person and being told they were sorry to see us go but that all was taken care of I noticed my card kept getting charged every month. Call, ask to speak to management — told they will call me back. Call again — asked to speak to a billing contact or department — leave message (went thru that cycle at least 4 times). Called the corporate office twice — nobody answers the phone at «corporate» apparently — and left a final warning message that I will now be taking action through my credit card company.
Guess how many return calls I received after all the attempts mentioned above? NOT ONE — nada — zip. What kind of business is run like this??? Luckily my bank agreed and disputed the charges and sent me a new card with a different number. The pain here is now I need to keep watching my credit reports because they’re likely to try to write off the debt by sending it to collections.
Save yourself the headache and avoid this place. They likely won’t be around soon anyway and there’s plenty of reputable fitness centers in the area.

Just as I figured this would happen. I read all of the reviews but wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt.
I cancelled my membership that I was told was «Month to Month». Not even getting into it. They keep charging my credit card after numerous attempts for them to stop. Cancelled it and they got their extra month due to lame billing cycle game gyms play. Keep getting blown off.
1 star is staying. Don’t bother trying to call to smooth it over. I’m not changing it.