New York Sports Clubs

I have mixed feelings about this place. The gym itself is pretty good… they keep it clean, there is a lot of equipment and the staff is friendly. The company however has the worst corporate governance of any company I have ever worked with. The company policies are ever changing, towels are usually in short supply and sometimes not available at all. The guest policy also is changing which was really annoying as unlimited guest privileges were a big selling point when I purchased my membership. The convenience of their locations and reasonable price keeps me with them, but they don’t make it easy.

Words cannot describe how terrible of a company Town Sports International is.
I am re-​posting this because now they are coming after me for collections for an account I cancelled through a representative of their’s months ago. I have instructed them to stop calling, but they persist, so every time I hear from them, I am going to post this on every piece of online marketing I can find.
My old post (⁰⁵⁄₂₀₁₅)
New York Sports Club is a joke, their new membership plan has finally prompted me to share my opinion .
I have been a customer of New York Sports Clubs (Somers, NY location) for 2 ½ years now, starting when I graduated college in 2012. The ONLY reason this gym continues
to get my money is its location. The gym is located 10 minutes from my house, and 5 minutes from my job.
I have had many bad experiences over the past 2 ½ years, some of which I have reached out to New York Sports Clubs directly, to which I received no response. What has finally
prompted me to write my review here today is there new membership plan.
First, lets start with some of the things I have experienced during my membership there.
–NYSC employees attempting to clean the facilities around you during your work out.
–Using acrid cleaning materials on the floor around the bench I was on.
–Cleaning the mirror infront of me as I squat, so that I can’t see my form.
–Attempting to rack weights around me as I am moving a machine, having to pause between reps so as not to hit them.
–During their renovation this past year, they were painting during gym hours, causing members to be exposed to the fumes. In addition, they only had a 2 man team doing this,
so the process took nearly an entire week. Also, the sections they were painting rendered the machinery near the painters unusable because they were covered in drop tarps.
–One of the main reasons I chose this gym, is that they had a boxing bag. I was practicing boxing for several months but it got too costly balancing two gym memberships, so
I dropped my boxing membership. When they re-​did the floors in the group work out room, they removed the boxing bag and I was told «We cannot have it anymore, it’s damaging
the floors». I have been assured by the manager he is going to bring a substitute back, but I have yet to see it in over 6 months.
But I digress, let me tell you about their new membership plan.
When I first signed up to NYSC in the summer of 2012, I paid the following:
-$ 50.00 processing fee.
-$ 200.00 «one time» membership fee.
-$ 69.95/month for the past 30 months = $ 2098.50
-$ 30.00/year additional membership fee.
-$XX.XX if I wanted to break contract within the first year.
Now, as of recently, and likely due to the fact that a Planet Fitness is being put in down the street, NYSC has begun offering a new membership plan. This plan boasts «lower»
prices and NO COMMITMENT.
-$ 19.95/month + $ 199.00 «one time» membership fee + $ 50.00 processing fee (this fee is waived if you are already a member.)
-$ 29.95/month + $ 119.00 «one time» membership fee + $ 50.00 processing fee (this fee is waived if you are already a member.)
–Can’t recall the details of the last one as I didn’t even consider it.
As I was discussing the possibility of switching the plan, I asked a few questions:
–Can I avoid or have a refused «one time» membership fee as I already paid it when I intially signed up?
Answer: No, sorry it’s part of the plan.
–I noticed in the contract that there is a $ 30.00 fee to end my membership, yet your sign boats «NO COMMITMENT»?
Answer: Yes, well there is no commitment other than the $ 30.00 fee.
–With this no plan I noticed you no longer provide towels. I have already paid my $ 69.95 for the month of January which includes towels. Will I still have access
to them until the end of the month?
Answer: No, once you sign up the rules of the new plan take effect immeaditely.
–So, that being said, you are going to compensate me the pro-​rate for the rest of the month based on the cost difference of the new plan, right?
Answer: No, thats not how this works.
Bottom line, the very second another gym options becomes more convenient for me, I will be taking the opportunity to leave.
If by reading this I have helped save you from this awful company, then you are welcome.

how can you advertise for $ 19.95 a month by having a billboard on rt. 95 and not honor the offer? I have wanted to join since the beginning of October after hearing that all NYSC converted to a low price point model and come to find out its an offer they no longer offer. What the heck is that? How about taking down the billboard on one of the most visible highways in North America? Sheesh!

This company is criminal in their behavior. Even after waiting out my year in their version of hell they won’t let you quit without paying more fees. When I signed up it was for the top of the line $ 79/​month package and in a matter of weeks they rolled out their $ 19 and $ 29/​month rates. Restricted towels even to the top level members and generally made the place feel more like a prison then a top notch operations. NYSC has ruined their own operations trying to go after pennies and even trading down from top customers to discount users. It takes more than 3 $ 19 users to replace each $ 79 user. Smart business to trade down, drive out the high payers and try to collect your last bit of blood money when they leave.
The facility went to hell, towels behind bars, equipment broken and generally a messy and dirty locker room. I wait to see this business fail and will smile as it does.

I joined here about a month ago, this place is great! For the price it offers everything an expensive establishment would have for not much money. I’m aware they are on their way out as a company which may be a reason for the rates, but I’m going to continue to enjoy the massive workout floor, spinning, pool and other benefits of this place until then.
Overall the staff is pretty friendly too and the hours are good as well. It can get a little busy at times, but that goes for any gym after work. Chose to go during off peak hours or mix up the equipment you’re using to accommodate the traffic.

Absolutely appalled at the thievery that goes on in this location in the name of «corporate practices»
1) never once are you told you will be charged a cancellation fee to cancel your membership !
So when i did cancel my membership i was charged the fees AS WELL as my membership fees for the coming month !!!
The reason being the cancellation takes effect after 30 days !!
2) I signed up for a 3 month personal training session after completing month one, due to a family emergency in India i must absolutely leave the country within 10 days so i had to cancel my membership. I gave the fitness manager a copy of my ticket as proof even and im still being charged the $ 150 cancellation fee as well as the coming months training fees!!!
Hiding behind a «corporate policy» façade they are unwilling to bend the 30 days notice rule and i was completely unaware that you will have to pay for your training fees despite cancelling.
At a time like this emergency they absolutely need to be understanding and not charge the cancellation and training fees. Im even willing to let the membership and its cancellation fees go.
I even requested if i can freeze my coming month as they have charged me and use it in Jan when i return to the country. Which they wont !!!
Absolutely pathetic customer satisfaction values and and no proper higher up you can talk to.
When i call the location they send me back to the trainer. When i call the general maintainence they revert me back to the trainer who is also a fitness manager.
They wont let me talk to another fitness manager or the nysc general manager.
The cherry on the cake is, after the $ 400 personal training session fee went through on my card and ive explained i wont be in the country to take them !! The trainer tells me that i can come in and take as many sessions as i am able to before i leave the country! When i have clearly told her it is a time of stress and im leaving due to an emergency and i ll have to pack and tie things up etc how will i make time in 10 days to come and workout which has been forced on to me ?!
In other points, the gym is always stinking in the locker rooms as well as the floor. You are not allowed towels. Always trying to force personal training on you. The zumba class is a JOKE. The dance is slow and hardly considered cardio.
Im giving one star because im forced to by Unilocal

Do not join this gym !!! I am not a picky person I really am not it takes alot for me to even write reviews I don’t write them but let me tell u. I joined this gym because I had a baby 3 months ago and I wanted to gym with a daycare so I can work out and leave my child. The lady tells me on the phone it’s only 20 bucks to join it’s a special they have going on. I look at my card charge they charged me 38.00 seriously ?? Be honest and to come to find out it’s not even a promotion it’s always that price. Now The baby-​sitting is very basic they interrupt u while I’m working out so that I can come change his pamper, they male sure u feed him before. Whatever no biggy the baby-​sitting is very cheap so u get what u pay for that’s not my issue. My issue was that I go to drop off my son and the two baby-​sitter are arguing in front of me and the other children about how the other one doesn’t do anything and how the other one does more. It was so unprofessional so of course I didn’t feel comfortable leaving him there so after being a member for only 2 weeks I called and said I’d like my membership cancelled because of this and they said no problem and that I had to pay 30.00 to cancel. I explained how the only reason I was cancelling was because of there unprofessional baby sitting services and that I felt as a courtesy I shouldn’t be charged they told me they would see what they could do, Mike the manager told me he’d get back to me he never even aplogized for what happened. He never got back to me 2 days later I was charged the 30.00. I’ve called many times to speak with him and they say he’s not there. I even e-​mailed him and this jerk has yet to write back. How dare this people. Very gross unprofessional of you guys and that Is why New York Sports Clubs are doing horribly business wise. I even called cooperate and they are even bigger jerks. That being said I hope I helped someone else from making a mistake. I paid a total of 80.00 for 5 workouts being a member for only 2 weeks !! Don’t join this gym !!

I would give this update a negative 1 000 000 stars if I could. This is getting more ridiculous then ever.
Starting from yesterday that I get calls from some debt collection agency wanting my credit card info and saying that I owe NYSC money. They said my membership wasn’t cancelled until April or something… Bloody hell. Tried to call NYSC number, was put on hold forever (Last time I literally held for more than 40 minutes and still no one answered).
Unreal.

Pros: Clean, large space, and a lot of equipment
Cons: Greedy establishment, staff are average, gets too crowded to workout (avoid Monday’s because they have class all day and after work hours)
Overall better than the edge (old Greenwich), planet fitness, LA fitness, and JCC.

Worst business practises and customer services — every month they overcharge me for various reasons and I have to chase a refund for weeks!
Total nightmare to deal with — only club manager can put in refunds, corporate changes it, back to the club manager. I don’t know what their internal processes are, but they don’t work!

If I could give this gym a zero I would. I’ve been a member of NYSC for years in manhattan and recently moved back to Stamford so changed my membership to just this club. Joke is on me because This location is the worst. The classes and instructors are a joke except Kim on Saturday at 8:30 and are always packed. The instructors even bash their own place of employment saying that the equipment is dirty and never cleaned. I was wrongly charged multiple times when I switched my account and both managers (Rich and Mike) never did anything to get me my rightful credit. I will discourage anyone from this company forever based primarily on their lack of customer service

My husband and I joined with the $ 19.95 promotion. We were looking for a full gym, squash courts, a spinning studio, and yoga.
This facility is not the absolute nicest sports club I’ve ever been to, but it can’t be beat for the price. Amenities include:
–swimming pool
–sauna
–squash
–TRX/​cross fit area
–yoga
–Pilates
–spinning
–boot camp
–touch-​screen TVs
–full gym
For the cheap membership we don’t get towels, but that’s really the only thing that we miss out on.
The staff are kind and engaging, and really make the gym-​goers feel welcome. The space is clean and we never have to wait for machines or weights.
For the price, I don’t know a better value in the Stamford area.

The Somers NYSC near home has gotten insanely overcrowded, so I tried the Stamford location the other day.
Pros:
This place is nowhere near as crowded and there were no broken machines to be seen. The also were not playing any music, which was a pleasant surprise as the Somers NYSC thinks everyone likes music appropriate for a 13 year-old’s birthday party. Staff friendly and accommodating.
Cons:
Towel bin in locker room overflowing onto floor.
Long narrow building with weight machines on either side of cardio. Really poor layout.
Almost worth the fourth star.

I have been a member of NYSC for over 10 years and was very happy to see the Commerce Drive club open. That was then. The club has gone steadily downhill maintenance is poor. Several cardio machines have been out of service for weeks. Employees have given up trying to convince people they will be fixed. Dirt on the floors and pool closed too often to use regularly. Worst of all the new «rate» is poorly disclosed and unfairly enforced, a class actin waiting to happen. Find somewhere else.

I thought the gym was great while I was a member there — nice people, good day care for a small token babysitting price. But have to give it a 1 star because their bookkeeping is a mess:
1) me and my wife were having our credit cards billed monthly
2) I cancelled both memberships in September (just wanted to go to a gym close to our house)
3) after cancelling my (and my wife’s) membership over the phone, they stopped billing for 2 months. then they just started right back up again in December to only my credit card — I won the dispute on my credit card, and now they start charging my wifes!
The billings are sporadic — ie — its not like there was a simple 65 dollars a month for the membership coming off our accounts on a given day of the month, they skipped 2 months after we cancelled and then started billing again, first on my credit card, then on my wifes after I filed the dispute. The billing date is on different days of the month…
And you cant call for billing questions before 11am when their office people get there.
So in summary, the gym is really nice, people nice, but don’t EVER give them your credit card #!!! Pay cash in person on the first of the month :)
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Months later — even after all of that, they still call us and leave a message saying that the credit card they have on file isn’t working!!! As if we are still members!!! They must be out of their minds. If you’re looking for a good gym, the Stamford JCC is really good. I heard NYSC changed their rates to 20 a month. Their problems with their bookkeeping cant be helping.

Great Club and friendly staff. Wide range of options for working out. Equipment is in great shape. And the pool was accessible most hours for lap swimming. Sarah Milardo, membership consultant, was extremely helpful. One nice thing about the gym is that it’s not overly crowded.

I was in town for about a month, and went 5 or 6 days a week. The $ 30 online trial membership was well worth it! It is a great club. This location had friendly helpful staff, great equipment, was clean, and had ample parking (from 2:30pm — 5pm when I normally went.) It was hard to find the first time there but that is my only complaint.
Next time I am around I will definitely be back there!

Been coming to this location for 4 years, best out of local NYSC options.

A small club in a quiet location, but it’s very clean, and has a good amount of cardio machines as well as a strength training area and a weightlifting area. There is a basketball court, a pool, sauna, and two fitness rooms, featuring a variety of fitness classes. I mostly take fitness classes and can recommend BOSU strength and Club Strength, as well as Yoga and Pilates. The instructors are very good and there is a generally positive vibe in the gym. They have a baby-​sitting service so you can bring your little ones along, and there are swimming classes and other events for kids.

This is another of my favorite NYSC clubs… its in a little back location and its not that big but it does have a 3 lane pool, raquetball courts, a little stretch/​massage area, daycare, a spin studio and another studio that’s shared. Also they have a sauna and just got a pilates reformer machine which I’ve heard is lots of fun bu tyou have to pay extra. Downfall: not a ton of cardio machines but not a ton of people come here. Up: they have what I call the transformer! the arc trainer which is to me a cross between an elliptical and a treadmill with some stairmaster aspects included. Pretty killer machine!
Good gym tho and no paying for parking since they have their own lot. Plus its in the boonies so its a bit more secluded in terms of people. Love it!