Bally's Total Fitness closing in Indy--GOOD RIDDANCE!!!

[Michael R.]

Apparently, Bally's just closed its doors to their Greenwood and I believe Lafayette, In. locations. This is great news for would-be health club goers who might've considered Bally's. It is, without a doubt, the most poorly run health club company in the world. I say that with no reservations. I worked in the health and fitness industry years ago and I've also been an avid gym-goer for a long time so I know all too well just how shady their business practices are. I've heard the horror stories first hand. I remember working at a small independent gym as a sales associate a few years ago and there were times when an ex-Bally's member would come in and they would absolutely not sign any kind of contract because of how Bally's screwed them over. It was quite telling. As far as I'm concerned, the entire company can bite the bullet. What's funny is, they are trying to save face by offering 'No long term contracts'. The nerve.

If you are seeking out a health club, try a well-run independent one. Stay away from chains if you can help it.

To learn more about the the total ineptitude that is Bally's Total FRAUD-ness, see below:

http://blogs.courant.com/george_gombossy/2009/02/quitting-ballys-he...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bally_Total_Fitness

[Annie Sever-Dimitri]

It is no shock to me that you have posted this. I briefly used the Lafayette Rd. facility in order to swim since the gym I belong to doesn't have a pool. OMG. The stuff I saw. Dead cockroaches belly up in the locker room, a dude wearing WHITE tightie whities to swim in, and a chick cutting her toenails by the pool--these are some of my fond memories of Bally's. I now belong to Peak Performance and LA Fitness--how I appreciate them! No one running about the pool area with his sausage flopping in the breeze at LA Fitness. :)

[Cissi Sherlock]

OMG!

[Michael R.]

What, you don't like see-through tighty-whities, Cissi? LOL

[Cissi Sherlock]

I like them on Sven!

[Michael R.]

I hate to break it to you, but, Sven is gay.

[Michael R.]

Yeah, unfortunately, the Lafayette Rd. location is staying open...for now that is. I'm not terribly familiar with Peak Performance but they've been around for quite some time so I imagine they're doing most things right. L.A. Fitness, well, I was offered a sales job from them before they even opened up here in Indy and I turned them down. I didn't agree with their sales philosophy and I just didn't get the sense that they had any clue as to how to bring in new customers. Everything they were doing to attract business was very rudimentary to say the least; and I never got the sense that they actually cared about their customers. But, hopefully your experience with L.A. Fitness will be a good one, Annie. I'm sure it's a nice club.

[Faith Wesstrom]

I was conned into their 3 year contract years ago and since then been wary of gym franchises. Inspite of them closing and going bankrupt, I'm still getting offers to "re-join".

Annie- that sounds gross!! Yikes!

I prefer the outdoors way too much to go back to join a gym. I'm curious to see how LA Fitness will fare - given they set up shop here near my house. They are using strong sales persuasion to get one to join and is never forthright about membership prices. Every few weeks, some one from LA Fitness will knock on my door with some kind of special offers for the week. For now, I'm sticking to parks for running, stretch bands, free weights and zumba tapes for strength training.

[Michael R.]

Thanks for your testimonial, Faith. Did you try and get out of the contract at any time? If you could expound on your experience with Bally's I'd be interested to hear about it. As long as they have your contact info, they'll never leave you alone:) They're a fungus. I'm curious to see how well L.A. Fitness will do in this economy considering the fact that they just opened 4 clubs in the greater Indy Metro area. If I had to guess, I'd say they are probably strugging. Why they built two clubs so close to each other on the southside is anybody's guess.

[Faith Wesstrom]

Hi Michael

It was some years ago..when I realized my mistake, I tried to rescind the contract but it was too late..I signed the dotted line. I was given the run-around...needless to say, I was very unhappy but was stuck with it and didn't know the better. Sure tried to make my money's worth by going there as much as possible. Although I have no horror stories during my time there, my friend's locker was broken into, not once but twice! When he told me that, I stopped using the lockers and brought the minimum of cash and left everything in my car instead. I don't even take showers in there..just towel off and go straight home.

Yes, LA Fitness facilities is expansive to say the least, I'd be interested to see how they are doing as times goes by. Surely their overheads must be high, I see the building is still lighted up even when the club is closed.

Local churches around my place are also offering gym-like facilities and they are way cheaper than chain franchises, and more friendly and caring, IMO.

[Michael R.]

Thanks for getting back to me. Yeah, I think when I did the math for L.A. Fitness, it was around $750/annually for one person. I could be wrong about that, but it was high. I'm sure they have family rates though. I heard a rumor awhile back from someone in the fitness industry here in Indy that L.A. Fitness was struggling but you know how rumors are.

Lockers getting broken into is a common occurence. When I used to work out at Greenbriar Athletic Club in the early 2000's, a couple of people broke into about 10 different lockers in the men's locker room and took wallets and other belongings. It was a mess. When I used to work at the Jordan YMCA @ 86th and Westfiled Blvd. back in 2003, they had MAJOR problems with cars getting broken into. I mean, it was BAD. They had no security, no cameras that worked, and management seemed like they couldn't care less. It's one of the main reasons I quit working there because of all the incompetence from the higher-ups. I bet that in the time I was there, they had 30 or so car break-ins.

[Marty posch]

L.A. Fitness is $34 a month and no sign up fee.

[Michael R.]

They had a sign up fee in the past and it wasn't cheap. It was something like $150 or so up front.