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2.4/5
7 reviews
Goodlife Fitness - Toronto Reviews - Toronto

Description

GoodLife Fitness is currently the largest fitness organization in Canada and has been around for the last 30 years. Individual visit or membership is available. GoodLife Fitness also offers group exercise and personal training as well as amenities such as swimming pool, squash court, or tanning beds. Go to http://www.goodlifefitness.com/ for more information.

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    1.5/5
    Credibility

    Quality of Staff

    The Facility

    Recommended? Fugheddaboutit!
    July 10, 2020
    Ontario, Canada

    Irresponsible trainers and staff

    I had a very lousy experience with GoodLife Fitness personal training in Toronto. I believe it’s important to share my experience here in the hope this will help somebody in a very costly decision. It was a decision that cost me roughly $ 4 000, and left me with chronic back pain. I cancelled my contract of 6 months after 4 long months and reluctantly paid the cancellation fee.

    First of all, it wasn't cheap. I was paying $393.24 bi-weekly for 3x week/ 1 hour session. And, to tell you the truth, it wasn't worth it. Not even close.

    During my time, what I've witnessed and experienced would make you question how individuals are possibly certified and qualified under GoodLife’s very own “CanFit Pro” certification program.

    Here is what the GoodLife trainer didn't do:

    • Did not appropriately assess my strength, flexibility, and cardiovascular fitness. The initial assessment was no more than 5 minutes in length and only included a weight and body fat percentage reading from an automated scale.
    • Did not plan, take notes, or track workouts. I didn’t see him write anything down after the sales pitch, aka “consultation”
    • Did not take initiative to demonstrate new exercises or appropriately break down lifts
    • Did not provide appropriate routine for my lifestyle, fitness level and goals. I was put through a routine of high repetitions and low rest periods, with very little to no guidance.
    • Did not coach on form and technique
    • Did not provide adequate warm up, nor was present during warm up
    • Did not provide the full hour of training. Instead I was only getting 45 minutes. I would have to wait for my trainer to come out of the office
    • Did not include all muscle groups leading to imbalances
    • Did not provide feedback, nor asked for feedback
    • Did not learn the fundamentals of a squat. But, was still forced to squat through many repetitions on machines that force “a one size fits all” way to squat (Smith machine, vertical hack-squat machine)
    • Did not modify or adjust the routine, and when doing so it was also done improperly leading to an injury (Performed what the trainer called a “Chest up lying leg curl” on a lying leg curl machine? Why?! Making up exercises as he went and promoting bad form. As a result of this I suffered an injury- hyper extension of the lumbar spine. This prompted me to eventually cancel)

    So, you're probably wondering, what did the trainer do? Besides counting repetitions, the trainer was of no real use. Here is what I was paying close to $800 a month for:

    • Pointing out the club’s female members. Including, but not limited to, which one was the “hot teacher”, and which one had the “fake boobs”. None of which I asked for, or was interested in hearing. Surely, this is not what personal trainers are trained to do.
    • Go on his phone while I'm in a middle of a set
    • Talk to other staff and members while I'm in a middle of a set

    When I had made my decision to finally cancel the trainer suddenly became busy and unavailable making it harder for me to cancel. Injured and in pain, I was made to feel helpless stuck in a contract. I took it to the club’s personal training manager to cancel and voiced my disappointment and disgust with this trainer, which, sadly, fell on deaf ears. The biggest disappointment in all this isn't just the low back pain that I deal with on a daily basis as a result of negligence on the trainer’s part, but the fact the manager did absolutely nothing to hold the trainer accountable. Days later when I walked in to pay my cancellation fee, I saw the trainer in full uniform and on his phone, casually sitting in the massage chairs near the front inside the gym. This is the standard that is set by GoodLife Fitness. A very low standard far from the one advertised.

    This type of practice, that I have experienced and witnessed firsthand, puts the service-user at great risk. If such poorly trained, poorly educated, and unprofessional individuals are allowed to stay indefinitely, it worries me that many more are out there. I caution you to be very skeptical around GoodLife trainers, for the better of your health and wallet.

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    1.7/5
    Credibility

    Quality of Staff

    The Facility

    Recommended? Fugheddaboutit!
    October 19, 2019
    Ontario, Canada

    Everything I was afraid of about Gyms I Found at Goodlife.

    Everything I was afraid of about Gym membership, I found at Goodlife.

    My experience ended with me filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. I did not accept Goodlife's offer to do nothing for me after being offered a fake incentive to purchase personal training.

    Staff at Goodlife earn their wages based partially on their ability to make targets which means they will be working hard to get into your pockets and need clear guidelines. They will say anything to make a sale and thier offers are often NOT valid later on. You may be on the hook for fees they agreed to waive or did not mention. And, trust me, nobody will care.

    Goodlife has, by incentivizing their staff to sell, and by refusing to take responsibility for these sales techniques, have set the stage for "BAIT AND SWITCH" sales to take place.

    MY CASE

    A manager offered to waive the cancellation fee on a personal training contract after I found the price was too high. After this manager left Goodlife and I asked to cancel my training, the offer was revealed to be false. I find this to be unfair and, in my opinion, should not be an opportunity for Goodlife to enrich themselves. I expect the cancellation fee to be waived as offered and the employee disciplined as they see fit.
    Goodlife claimed that I needed the offer in writing, but I was never given a hard copy of the contract since their printer was broken. More than likely, the verbal offer was never written down. It was "Bait", whether it was on purpose or just a misunderstanding of the manager's authority.

    It wouldn't be an effective "Bait and Switch" sale if the "Bait" offer is in writing, right? Then it couldn't be switched.

    In case you think this was a one off occurrence, I had already witnessed some other trainers waiving the membership fees of other clients after they purchased personal training packages, so it didn't occur to me that the manager could be lying or mistaken or have a different understanding of the contract than the regional manager. It seemed common practice. I wonder what happened in these cases? Were the members charged in arrears for the membership fees? I also knew of other trainers who had lost their jobs for not securing many clients.

    In my case, the fees in question that were to be waived were to total 10% of the total cost as quoted to me when I signed the contract. Over $700. But a regional manager at Goodlife offered to reduce the cancellation fee to 10%.... but that was the amount quoted in the first place! Confusing.
    As it turned out, the cancellation fee had actually doubled to 20% during the few months I had been training, without any notice or warning. The regional manager would accept no responsibility. In fact, nobody except another trainer covering my last few prepaid sessions ever spoke to me in person about the problem, or tried to contact me personally until I requested it. Every action made was to try to keep me training at the gym.

    Let's assume they were able to charge me at 20%, it would have cost over $1500 to cancel the lessons, so 10% was presented as a bargain, as help for me since I had been duped. This "discount" was presented to be through another personal trainer, not the regional manager, but on behalf of the regional manager.

    It was in rereading my contract, I found that the cancellation fee was never actually set at all. It was simply mentioned as "a cancellation fee". I cancelled my membership immediately. Remember, I had never received a paper copy of my contract because the printer was broken and the contract emailed to me said nothing of the agreement I had made with the trainer.

    FOOL ME ONCE, SHAME ON YOU.

    The shame is that the trainers I encountered were genuinely passionate about fitness and eager to help. I don't believe they were trying to screw me around, despite how this must sound. I benefitted from their valuable advice and attention. The personal nature of the service is what convinces clients like me to believe what the trainer is saying. But with pressure to sell + confusion about their authority to negotiate + broken office equipment + changing contract details....there are bound to be mistakes. In anycase, CONSUMERS will be the ones paying and to me this is not right.

    Needless to say, I will not do business with Goodlife in the future. There are so many options. Consumers should look around! I hope my story will give them an advantage as they shop for a gym membership or personal training.

    Happy Training to all!

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    2.0/5
    Credibility

    Quality of Staff

    The Facility

    Recommended? Fugheddaboutit!
    February 29, 2016

    I've had to deal with customer service issues a couple times with Goodlife and it's always been disappointing. There really isn't any effort to make the customer feel valued. If something goes wrong with your payments for example you're really on your own. I tried speaking to someone at a physical location and they couldn't help me, I appealed to the manager of that location and still no help. They give you a head office number but that doesn't seem to lead to a human being. All and all a very disappointing customer service experience.

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    1.8/5
    Credibility

    Quality of Staff

    The Facility

    Recommended? Fugheddaboutit!
    Anonymous
    July 23, 2014

    I go to the Kingsmill location and have been a member there for roughly 5 years. It used to be okay even though it wasn't the nicest facility it was accessible through Islington subway station and I could get my workouts done In peace. Now it is awful and I am seriously considering cancelling my membership, most of the staff there are just the worst. I have been experiencing passive aggressive harassment from a few select trainers for no good reason and they are all off in their own worlds. I can remember an instance where one of the newer female trainers was leaning over from one of the staff offices blatantly staring at me when I needed a towel, a instructor who does not do any work behind the desk eventually gave me one but then the girl who was staring jumps up and all of a sudden asks my friend for a towel.. its ridiculous these people are supposed to be professional and yet are so miserable and sour they cant even manage to do their jobs properly.. I am seriously pissed off because I come to the gym to workout and leave no drama necessary and keep getting strange glares and hovering from people who I have never even exchanged words with..

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    2.0/5
    Credibility

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    Recommended? Fugheddaboutit!
    Anonymous
    February 18, 2013

    Goodlife WAS a great gym but has gone downhill in the recent years.
    Ya I've heard about those "Peeping Tom" incidents - they occurred at the Mt Pleasant & Davisville location. Apparently female and MALE cleaning staff walked into the women's shower room unannounced while women were naked, showering. Shocked the hell outta me that this could even happen - what a major violation. Disgusting. I hope Management is doing something about this.
    Ladies, if you go to the Goodlife at Mt Pleasant & Davisville please be careful when you're in the showers or don't even go at all - switch locations if you can.

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    1.3/5
    Credibility

    Quality of Staff

    The Facility

    Recommended? Fugheddaboutit!
    August 05, 2010

    I have been going to the 55 Bloor St West location and I hate it. This gym is horribly busy, under equiped and the staff rude. They tricked me into buying a year membership and now they won't let me cancel. They basically stole my money. I am so upset that I have reported them to the better business bureau and I'm warning all my friends. This company has no problem taking your money but their "policies" prevent them from provided decent service. Be wise, don't make the same mistake I did.

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    1.3/5
    Credibility

    Quality of Staff

    The Facility

    Recommended? Fugheddaboutit!
    January 02, 2010

    Won a one week free membership through starbucks. Got there and from the start they were at you about joining, nagging, pleading, bribing with free bags. So I go to the bathroom and they talk my friend Katie into joining and they had all the paperwork filled out so I joined to go with my friend. Was told 19.95 a month which was great and all these other empty promises.

    Turned out they could not get my void check info to work so charged ME an NSF fee because their staff was incompetent, all info was correct and no one else has issues running it through.

    Then Katie never went and I had family issues so we never actually went but they were billing me 19.95 Bi-Weekly not monthly... that's their actual fee they told me later, not even apologizing for the wrong info I was given.

    So I cancelled, paid the cancellation fee of 100 bucks if you dont stick with it a whole year. They told me I owed 150.00 for the past months I hadn't gone because they never called me back saying my banking info worked and I was a member. Whatever, well worth getting rid of them. So I asked a bill be sent to me for the whole amount owed and I would pay it. Never got a bill in the mail, missed their one call to me and then suddenly I have baristers calling to collect the money.

    Went in, they tried to re-charge me for the cancellation fee but I had come prepared with my receipt. So they took that and then I paid the 150 that I owed them.

    Barister called again a week later, had to tell them I paid and give them receipt numbers for them to leave me alone. Goodlife didnt even inform them.

    This was all in the beginning of November, end of December I get another letter in the mail about the 150 I owed them. SERIOUSLY? They need to get their crap in order!

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