... I joined Fitness First in October 2007, being a student I was able to pay the reduced membership fee of £32 per month. The staff were very courteous when I joined up and thanked me for joining. From this point in the level of service I received immediately depleted.
A few days after joining ... Read review
Advantages: Good equipment and security Disadvantages: Bad service, hygiene and ventilation. It is costly and almost impossible to cancle membership
...free joining fee. I joined Fitness First in October 2007, being a student I was able to pay the reduced membership fee of £32 per month. The staff were very courteous when I joined up and thanked me for joining. From this point in the level of service I received immediately depleted.
A few days after joining I, with my sister (who joined with me) went for the first time hoping for some form of introduction. We received no such introduction. ... ...am still a member of Fitness First.
Something I must say to everyone wanting to join this gym or any other gym probably is that you must be completely sure that you have to time a will-power to attend the gym. I do not, and because of this I am paying membership for a gym I don’t attend. ... more
Like many who join the gym I was seduced by the offer of a free joining fee. I joined Fitness First in October 2007, being a student I was able to pay the reduced membership fee of £32 per month. The staff were very courteous when I joined up and thanked me for joining. From this point in the level of service I received immediately depleted.
A few days after joining I, with my sister (who joined with me) went for the first time hoping for some form of introduction. We received no such introduction. Our photos were taken and our cards were created, unfortunately they had nothing for us to hold our cards in. Once we had our cards, the member of staff essentially told us that the machines had instructions on them and to go ahead, we were given no assistance, instead we had to work out how to use the machines ourselves.
The gym provided relatively good equipment. They had, well, still have, cycle machines, elliptical trainers, rowing machines and weight lifting machines. All of the machines were of good quality and allowed to user the plan their own training session, for instance, 30 minutes of cardio. A slight downside to the main exercise area is that it is at the very front of the gym in front of a huge window allowing any passer-by to see the people working out. Another downside to this exercise area was that the ventilation was not particularly good, on days when many people were working out (mainly Monday evenings) the windows would steam up and the room would essentially turn into a steam room. Not pleasant at all.
One way of avoiding this problem was to use the smaller areas within the gym for each gender, being female I used the women’s area. This area would often become fully occupied as it was a rather small area. It also did not have the same variety of equipment as the main gym so if you wanted to use the elliptical trainers you would have to be on display.
There is a large variety of classes available at the gym but, of course, not as many as the larger gym in Angel. The classes are easy to follow and always leave with the impression that you’ve had a good work-out.
The changing room and shower facilities did not appear to be particularly clean. It is because of this that I chose to take my showers once I got home. The storage areas were reasonably impressive, the lockers were of a generous size and could be locked using ones gym card, very useful.
Like many, I realised I was not someone who had the will power or desire to go to the gym regularly. Partially due to the fact that I was taking my A-Levels, I decided that I could no longer go the gym so I decided to try to cancel my membership. I sent an e-mail to the gym stating that I would like to cancel my membership due to time and financial reasons. I received no response whatsoever to this email. I forgot about this for a while but then decided once again that I wanted to quite the gym. I rang them and asked how I would go about doing this and was told that I should speak to the manager or put this in writing. I did both. I wrote a letter and hand delivered it, as soon as I said I wanted to quite the gym I was directed to a manger. I was allowed to cancel my membership but was told I still had to pay for the remaining months left on my contract. Once I was told this I saw no point in even cancelling my membership so now, I am still a member of Fitness First.
Something I must say to everyone wanting to join this gym or any other gym probably is that you must be completely sure that you have to time a will-power to attend the gym. I do not, and because of this I am paying membership for a gym I don’t attend.
Fitness first is a waste of money I joined and it was awlful staff were unintrested the eq was broken and facilitys really bad I would not waste my money again You can however get free day passes to this gym by logging on to www.fitnessfirst.co.uk and try it for your self for nothing but don't spend your own dosh here.
Are Gyms really all they are cracked up to be well unless you have thousands of £££ and can afford a year round personal trainer ... ...my answer would have to be NO. After all the average Gym is going to cost you about £250 a year to be a member and £35 a month to go and most of us won't go more than twice a week if that so are the benefits of being able to say oh i have gym membership really worth it. Sure you may make yourself feel slightly better about yourself just because you have a gym card and can claim to go all the time but i would suggest saving yourself a lot of money ...
barrytoplis 14.10.2001
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Fitness First, Holloway, London
Value for Money
Is it part of a chain?
Service
Cleanliness
Quick review of Fitness First, Holloway, London
BEWARE COMPANY POLICY: My son joined fitness first and two months in to his membership had to change banks. His new bank details for a direct debit were incorrect, resulting in him missing a payment. He went straight down to the gym and paid the fee when he received a letter informing him of the era. The second time this happened instead of calling him in to resolve the problem they called in Debt Collectors who demanded £374. My son and I went down to the gym and paid the monthly fee and made a new direct debit. The manager was well aware of the problem with the wrong information being taken from different debit cards.
Then we was informed he would have to pay £25 to stop the Debt Collectors from there "Recovery Actions"
Maybe fitness first should change there name to "Greed First"
My son and his five friends will be leaving the gym when their contract expires, to find one that is friendly and cares about there customers. Remember you do have a choice BE WARNED!
If this has happened to you leave a review, so you can warn others ...
mwalton4 03.05.2007
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Fitness First, Holloway, London
Advantages: This will save you a fortune Disadvantages: how to work out what to spend the money you've saved on.
Here's some inside info on Fitness First and how to get the upper hand:
Follow these rules to get the best membership rates.
1) suggest you really keen to join TODAY but you don't want to pay the joining fee. FF sales staff are not targetted on joining fee's so will waver this completely if they think you will join that day.
2) You will always have to pay the admin fee, this is a clever fee designed by the fitness industry as a whole to get more ... ...to DOES NOT have a fitness first within a 5 MILE radius. Its in the contract so make use of it.
c) if you suffer injury and cannot train you can legally terminate you membership provided you have a doctors note.........good time to be friends with someone in the NHS or medical student.
Lastley if you work for a big company, you can get a free membership at FF if you negotiate a deal with the sales staff to Promote FF within your company. This is ...
Logan33 29.01.2009
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Fitness First, Holloway, London
I was a member of Fitness First Holloway for nearly two years until last December and had no problems whatsoever.
The location is easy to get to from either Finsbury Park or Holloway Road and there is a bus stop right outside. (The number 29 from Camden stops there).
It is open from 7 on weekdays and 8.30 at weekends. Mid afternoon onwards is the busiest time and can get overcrowded when people are finishing work. Seven Sisters Road which the gym ... ...market and not pleasant after dark.
The gym itself is well equipped for the monthly rate I was paying (36 quid and no signing on fee). There are rows or treadmills and bikes facing the televisions and there was always space. There is a seperate weights room and a small scale gym in the back. There is also a sauna, steam room and sun bed in the back and free lockers. Near the front desk you can sit down and have a free drink and read the newspaper ...
jimmmy100 26.04.2004
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Fitness First, Holloway, London
Advantages: Local, good for hard workers Disadvantages: VERY Dirty, rude staff, over crowded
I used to love this gym when I first joined over 5 yrs ago. There is a very high turn over of staff, very rude, never saying sweet FA, well only when they felt like it. Met some nice people there but it's best to go in the morning otherwise it could seem like a pick up joint. The seam/sauna area needs the cam there because someone had a nice poo in the jacuzzi. maybe because they was angry about the service they was getting. After I found out I never ... ...a waste of time. Don't bother!!! esp with whose Meat head managers. If you still want to go there is other local gyms near by. OH yes I've found men shaving in the sauna countless times leaving used blades! empy beer cans...
Also one female member of staff go punched in the face because she was full of attitude. Her 2 brothers used be worked there and they also used this place as a pick up joint, which got them into a bit of bother. ...
ciaobella7 22.08.2006
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Fitness First, Holloway, London
