Gold's Gym

Awesome gym with a good mix of workout equipment. It does get really busy from 4-6, but what gym doesn't. The only thing I would recommend is having maybe 1 more deadlift stage - there's almost always someone on it, and it's one of the most popular workouts. Replace the stupid squat rack that's next to it with another one, and you have me as a member for life.

I expected a bare-bones, no-frills experience from an "express" gym, but to my surprise this place wasn't missing a single thing from my big gym at home. I came here to work out while visiting Columbia from Indianapolis, IN.

The cardio cinema is great, especially if you like a distraction from your sweat session! I didn't want to leave, but I had to get my strength training in before my ride home finished. I happened to walk in right as the film started, so it was an ideal first visit. The only critical feedback I have for the cardio cinema is that it gets a little stuffy in there.

I did the Gold's Express Circuit for my strength training. It was a nice setup but the rocking of the machines threw me for a loop. I quickly adjusted though, and had a great workout that my trainer would be proud of!

I'm considering doing some business here in town, and I have family here, so if I find myself back here often enough, I'd love to get a membership that includes the massage option!

I went on a Thursday around 2:00 p.m. Got a day pass for $15 + tax while visiting. They have a variety of cardio machines and a lot of free weights. Not as large a selection of weight machines, but I only had to wait on one machine, and that was just for a couple of minutes or so. All the equipment I used (3 weight machines + elliptical) was in excellent condition. Staff was friendly.

The locker room facilities keep it from being 5 star. They men's is really too small for a facility of this size. I imagine that it's elbow to elbow at peak times. The men's locker room looked very clean, but had an odd, funky smell. There shower is in need of a deep cleaning. It had a bit of mold in one of the corners, and some gum and gunk stuck in the drain. There was also an old piece of gum stuck to the floor in the toilet area. I guess people in Columbia chew a lot of gum.

Worth a visit if you're in town and need a convenient place to work out, but I might look around at the other places before I signed a contract.

Kendall and Rachel were very warm and inviting. Provided information and did well in representing themselves as ambassadors to the facility. Had a good work out with no intimidation

If I could give this place a negative, I would. Buyer beware!!

We signed up during one of their low priced promotions and were told repeatedly that it was a monthly fee. Turns out, they charge that fee every two weeks, so you are ultimately paying double what you signed up for. Spoke with General Manager and he simply does not care. A quote from him, " we aren't in business to give out free memberships, the employee that told you that doesn't work here anymore, so there's nothing I can do about it." They would not let me cancel right away either, gave me the run around. And to top it off after I filed fraudulent charges against them, they charged my account AGAIN AFTER 3 different people assured my they would not charge my account! My bank told me that they have had several occasions where Golds Gym will run the transaction under another company name so it goes through after someone has placed a "block" on charges from
Golds Gym. The only way to stop them from continuing to fraudulently charge your account is to get a new card and cancel the one they have in their system. This a pain in the neck obviously for the consumer but Golds Gym simply does not care.

My daughter and I are looking for a gym. We went into this gym yesterday. The two male employees at the front desk could not even answer basic questions and they tried to get up us fill out a waiver just to ask questions about membership and membership pricing. (We did not sign a waiver to ask about pricing)!!
We were referred to a young female for information. Evidentially we were not a good fit for their idea gym person. She continued to look my daughter up and down, didn't ask us to sit down at her desk to visit, did not offer any information, was rude, and it was very obvious that we were not what they are looking for in their membership.

Just fyi, my daughter is in the Army and extremely fit...I am not unfit myself, but I was looking to firm up some muscles. I guess we were just not their type.

I went to check the gym out and was very warmly greeted by a man at the front desk named Kendall. He went out of his way to be hospitable and make us feel welcome. I was then greeted by Rachel P. and both of them treated me and my friend like we were welcome members of the gym. The gym was an awesome combo of free weights, cardio, and Fitness rooms. I believe they offer childcare services as well. I definitely recommend this gym it is great!

Last month, my husband and I went to Gold's Gym to cancel/suspend/freeze our month-to-month membership. The weather turned nice and we wanted to run outside rather than inside. We walked up to the front desk and asked to suspend our membership. One of the employees told us that we could "freeze" our membership. Another employee interrupted and stated we could only freeze it if we had a medical reason, were going to be deployed, etc...otherwise when we reactivated it, we would again have to pay the enrollment fee.

Rewind to last November when we signed up. Our plan all along was to workout indoors in the winter and outdoors in the summer. The month-to-month contract seemed perfect. The same employee who was there last month was there in November. The written contract made no mention of "freezing" a membership nor did it make mention of any reactivation fees. Because there was no written documentation of this information, we had to rely on the employees to answer our questions. We were told that we could suspend anytime and reactivate with no penalty or charge as long as the reactivation was within 12 months of the suspension - again fitting our needs perfectly. We asked two different employees this in several different ways and got the same answer each time.

My husband and I had contemplated truly canceling (not suspending) our membership in February, prior to the annual fee. Back in November, we were told if we did this, we would have to pay the enrollment fee if we did decide to re-sign up. We established that yearly, we would either have to pay the enrollment fee or the annual fee, which was fine. That being said, with what they were now telling us, we were going to have to pay both if we chose to reactivate our membership in the fall. That was not acceptable.

Regardless, we decided to cancel our membership so we wouldn't continue to be billed. We had three more problems in this process. The employee told us we would be billed again on May 15 and that we would have access through June 15. As part of the policy, we paid the last month in advance, so we really had access through July. In other words, we had an additional month that she did not know/did not tell us about. Secondy, the employee said she could not cancel our enrollment and that we would have to go online to do it. She gave us a sheet with information to do this. The cancellation sheet makes a distinct difference between "freezing" a membership and "early termination" for military or health purposes. Again, this is not the same information the employees are providing now (though it is what we were told when we first enrolled). Thirdly, we when called to cancel, they told us we could in fact freeze our membership for only $15/month - to keep our membership active, it is only $10/month. They couldn't explain why it was more expensive to freeze our membership than to keep it active.

We spent a lot of time trying to get this all worked out. We were provided with incorrect information from the employees and there was no documentation that we could discredit their information with. Ultimately, we lost approximately $150 in fees that we wouldn't have lost had they given us the correct information. We spoke to the general manager at the Gold's Gym in Columbia, who told us that the only thing he could do for us was freeze our membership complementary this year for 3 months. The customer service representative on the phone increased that freeze up to 6 months and again pointed out how they were providing us with an additional service because typically it costs $15/month to freeze a membership. Ultimately, that offer was what we initially wanted/what they told me they could do, but at that point, we just wanted out. We don't deal well when we are provided with incorrect information and we had a feeling that it wasn't going to get better.

Overall the gym is pretty good. Their machines sometimes don't work and they don't put signs on them to notify people, which is a little frustrating. It is clean, the cardio cinema is nice, and typically there isn't a wait. That being said, with the above experience, we won't be going back.

Other than Golds Expresses getting rid of their tanning beds for their Gold Membership Level without warning, I love this gym, it's clean, has very friendly staff and a great selection of cardio and free weights, I hear rumors it's expanding which is great because the one thing lacking is back training equipment on a cable format. The manager has assured me that when it expands(rumor) that this need will be taken care of. I like Golds a lot! It's a Golds Gym after all!!

I am updating this review to enlighten those who wish to cancel their gym membership one day. I think all the loops you have to go through to cancel your membership is outrageous. I first spoke to a man at the gym about cancelling because I am moving in May and I didn't want to pay the annual fee in April. He was no help at all. Basically told me to call the gym in Vegas (where I plan on moving to) to transfer my membership. Since I am moving I am likely going to move to a place with a gym. I also have free gym membership with a Vegas player's card... so I won't be needing a Gold's Gym Membership. So I call the Missouri express gym. The young lady then referred me to goldsgymmember.com. I try different spellings and plurals of the domain name... nothing. I then call back get the name again and a customer care number. I try to upload the online cancellation with no luck, so I call the number. I've been on hold for 20 minutes. There is a recording droning on and on in regards to the documentation needed to cancel your gym membership. It is really ridiculous. It is too bad because the gym was a good place to work out. If you need to cancel your membership give them 30 days notice, keep your contract and write a certified letter to the gym requesting to cancel. The customer care number is 866-465-3775. Good Luck. I finally got a hold of a representative, but all he does is the bill collecting... no information about transferring my membership. He was happy to charge me the annual fee and another month of gym membership. Get a confirmation number folks.... Most unprofessional business I've ever dealt with. Unorganized.