Gold's Gym - Van Ness

I've been coming to Van Ness Golds for a while.

Pros: Recent renovation. Locker rooms and paint all brand new and custom combination lockers are pretty cool. Theres a new turf area that wasnt there before for "functional" stuff. I think people are gradually warming up to that. The dumbbell selection and free weight area are stellar and there are multiple new and non crumbling free weight benches. The weight machines they brought in weren't brand new but they are a lot sturdier and useful than the old ones. Im glad they kept some of the older and reliable machines which us meatheads were used to and enjoyed using. I think they make the most out of the small building they're in. Staff is mostly alright. Cleaning crews are always busy sweeping and mopping stuff and they may be the hardest working people there.

Cons: Multiple small things which could be improved with a bit of attention are glaring and gold's should know better. Examples: none of the weight machines and benches are secured to the ground so when people slam weights over and over the benches and machines "walk" across the weight floor. The overhead press is especially bad and Ive had to push it back into place three times now. This is an easy 30 min fix w a power drill and the appropriate anchors. The cable station lacks any of the small 2.5 or 5lb rubber inserts to put on the stack to go up by 5lbs instead of the 15 or so pounds each plate weighs. You can't buy these small inserts? The numbers on the plate stack on these stations are well worn off so you can't see what you're lifting. Again, this is a purchase for stickers, not anything expensive at all. Finally, and MOST ANNOYING is 90% the treadmills are all unbalanced. As soon as you climb on you notice you're leaning to the left or right by a few degrees and you def feel it in your leg joints the next day. Golds please please please fix this. I think mill 0029 is the only one worth using.

All in all Gold's Van Ness could be 5/5 if some of the most basic things were taken care of. Because these issues have remained more than 2 months after renovation it gets a 3/5.

Filthy. Cockroaches both dead and alive in the shower areas.
Very hard to communicate with the manager or her supervisor. They never return calls or reply to emails.
When I joined 19 years ago, they made me pay for the last month, which they never paid me back after the gym forged my signature and canceled my membership. The membership fee increased each year and doubled as years went by.

BBB gives Van Ness Gold's Gym "F".
i would give them "F-".
Stay Away.

After further discussing with Gold's customer service, they are not crediting the last two charges of personal training because they say I never officially asked to cancel. I let them know I have emails back from November asking to stop these charges and I verbally discussed this with several team members at Gold's as well. They continue to dispute this (somehow), and I've let them know that I will be challenging the charges through my bank at this point.

Just know if you consider going to this gym, nothing you tell anyone in person matters and you should get everything in writing by email (and you will not get a response to many emails so you will need to follow up so even this isn't always valid).

I would never come here ever I paid for a monthly membership for 1 year and never used it I asked for some sort of discount they thought I was crazy plus the times I've come not clean and the smell I heard Arnold Schwarzenegger was in town and by past coming in he was told to avoid this place like the plague

Downgrading my review because after my initial month of membership I started noticing how run-down the building really is. The roof/HVAC leaks in many places, so there are dirty, smelly puddles of water all over the place being soaked up with stained towels. It's super gross, and it hasn't been remediated at all in the 10 months that I've been a member. I don't know why the gym doesn't take action with their landlord to get the leaks repaired.

I have been dealing with a billing issue with Gold's Gym DC Metro for several months.

As you can see from the majority of the reviews here, they are very quick to sign you up for membership and training sessions, but they want to continue billing you even after you cancel.

I was attending the Reston location, and the gym closed in May and was supposed to open in its new location in June. It is now September 22, and the new gym is NOT open yet. Even though I put my membership on hold while waiting for the new location to open, Gold's Gym billed me for the time the Reston location was closed.

When I spoke with them, they said they would resolve this, but instead, they submitted my account to their collection agency (Aldous & Associates). This was in spite of the fact that I paid them for the time that I wasn't able to attend the gym.

RUN away from this place. Don't sign up for anything.

Gold's Gym DC Metro includes 20 gyms throughout Northern Virginia, DC, and Maryland, which includes Falls Church, VA · Fairfax, VA · Arlington, VA · Alexandria, VA · Merrifield, VA · Riverdale, MD · Chantilly, VA · Reston, VA · Frederick, MD · Rockville, MD

My husband and I have been dealing with a billing issue with Gold's Gym DC Metro for several months. When the Reston gym closed in May and was supposed to open in its new location in June, I put my membership and personal training on hold. It is now September, and the new gym is not open yet. Even though I put my personal training on hold while waiting for the new location to open, Gold's Gym billed me for the time the Reston location was closed - services I didn't receive.

To make matters worse, they submitted my account to their collection agency (Aldous & Associates). It took multiple phone calls, emails, and a personal visit to the Chantilly gym to get it resolved. It is now supposedly resolved, but I am confident I will get another email from the collection agency.

RUN away from this place. Don't sign up for anything. This has been such a nightmare for me!

TLDR: The Van Ness - DC location has been extremely difficult to receive information about a refund that should have been processed at the beginning of March. This is still an ongoing matter in which I expect to receive an update about.

On Saturday, 1/29 I visited the Van Ness location to check out the gym in consideration of joining. I was given a tour and rundown of membership packages by Ethan Spalding (he was pleasant to work with). I then decided to enroll in what was advertised to me as a 12 month rate of $25/month (Access Level 2). This promotion included a trial period with 2 weeks of access to the gym, group classes, access to GG's On Demand, and 1 free personal training consultation. I was told if for any reason during this trial period I decided to cancel my membership, I would be fully refunded with no penalty. That was a lie.

Because of my unexpectedly busy work schedule, I quickly realized that having a gym membership at this time is not ideal. I went back into the Van Ness site to canceled my membership/trial on Wednesday, 2/9. According to the Cancellation Questionnaire I filled out, I cancelled "Within Obligation Period - Rescission Cancellation / Buyers Right". On that date, I was told again that my membership would be cancelled with no penalty and I would be refunded the $25.66 payment I made on January 29. Instead of receiving this refund, I was charged "Club Dues" of $26.49 on Monday, 2/14... After my membership/trail should have been cancelled.

Once I realized an additional payment was processed and I had not received a refund, I contact the Van Ness site for status on my account and refund. They advised me that I was charged again because of a delay in management processing the cancellation request, and the refund had been requested and should be returned to my account in no more than 10 business days. Cool! I'm patient, it's $50. No big deal at that point.

[This part is long and boring] I was unfortunately apart of the Suntrust to Truist merger, so the card I originally provided was cancelled and a my new card was activated on Monday, 2/21. Fast forward to the last week of February. I realize there is still no refund. I contact again and am told the refund is still processing, I should see it "soon". Fast forward again to March 5. While on a work trip, I receive a call from the gym and am told, "In order to process the refund, I need to come back into the physical location." No explanation is given, they just say they need my physical card. I go back into the physical location on Tuesday, 3/8, and the associate I work with takes my new card information and says I should receive the refund "within the next few days". Great!

Not great. Still, no refund. Guys, I GO BACK AGAIN on Tuesday, 3/22. On this visit I speak to the General Manager, Lauren Evans, who realizes my new card information was not updated correctly on my last visit, which he says is why the refund has not processed. He reviews the request and tells me, "You will receive your refund in 5 business days." For everyone keeping a timeline, that should be on Tuesday, 3/29.

Upon checking my account on 3/30, I discover there is still no refund. I get a hold of Lauren Evans around 5pm that day for a status update on this refund. He then tells me he has "no way to track the status of the refund since it is something corporate handles". This makes no sense to me since this a business that deals with transactions all the time. He states that it should be processed in 10 business days (another extension) and he will keep an eye on it for me, contacting me with an update.

Still no update from Lauren. Still no refund. I still intend to pursue this issue and hope that GG can rectify this situation swiftly! And if a refund is never processed, at least others will see how this company handles business matters.

I just wanted to alert everyone who is planning to sign up for a month-to-month "no contract" plan. I have made this mistake because I scanned to the small prints before signing up, and ended up paying several fees, including an annual fee (although it says "month-to-month")- very disappointing!

Absolutely terrible experience with this gym. I wanted to cancel due to it not meeting my needs, but was convinced by customer service staff to put a freeze on my account and see how things are going before cancelling and that I could cancel at any time during or after. Like an idiot I believed them.

Lo and behold, I was charged during my freeze was supposed to be in effect. When I called them to see why, they said "oh well we SEE it but we don't have the PAPERWORK". Then they said I would need to email the manager as they didn't have enough information.

I email the manager with the dates (Ross Thone) and give him a call. He says that he's going to issue me a refund, until I say I want to go ahead and cancel instead of keeping the freeze. From that point on he made a complete reverse and said that in order for me to cancel my membership I'll need to be charged an additional month of membership. When I questioned him on this, he snarkily said "well that's been our policy for 30 years so get over it."

Do not go here! They will scam your money. This isn't even mentioning the literal black mold growing in the downstairs.