Planet Fitness

**This is my review of Auburn''s Planet Fitness. I also have a review of Lewiston's, so if you're trying to decide between the Twin City Planet Fitnii (plural of Fitness?!), please read both.**

Auburn's PF gets four stars, and mainly because the customer service impressed me. I was visiting home (Lewiston) and have a PF membership where i currently live, and so I decided to be good on vacation and go. I'd heard things for a while about which PF to go to - Lewiston or Auburn - and in fact, when I lived in Portland, I used to go to and loved that PF (five stars! the one near the airport!). So, there was all this controversy about which to go to, L or A, but most people told me Auburn's was nicer/better/whatever. So, I went to Auburn first.

I'd never been to a PF that I didn't have a membership at, so when I walked in, I went to the counter and asked for help. The manager was working, and was so good to me! I was asking him about Lewiston v. Auburn, and he actually said that he helped open the Lewiston gym, but he was there in Auburn and thus I had a better experience. Even though I don't have a black card (BUT my dad does, and I had my Dad's keys, heee!), the manager waved the 5 dollar guest fee for me. There is definitely more cardio equipment in Auburn, and real ellipticals, which also swayed me toward Auburn, but I was disappointed in the lack of weight machines. Not only this, but the clientele, at least when I was there, were very different than Lewiston. Instead of meat heads, there was a lot of moms - given the choice of people to work out with, I'll take the moms any day. Otherwise, the gyms are basically very similar.

So yeah. If you want to do more weights, I'd go to Lewiston. Auburn has better cardio and I personally had a great customer service experience there. But you have to read my review of Lewiston PF to find out more about the meat heads and weights! *thumbs up* *geeky grin* *wink*

I like it. I just wish there wasn't so much equipment "Temporarily Out of Order" so often.

My review is not on the quality of the gym itself, because the gym is fine. The equipment functions well, and overall the staff is friendly enough.

I am a college student, who wanted to be able to work out at a decent, cheap gym throughout the summer while off-campus. My brother, who is in the same boat, joins me to sign up for the summer. At the start of the sign-up process, any newcomer must sign a contract, and the personnel there attempts explain the contract to you to expedite the process. My problem, and unfortunately part of it falls on my own shoulders, is that my brother and I were both misinformed. We signed the contract without reading it, because the employee there, who I believe is a supervisor, or assistant manager, claimed that she had explained it all to my brother and me.

The employee told me upon signing the contract, knowing that I would be leaving for college in a few months, that all I had to do was stop by on my last visit to cancel my membership; I could do this up until, but not on, the 17th to put a stop to this $10 a month fee. This lead me to believe that I could cancel it anytime until the 17th, as she said. Today, August 11th, 2014 I went in to cancel, as I am leaving for school, and was told I would be charged for one final month, because I was a day late for a deadline, the 10th of any month, that I was never informed of.

I understand that I should have read the contract more carefully, and that I am partially at fault here, however I thought that I could trust what she told me. It is only $10, and in the long-run, it isn't that big of a deal; I just wish that she would have given me the correct date, and without misinformation.

This location of PF is awful since they merged with the Lewiston PF. Everytime I have gone I have been unable to get a treadmill. They are so packed the smell of sweat is overpowering. When I asked the girl at the desk if more equipment would be added she couldn't even look up from her texting to give me a decent answer. she just stated "I don't know". Tanning has been shut down for quite some time too and her reply to when that would open was "I don't know again". I never ran into this at Lewiston the staff was very helpful. Hopefully Auburn can pull things together I have been to PF all around the country and this experience has been the worst. Staff definitely needs some additional customer service training!

It pains me to write a negative review of a gym where I was a happy member for years, but after giving it a couple of months I've decided that I just can't stand the place anymore after the "expansion". I put the word "expansion" in quotes because even though they supposedly added 4,000 square feet, much of the equipment feels more crammed-in than ever before. Some areas, like free weights, are actually smaller than they were before the "expansion". (For those who don't know, the Lewiston Planet Fitness was closed late in 2013 and they sent all the equipment and members over to the Auburn location.) Far from being the highlight of my day that it used to be, my morning trip to the gym is now just a sure-fire way to start the day in a foul mood. The gym is over-crowded, particularly the weight equipment and locker rooms, and the weight machines are scattered around the gym in a nonsensical manner. The usually friendly front desk staff has been "expanded" to include a few surprisingly rude folks. Minor annoyances that I used to overlook, like the never-clear-of-snow-and-ice parking lot, are now major irritations. Of course, the price is low and there isn't any competition for a no-frills gym in town, so there isn't much to be done about it.