Planet Fitness – Austin – E. Riverside

No complaints here! The staff is friendly, the space is clean, and it’s great for a budget! There is a great variety of equipment.

Planet Fitness is a great gym if you’re looking to workout on a budget. They have all of the equipment needed for a complete workout. The best thing about this gym is that they are open ²⁴⁄₇ which works perfectly for any schedule. In addition to that, the membership is only $ 10/​month. They keep the gym well stocked, clean, and the equipment is fixed in a very timely manner.

Customer service is terrible. Online portal wasn’t working which prevented me from switching gyms. I called to ask for a $ 10 credit since I was unable to go to that location for a month and the manager insisted on arguing and being a smartass instead of keeping a customer.

Pros:
least expensive gym membership around, open 24 hours, clean, plenty of cardio equipment
Cons:
poor lighting, annoying music, annoying advertisements, no free barbells, wait time for smith machines, and they require you to cancel in person (and will hassle you to reconsider).
If you want a really cheap gym and you live Southeast, it is a good bargain. Just be sure to calculate the hidden fees into your cost. I joined for one year and it only cost me less than $ 20/​month on average. But, if you sign up and then drop the membership after a few months, then it doesn’t save you any money. They structure the contracts to take advantage of customers who sign up and quit.
I also did not appreciate the hassle of cancelling. It made me glad to be done with them. Oh yeah, they also had a machine that was broken for almost three months. I kept asking them to fix it to no avail. So, you get what you pay for.

The biggest planet fitness I’ve been to. I usually go around noon and it’s never crowded. The staff is always friendly.

The gym itself is okay. The customer service is abhorrent. The front desk is staffed with moody high schoolers and the general «manager» is a meathead on a power trip. I cancelled my membership — which, by the way, cannot be done via phone and can only be done in person or via certified mail — and was still forced to pay the $ 40 «lock-​in» fee, which is really just an up front charge to make your monthly payments look smaller. I called to find out why, and couldn’t get ahold of anyone. The contact number given to members goes to a voicemail, and no one ever returns your call. I finally reached someone at an entirely different location, and he told me that cancellations must be done in person or via certified mail to make sure that I «really want to cancel». Seriously?
Anyway, when I went in again to find out why I could not be refunded for the «annual monthly rate lock-​in fee» for a year during which I was not going to be paying a monthly rate as my membership was CANCELLED, the manager and his tween associate told me that Planet Fitness «doesn’t do refunds» and that it was my fault for signing a contract with them in the first place. He offered me the corporate number which was the same number I had been calling for the last 2 days trying to reach somebody to no avail.
It is almost worth losing the $ 40 just to be done with this overcrowded and poorly-​run place. Don’t waste your money here!
(PS: I would not recommend this place to ANY females. There are creepy men milling about the gym trying to chat up girls. I have actually had my PICTURE TAKEN several times by men inside the gym. The staff’s response to this is basically, «don’t go out in public then». Revolting.)

I come every night after work and lately, since all the staff has changed, it’s been freezing cold in here. Tonight I mentioned it to the guy working and his reply was not very cute. «That’s how we like it. It’s keeps everyone out of here.» Wow really?! This is what you tell your paying customers. I’ve never had a complaint about coming here till these last few weeks with these new guys.

This is actually the only planet fitness I have been to so I cannot compare it with other locations. I previously had memberships at LA Fitness and 24 hour fitness but realized I was over paying since I dont really care for extra amenities. This location has the basics with a separate section for ab workout and 1 minute per exercise full body workout. Their membership deals are also pretty good. I believe it’s 10 bucks for single or $ 20 bucks and you can bring a guest every time.

Great value for the money. If you don’t need special classes and want to save money, this is it. Love that they have Wifi! Pretty clean and staff is friendly.

Love the amenities, but this place is like a cave with to many people. Buy a bigger space and get some more barbells please!

Great gym, great price, just beware of busy evenings (same with most gyms). BUT let me say that the staff here goes above and beyond… story time:
I managed to leave my keys at a bar maybe 2 weeks ago. I wasn’t sure at the time but called the bar, they couldn’t find them, so I moved forward with my life trying to replace everything I had lost. Well today I got a call from not the bar but my Planet Fitness because the bar had (amazingly) found my keys and decided to call Planet Fitness (because of my keytag) and attempt to locate me. The PF staff happily obliged, tracked me down, and personally gave me a call to tell me my keys had been found and were at the bar. Customer service at its finest. These people are amazing.

Planet fittness is pretty great. Friendly staff. Great trainer! Price is right. My hisband and I got black cards. We love the tanning and massage chairs. Only 2 things I would change. Put a remote in the massage chair room so you can turn it off and relax if you want to. Also get all of my info up front. We have just joined and I know they changed systems but I don’t want to be stopped to fill out somthing different every time I go in. You can transfer my address with out my help. But overall a great experience so far.

This is the first planet fitness I have been a member of… I love it! For $ 20 per month (and I have the premo membership) you can’t beat it. They have a lot of cardio equipment and weights, it is clean, and the massage chairs rule.
It lost one star due to not having a common area to warm up with floor exercises and stretching.

I am very pleased w/​Planet Fitness & this location. There is always someone cleaning something. Two co workers & I have been going super regular for months (i don’t check in on Unilocal often, sorry) and the staff is always courteous & friendly. Done a couple great training workouts w/​Brian. Recently I used an elliptical w/​a malfunctioning heart rate monitor, told staff & two days later it had been fixed. Six months ago I moved over after my Gold’s expired, now I save abt 35% & this place is definitely cleaner.

Update– only ¼ water fountains produce cold water, and it has been that way for months. Gotta dock em for that. Everything else about the gym is great.

The southwest location on Slaughter @ Manchaca is my normal location, but since I just upgraded to black card status, and the southwest location was undergoing plumbing repair I thought I’d get my daily workout here. I wasn’t thrilled.
I used to live in this neighborhood a few years ago and the place had definitely gone downhill. Got hit up for change twice between my car and the door and observed some jerk screaming like a child in the parking lot.
Inside it is HOT. They need more fans here! The machines are older and don’t have built in audio/​tv controls. Instead the controls are big black boxes strapped to the machine handles, and on recumbent bikes, my knee constantly knocks up against it.
I ducked out 15 minutes before finishing my normal workout. Even though this location is closer to my house, I’ll stick with my southwest location.

Probably the better of all the Planet Fitness in the Austin area. Great staff that are super friendly and know what their doing. Very clean for the most part. The equipent is in very good shape and have some brand new machines.
Only downside to this one is it seems as it caters to the meatheads and the showoffs. I.E. Golds Gym of Planet Fitness. People looking way too dressed up for the gym.
Come on sweetheart, take that makeup off and get sweaty! What bro? You’re totally broing down on the bro machine with your bro juice while broing on your phone, bro.
Other than that, get your fitness on and get sweaty.

Man, this one is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay nice than my usual PF.
The equipment is way better and newer than the Anderson location. I like that the 30 minute workout area is sectioned off. It doesn’t feel like people are staring at you in the area. I do wish they would keep people from using it if they aren’t doing the circuit. This one also has a 12 minute ab workout space. It might seem a little small but they have better equipment and way more tvs. Too bad they are basically on top of you if you are on the elliptical or bikes. Still, I don’t mind coming here between classes twice a week. It does feel like I’m cheating on Anderson.

Oh, to be young and poor.
I joined this gym out of what was convenient at the time. $ 100 for a year, and I split my time between south Austin and east Austin, so I thought that I wouldn’t mind driving here all the time.
Everything I mentioned in my original review is still true. However, I’m more into lifting weights now, and I’m annoyed that the only way to do weighted squats is with a Smith Machine. They also lack a bench press, so good luck trying to get a leg workout in with everyone using the Smith Machines for their chest workouts. I’m really ambivalent towards the «lunk alarm» but I wish they would focus more on cleaning the place. No one seems to wipe down their equipment when they’re done, so I clean everything I use both before and after.
What really made me not want to return to this location is the way harassment seems to be allowed. I read a review in which a girl said someone had taken a picture of her while working out, and I believe it. In March, I was doing some jumps onto boxes, and a girl came over to me and asked me if a group of 5 guys had been staring at me in a creepy way. I knew that they had, but I had ignored it. HOWEVER, they had been staring at her and her girlfriend as well. She told the staff at the front desk, and they did nothing about it (although they’re friendly in every other situation). One time, a guy followed me out of the gym to the HEB gas station across the street. While I was pumping gas, he was like «hey, you were just at the gym, right?» and winked at me.
Uhh, obviously. I’m not sweating like I’m in the fucking dessert cause I just went to Great Nails by Tina.
Recently, while walking into the gym, some guy said «DAMNNNNN» and stared at my ass the whole way back to the parking lot. It’s really not flattering when it’s not wanted or invited. I tried to think of something clever to say during my workout, but by that point it was too late. I don’t go to the gym to meet anybody. I don’t dress up, wear makeup, or seek attention. This is the first nationally franchised gym I’ve ever been to, so I don’t know if that’s something that happens or if THIS location in particular is just really skeezy.
Fortunately, my boyfriend has the black card, so for March, April, and May, we worked out at the Slaughter location. However, he’s gone for most of the summer, so in order to work out, I’ve had to go back to Riverside.
If you’re looking into this gym, do your research. If you can shell out more money for a better gym, I would recommend it. Its sufficient, but not a place I like to spend an hour at five to six times a week. I lust for other gyms.

After a while, I’ve realized that I need a little more out of my gym (mostly the exercise classes), and Planet Fitness just wasn’t working for me. Nothing to knock them on for that, just didn’t turn out to be a good fit.
The reason I am downgrading my star rating is due to how piss poor they’ve handled my cancellation. I knew about the early termination fee, whatever, but after sending notice of my cancellation TWICE via CERTIFIED MAIL as they insist on doing, they have mysteriously lost my notice of cancellation each time. The fact that either mailing in notice via certified mail or coming in person is the ONLY way to cancel your membership, something I have never experienced with any other business EVER, is super frustrating. The people at the desk are basically incompetent when it comes to this, and obviously give ZERO CRAPS about you if you’re trying to cancel.
Where I have been treated politely and expediently in the past, I am now getting major rudeness and total indifference to my problems. I even had someone at the desk tell me «tough crap» when I complained about them losing my letter for the second time.
I am now being forced to drive down there in person just to hand deliver this stupid piece of paper because if I cancel after the 10^th they’re going to charge me for another month of service, which I’m sure was the goal for them. Even Gold’s Gym treated me with more respect than these people.