Downtown YMCA

- 601 N 4th St, Springfield, IL 62702

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Downtown YMCA Reviews

• This is one of my favorite places in town. Great for exercises, great for classesGood place for families, I've always felt my daughter is safe when she's here.

  September 06 · matt bohan

• Overall, it is a great place to exercise. Gary at the front desk is so friendly and kind. From swimming, basketball, racquetball, pickleball and all the exercise equipment it is the place to go to get daily exercise. They have workout classes and even one on one training available. Day care is extra but is available during certain hours. I have never used it at this location, however, so I can't vouch for it, only I see a room for it. I do wish they listed all the times for stuff like open swimming. I never seem to time it right.

  February 17 · Jess Reynolds

• Good luck canceling your membership! I tried to cancel my membership online (where we initially signed up) but it is not possible to cancel your membership online. I called and they said they were unable to cancel once that phone and that I had to come in. I went in to cancel and they told me that I was not able to cancel, my wife had to cancel it. I explained that the payment is my credit card and my checking account with my name on it and only my name and they said that it didn’t matter because my wife was the “main person” on the account. My wife was working nights and couldn’t easily make it in so we ended up having to keep the membership for months after I attempted to cancel it. When my wife was finally able to go in and cancel they told her there is a 30 day cancellation notification so we would still have to pay for an additional month.It also took them 6 days to respond after I sent 4 emails asking for an explanation of their policy. Stephen Robinson finally responded saying“ **** is what we refer to as the “primary” member on the account which means only she is authorized to make changes. It’s likely that she is the primary because she is the one who originally set up the account….I understand this is a hurdle to canceling memberships, but we operate like most gyms regarding cancellation.”

  February 07 · Derek R

• Don't let the song and advertising fool you. Your children ARE NOT SAFE at this facility.Without a doubt the worst facility in Springfield. I will focus on value, cleanliness, and staff. Your children are NOT SAFE here. Please avoid at all costs.Value. This YMCA is more than double the most expensive other gym in Springfield, IL. Despite this, the hours are absolutely unmanageable for anyone with a job.Cleanliness. Without a doubt this is the dirtiest facility that I have ever been inside. I'm assuming that because they are a large and powerful non-profit they don't feel the rules apply to them. Bloody rags are shoved in cupholders of machines. Water filters are left on "dirty" for months despite staff and management being alerted numerous times that they need changed. Spills/messes in the facility are not cleaned up for weeks. The basketball courts are littered with trash, slippery from water spills, and sticky from juice/sports drink spills. Mildewing towels are left overnight in the locker rooms and the health center always smells of mold. If you use a wet wipe on anything in the weight room, black grime will come up. Same with the floors. Same with the cardio equipment. The machines/benches/floors/weights/equipment are literally never cleaned unless you clean them yourself. There aren't any areas where you can hang up cable attachments, so you have to mind your step or you will trip on them as people just throw them on the ground. The "clips" on the cable machines are rusted and do not latch. I witnessed someone using the pulldown cable machine, the attachment snapped off because the clip did not fasten and the person violently fell to the floor as the weights slammed. This was months ago and the YMCA has not replaced the $2 clip on the machine even though I witnessed this person report it to management. If they aren't doing the little things right, like replacing faulty clips, they are certainly not doing the big things right. Additionally, in the corner of the weight room the other day I found discarded marijuana containers. The weight room frequently smells like weed.Staff. The staff are comprised mostly of indifferent 16 year-old kids. They spend their time loudly cursing at the front desk, speaking in derogatory manners about women, and playing on their phones. Towels are kept behind the front desk. If you ask for one, thereby interrupting phone time, they will roll their eyes and sigh and treat it like the largest inconvenience in the world. I've never seen them clean. They let their friends into the health center by giving them the passcode (shocker, unsupervised children don't exactly treat the facility with respect). One employee even cussed me out when I asked him to supervise the children (under 10 years old) who were throwing dumbbells at one another and swinging on exercise equipment. It was reported to management, who did nothing. The staff indifference extends to lifeguards as well as weight room supervisors. They are on their phones the entire time or napping or just not paying attention. They know that there are zero repercussions from management for their actions so they flat out do whatever they want.After this post, Joey Greenwood contacted my from the Y. He cancelled my membership before calling and refunded my last month. He made zero promises to fix the safety issues. Issued no apology for his staff’s behavior. Said he asked staff to stay off their phones & that his staff told him the children I referenced were over 13. NOT that HE had checked, just that the children working for him promised they were older than 13. The staff member who cussed me out faced 0 repercussions. Joey said he’d “Talk to the supervisor of the cleaning contractor”. Not that he would tell his staff to clean.Then the real reason for the response came, they wanted me to remove this review. Joey had 0 concern for the SAFETY OF CHILDREN. Just wanted to keep the marketing team happy. Complete failure of leadership.

  October 10 · Jared Ebel

• Beautiful modern facility with underlying issues. While the new building is fantastic with high ceilings, appealing industrial design, and new machines, there remain systemic problems throughout involving staffing and layout.The Good -Nice larger 1/8 mile running track, although narrow (2 lanes) can be problematic depending on number of runners and concurrent activities.Dedicated professional training area at the center of the track - did not use. Offer programs and classes with suboptimal use of online/app resources (poor UI/layout, useability).New benches and new equipment throughout the upper floor. Large number of treadmills/running machines. New good sized pool, although limited to 6-8 lanes. New, if basic, gender-specific locker rooms incl family rooms. Shower facilities are appropriate although the soap is not always stocked. Direct access to the pool is nice.Numerous activities for children. From an outside perspective, seem to take good care of kids which is nice.Large basketball/rec area occasionally used for pickleball and other activities.Water refill stations. Coffee offered downstairs.TVs mounted on aerobic machines.Sanitary wipes are available throughout the upper level and often refilled (better than Kerasotes location). Areas are kept clean.Price is relatively affordable with some discounts offered through employment including SMH. Financial assistance is available.The Bad -Dedicated bench and weightlifting area is too small and often crowded. There is a single flat bench press, incline and decline bench press, 5-6 additional free benches with 5 dedicated squat racks. That's about it, often resulting in wait times for the bench, or converted use of the squat racks into benches, which is relatively cumbersome. Good number of dumbbells. 2 (?) closed racquetball rooms upstairs.There are 1 single and 2 double pulley/cable machines. There are dedicated leg (incl 3 squat+1 cable-assisted squat), tricep, bicep, some back, some chest, and some shoulder machines. Approximately 3-4 different ab workout machines and 1 assisted pullup/dip machine. Single punching bag in the corner. The area is condensed and approximately 1/3 - 1/2 that of the running/cardiovascular exercise area, although both seem relatively well maintained. The area is just too small, particularly given that the aerobic exercise area is never more than half full at any given time. There's also a small open area dedicated to free aerobic exercise with a few pull up bars and 3-4 person yoga mat area, which is very underwhelming and insufficient. Both this area and the weightlifting need enlarged, particularly given the redundancy in the treadmill/machine area and large number of unused aerobic exercise machines. Overall strangely feels smaller than the old downtown YMCA, although I do appreciate the ceiling being higher than 7' and the loss of the weird spongy floors.Cancelling the YMCA membership requires LONG notice, although the process itself was made easy by friendly staff. They won't tell you at the time, but you MUST cancel 30 DAYS PRIOR to the BILLING date for the following month, not just 30 days' notice. So if you're billed June 1, you MUST cancel BEFORE MAY 1 or you will be charged for the month, regardless of use.The staff are hit and miss - most often they are kind and helpful during interactions, but there are almost never supervising staff on the upper level, and underage kids often run rampant there and throughout the building. Some of this may be secondary to staffing shortages.They stopped offering towels with the basic membership which now require the upgraded tier (Health Center), a strange and annoying decision. This could in part be attributed to COVID, but then why offer it at all? I understand water and soap are not free, but towels are a basic item appreciated during workouts, not some gated luxury. This includes the pool.Overall, I like the YMCA and hope to see it improve, although the issues listed above been noticeable throughout my membership (now cancelled, previous 7 year member).

  June 13 · Thomas Massutti

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