Fitness First Mona Vale Platinum

Negative experience: Facilities were fine and classes were good. My issue was the membership itself. When you sign up for a membership unless you specify otherwise they will continue to charge you in perpetuity until you tell them to stop. And then they charge you for another month before stopping (a month notice). The membership continues to roll. With this in mind when I signed for a 3 month membership I stated in no uncertain terms, devoid of ambiguity, that I do not want to continue after the 3 month membership has completed. "Turn off the auto renew" were my exact words. I had the peace of mind that I had given more than a months notice and my membership would end on the date intended. When the 3 months was up I still had time before my circumstances changed and I signed up for another 3 month membership and again expressed the day I signed up that I don't want to continue after 3 months. This is the notice, don't charge me after 3 months. A month after I thought my membership had ended I was still being billed by the gym. They claim when I signed the second 3 month membership I had asked for the 'end membership notice' be switched off. This is a candid lie. I was always extremely clear on my intention to end my membership on the end date. So they charged me for a month I didn't use the gym and are charging me for another month after noticing they were still charging me. In hindsight if I had done this via email there would be a paper trail I could refer to which clearly showed my intentions. But because I did all this in person the only record of the interaction was the note left by the staff member when I signed up which was something to the effect of "instead of notice to end membership like last time customer will put a reminder in their phone to tell us if they want to discontinue". Good-faith practice would be the membership ending and the gym asking if you want to renew, not the customer being charged in perpetuity. But knowing and working within their membership model doesn't work if they don't switch of rolling membership when you ask them to.

Fantastic experience: Fantastic gym. Pretty cheap and you get lots of different options. Its also great for underage people because fitness firsts policies make it really easy to join and use it regularly compared to other gyms.

Negative experience: The equipment itself is decent but the customer service and gym quality is terrible. Ive been using this gym for about 3 years and it used to be fine until it started getting flooded with highschool students every single day leaving every machine taken with 3 kids hogging a machine playing on their phones. The staff used to be decent until a few months ago where it seems the only decent staff was fired or quit. The only staff left clearly couldnt give a care in the world that they are working there and it shows. The air con in the gym is useless. I dont know if they are trying to save money but the second half of the gym with dumbells in it has no aircon. Ive noticed that only 2 out of the 4 tvs are on and sometimes not even the fans are on so i can only presume its to save money. All together the experience is lousy and i do not recommend this gym to anyone.

Fantastic experience: My entire physical frame is now radically recalibrated and transformed by the quality and skill that my exceptional personal trainer has built into my training sessions over these past 16 months that I've been attending Mona Vale Fitness First. My power boxing technique has gone to a level of amazingness that I never thought possible for a (64) year old. I can box 10 x 3 min rounds without blowing out a candle & becoz of his INNERSTANDING of the art of boxing IAM seriously taking on Jake Paul in my next bout...Thanks so much Mona Vale Fitness First & my trainer extradionaire Matt ... Lots of Love Mr Fiji

Negative experience: The facilties were fine for me. My issue is the customer service. I had to call 3 times to try and cancel my membership due to personal health reasons. The first time they said to call back the next day as they were under staffed (which I was fine to do). The second time I was told to get a medical certificate and I could cancel for free, which I paid my non-bulk billing doctor for. And when I called for the third time, they told me my health reason wasn't sufficient. So I have to pay the cancellation fee, which I would have been happy to do the first time and not waste my time and money on other things. I am just annoyed at how inconsistent they are. Please train your staff better, so other people don't have to do this run around when they make a decision to cancel their membership for whatever reason. Edit: It's been 2 weeks and no one has contacted me

Fantastic experience: Alex the Club Manager is fantastic. Has made a lot of positive changes to the club and is so responsive and efficient. Was having ongoing issues back and forth between other clubs and she sorted it out for me with one direct phone call. Looking forward to the upgrades in club too. Regards, Nick

Negative experience: if your going to join mona vale fitness first for the reformer pilates - please don’t waste your time, your better of joining the smaller boutique reformer classes on the beaches, this class is like groundhog day, no matter what day you come it’s the same exercises some routine just jumbled up, it’s uninspiring and infuriating how basic it is. the playlist is the same week in week out, the air con is rubbish and the instructors some how have an issue putting on the fans…. i’ve been doing this for 2-3 months, waiting for a new routine but it’s not happening. At first glance the studio / tv with instructions and people doing the exercises in front of you is really helpful and amazing, but then it becomes mundane and boring, i would rather a live instructor then this anyway .

Negative experience: The man's bathroom where the showers are located there are mould everywhere on the walls and on the ceiling with poor ventilation system. The bathroom overall is dirty with poor hygiene standards. There are a lot of lockers in the changing area that are broken. The whole bathroom needs a good upgrade. They made me to pay this extra cleaning fees when I signed the annual contract which I personally felt ripped off as I believe that should be included in the weekly regular fees already. Having clean gym facilities is basic and even paying the extra cleaning fees the bathroom and the sauna/steam room are dirty. The Steam Room and the Sauna need a good upgrade as well and regular proper cleaning maintenance. Again, lots of mould on the steam room walls. It would be good to add an ice bath set up in the well being area as well. Should also add a shower or some hose for a quick rinse inside the steam room. It would be a game changer with these 2 new features and add value to the gym. They should bring back the group boxing and HIT (High Intensity Training) classes. I am not sure why that stopped.

Negative experience: The weights area is extremely busy at all times. There is really no low peak time. There are not enough benches so you have to weight around.The other issue is the gym etiquette or lack of etiquette. Heavy weights are left on machines so the machine cannot be used by someone who is unable to remove the weight. Younger girls in particular place bags and gear across up to three pieces of equipment at a time and move between the equipment blocking others from using it. Sharing gear and working between sets is not a thing at this gym. The weights area is not staffed so it is a free for all space with some members feeling some sense of entitlement to take over equipment. I have spent years in gyms and have not seen this kind of behaviour before however where gyms are as busy as Mona Vale FF you would think there would be enough funds to have the area staffed to uphold better gym etiquette. The cardio area is loaded with equipment and often empty of people. I wonder if the distribution could shift to increase the weights and strength equipment given how busy the weights area is.

Negative experience: Not bad gym, but it's swarming with school children at all hours.

Negative experience: I did some research on gyms in the area before joining, and although I had visited FF Mona Vale casually before, I was surprised by the low Google review score. I remembered it being a good gym with nice space and equipment. However, after joining, I now understand the low rating. The gym itself is well-equipped, but the level of engagement with new clients and overall professionalism leaves much to be desired. On my first day, I was simply handed a card and sent on my way. There was no tour of the facilities, no explanation of where everything was, and no guidance on how to use the lockers. I was told the gym was 24/7, but when I showed up during unstaffed hours, I couldn't get in. It turns out I needed a special black card, which I wasn’t informed about until another member pointed it out. Additionally, there have been recurring issues with the scanner due to a "power outage" in the complex, preventing access to the gym. This happened three days in a row, and you need a staff member to manually open the door. There seems to be no backup plan for this situation, which is frustrating. By the time staff arrive to let people in, many are forced to miss their workout due to time constraints. Overall, while the gym’s facilities are good, the lack of support and frequent access issues have made my experience disappointing.

Negative experience: There is no air-conditioning. It's extremely hot in there. Also, the gym is disgusting. Go to anytime fitness across the road...

Fantastic experience: I came back and changed my review to positive, the owmer listened to us and fixed the air con Thank you very much

Fantastic experience: very good gym staff and classes

Fantastic experience: The Instructors are fabulous in Pilates Reformer

Negative experience: I am truely disappointed by Fitness First’s lack of commitment to inclusivity in their clubs. Having previously been a member there I always thought that this club promoted a welcoming environment for all, however I was disappointed at the lack of action in regards to a recent incident in which two of their employees chose to use hurtful and offensive language towards my partner who is a person of colour. The lack action is inexcusable. If Fitness First wishes to keep advertising inclusivity and diversity there should have been some steps taken to come to a resolution. Truely disappointing and disrespectful.

Negative experience: truly disappointed by management’s response (or lack thereof) to my complaint regarding a gross and repeated display of inappropriate online conduct by two of fitness first’s “esteemed” employees. i hope fitness first as an organisation is deeply embarrassed by the behaviour of their employees and are aware that representatives of your company reflect the values and morals of your company inside and outside the work environment. i will never be returning to fitness first after being called diabolical and vile things regarding my race and ethnicity by two of your employees, and i want to make fitness first aware of their contribution in perpetuating racism and making your gym extremely unsafe for myself and people of colour alike.

Fantastic experience: I have been a member of fitness first monavale for over 12 years. I find the staff are very friendly and professional I really liked Rahni and ‘Marley’ on Sunday afternoon shift Bernard

Fantastic experience: The gym has been fantastic for me. So many classes on offer. I appreciate that there are different rooms for different classes. The gym is friendly and definitely not pretentious.

Positive experience: I really enjoy fitness first. I’ve met a lot of lovely people in the classes I do. The two fitness trainers Jacqui & Kate are absolutely fantastic. They are so helpful and always offer alternative exercises to suit everyone. The active people class is also really good class with Dania , it would be great if there was another class like that too .

Negative experience: Nothing platinum here. A good sized gym, but needs a spruce up. Biggest issues, yoga classes like sardine cans and no new classes and sauna is disgusting. Bum sweat all over, no signage requiring showers or towels. It’s vile

Fantastic experience: Great gym, super friendly staff, lots of facilities! Doesn’t matter how busy the gym is, there’s always equipment available, and in a great lay out. Super friendly and welcoming vibe, always with smiley and relatable staff. Easily the best Fitness First in the Northern Beaches / North Shore area!

Fantastic experience: Dope Gym , Great People and Atmosphere.

Fantastic experience: Staff have been great and the facilities are good when I’ve been in!

Negative experience: Rude

Negative experience: I came in for a train today. The new or sales manager or club manager (blonde lady) at the Mona Vale club (05/04) accused me of doing personal training which is not true whatsoever. I used to be a trainer there so I can see why she’d assume that showing my little sister and her friend how to row correctly before I was off TO DO my own thing. Which I never got a chance do to. (-$25). I was training with my family and saying hello to old friends! When I come in I always feel super welcome and it’s awesome catching up with everyone. she outta just assumes I’m charging money behind their back. She said one of the trainers came up to her and “dobbed me in” which I’m not sure how true that is because I’ve got lots of love for the trainers there. It didn’t help when my little sister made a joke saying “yes he’s over trained” she was clearly joking but I get it. She’s doing her job but she didn’t even let me explain that I work full time at another gym circuit gym and don’t have time for 1 on 1 clients. I wasn’t gonna sit down and let my little sister and her friend potentially injure themselves, not knowing how to do a bent over row. I literally spent two only minutes showing them how to do it. I was about to leave to train legs and do my own workout then she came in and made a very public scene. It was a huge allegation and it was super embarrassing. Honestly, She could’ve pulled me aside in the office to talk further to me about this personally but instead she did it in front of 40 odd people people. Her demeanour was not calm. She had a chest puffed and was passive aggressive about the whole situation. The whole weights section could hear it. It was so embarrassing. I’ve had nothing but good experiences at fitness first over the last 7 years. Ive had so many achievements here, so many good memories. I know everyone there. It helped build me up to the person I am today. Unless I get some sort or apology or something. I’ll be telling the boys and girls to train elsewhere. It used to be a family.

Negative experience: Wow, you def don’t want to workout here. Maybe if you don’t mind germs and layers of dust and disgusting bathrooms and showers. Gabe showed me around but was too busy doing his own workout afterwards to check in how I found it etc. Also not open for questions. Would give zero stars if I could…

Negative experience: Fitness First should be avoided at all costs; their only concern is making money rather than ensuring a safe or positive experience for its members. While the young Mona Vale team are nice enough, unfortunately they do not have the experience or authority to manage any problematic issues. There are many other local gyms in the area that are no doubt more focused on taking care of their members.

Fantastic experience: Great gym, clean facilities, friendly staff and members. Heaps of classes

Negative experience: How can Fitness First Australia let a club like Mona Vale keep Platinum status if there is an obvious lack of maintenance in the equipment and facilities? Mona Vale has been my local club for 7 years and as other reviewers also indicated the club has slowly deteriorated and does not match the other Platinum Clubs in Sydney. I mainly use the treadmills and surrounding equipment. In a row of 10 treadmills, 1 was faulty, and out of the remaining 9 only the 6th machine I tried was coming up to the correct speed at level 13. I use the gym to supplement my outdoors training but this was a failed interval running session trying to switch machines at every attempt. The club will remain busy as the only large gym in the area. I doubt reviews will change anything as I have lodged complaints on their website in the past. Destroying the brand of www.fitnessfirst.com.au

Fantastic experience: I like the vibe, nice staff, and well equipped. I just recommend that they impower the air-conditioning system on the right-hand side hall.

Fantastic experience: Love this gym! The best i've been to yet - the staff are awesome, facilities are clean, great classes' and coaches. Something that I loved is that the machines have timers and counters - so good!

Negative experience: Aircon in weights room has not worked for over a year now. Haven't even brought fans or portable aircon

Fantastic experience: Equipment seems fairly new, much newer than many other FF I’ve been to. Community vibe in the classes, a sense everyone knows each other.

Fantastic experience: Great gym, lots of classes esp like pump, body combat and reformer Pilates. Nice steam room and shower area.

Positive experience: I give 3 stars because of magnificent hot yoga classes, also training section looks good and almost complete. Hygiene in the showers is poor though, black mold in all corners, most of the times there is no hot water in couple of showers. I have visited other branches, this one is not up to FF standards

Positive experience: Great atmosphere and facilities, the equipments are a bit aged.

Negative experience: This is not a platinum gym. It's filthy in here. Old dilapidated equipment, it smells mouldy and has no ventilation.

Fantastic experience: Awesome place!!

Fantastic experience: Great Management Team…

Positive experience: Gyms great. Been going for years (more than 20 actually) but now with no crèche I’ll probably have to leave with baby number 2 coming. What a shame.

Negative experience: If you go anytime after 2:30 get ready to fight off the millions of school kids. You can't get on any machines because they are there by the hoards and have completely taken over

Negative experience: These guys totally ripped me off. Just found out they are charging more than the agreed price. Customer service didn't care at all when I questioned what on earth. They also said if you join at the end of the month each month, you will get a better deal. I've just discovered Energize Health in Belrose has just as many classes and are a lot cheaper.

Fantastic experience: The gym is well structured and organized. All the class instructors are pleasant and encouraging, often giving good tips on technique and posture. I've attended many different exercise classes, from Spin to Pump, and Reformer - and they have all been excellent. I've also worked out on the various machines and used the weights area which is also well organized and there always seems to be sufficient facilities so that if one is not immediately available you don't end up waiting too long.

Fantastic experience: Joined up recently and best decision I have made! Staff are great and so many classes to choose from! Great location and parking a breeze. Loving the Reformer Pilates and the instructors are so enthusiastic and helpful!! Ps I was a person who never like gyms either!!! I’m so hooked. I have lost 6ths in 3 months and built up so much strength and feel fantastic! Also, atm I am actually on holidays in Italy truly having a fantastic time but missing my daily feel good workout!!

Fantastic experience: Reading some of the bad reviews, I personally disagree. We're only here for 2 weeks and I really wanted to keep up my training. The staff did everything they could to help me. I've been coming every day and have been able to do everything I've wanted to do and there's always a smile from the staff. When we were here 8 weeks ago, the staff helped us then too. Great team, all the facilities I need, so well done!

Fantastic experience: Overall happy with the gym, I love their group classes especially reform Pilates , It will be great if they can add some dumbbells to the Pilates workouts.

Fantastic experience: Have only been a member a short time but so far so good - all staff & instructors are exceptionally friendly & helpful. Great facilities

Negative experience: No a good,experience. They might have changed.

Negative experience: MV Fitness First used to be a great gym around 2018. But in the four years to 2022, it has steadily declined in terms of upkeep, degree of orderliness and sanitation. I now dread going there. Attempting to find matching hand weights under 10 kg or matching kettlebells is mission impossible. The ablution areas esp. the men's never smell clean anymore. However often its being cleaned isn't enough. The women's change rooms smell of urine. The alcohol wipe dispensers routinely run out. Apparently, the owner is attempting to sell it off, however they're doing themselves a disservice and out of a good price for the goodwill by letting entropy win and dragging its once solid reputation down into lower than mediocre. What's a gym that no one wants to step inside worth? It says it's 'platinum' but it's really tinfoil. Cheap, flimsy, superficial and tarnished.

Fantastic experience: Good equipment choice

Fantastic experience: Awesome introduction service, just joined yesterday with my daughter. The gym has everything we want.

Negative experience: Firstly, some of the male trainers are borderline creepy. They always hang around just watching people work out, often just on their phones. For example, doing a workout in a small nook a trainer just sat on the kettle bell stand just on his phone and looking around not even 2 metres away, just after staring down a lady doing push-ups with another trainer. He could be taking photos or taking time out, but either way it’s very uncomfortable and not a good look at all. It makes coming to the gym exhausting and not enjoyable. Secondly, the weights are all over the place and I often have to walk around the whole gym to find weights I want. The facility seems pretty dirty and the staff just loiter instead of actually doing anything.

Negative experience: My 16 year old daughter was contacted via her instagram page by the Mona Vale FF sales manager as a way to update her on a membership payment issue. He followed this up with several personal messages which became extremely inappropriate resulting in her blocking him. This is a 30 year man! When I contacted the manager to express my concern I was told they took these allegations very seriously and would have the regional manager contact me. I sent a full description of the incident via email as requested. To date, 8 weeks later, with several follow ups, I have had no phone call or the courtesy of a reply to my email. I finally received a refund when I demanded they at least stop payment and give me a refund for the weeks my daughter didn’t attend due to feeling extremely uncomfortable. I’ve literally been ignored. The manager is still working there. I don’t even know if he’s been addressed about his actions. All women, especially young and vulnerable girls need to feel that they can go to a gym without receiving unwanted attention. Shame!! DON’T SEND TOUR DAUGHTERS TO THIS GYM!

Fantastic experience: Really friendly, clean, welcoming environment. Great classes and loads of equipment and options to work out.

Negative experience: Easily the most unfriendly receptionist staff at any gym in Sydney. Time trained today 7:50-9am. Wouldn’t hurt to smile instead of making pretty much everyone the receptionists clearly aren’t friends with feel like unwanted aliens entering the vicinity of their gossip centre. Haven’t ever trained here with those girls on and seen one of them smile. This sentiment is held by myself and everyone I know who trains here! Even my mum complains. Would recommend new staff, the tall one who started 6 months ago is awesome - 5 stars for her.

Negative experience: Air conditioning has been broken for weeks.

Positive experience: Air-conditioning is not working properly. Free sauna anyone?

Positive experience: Air con works about half the year...

Positive experience: Great gym. Love their step class there. Gym feels clean all over and peeps are there to do their workout, not to show off thus it does not feel like a threatening area. Very nice. When done pop over downstairs for a cuppa with your workout buddies

Negative experience: The place is falling apart. Sauna bench is broken and roped off, steam room is cold, ice machine not working, aromatherapy room has no aroma, sink is smashed in the changing room, showers constantly running and can’t be turned off fully. Management obviously have no care to look after the place or respect the members.

Fantastic experience: Awesome vibes and awesome facilities ☺

Positive experience: Friendly staff and clean facilities

Positive experience: Great gym, could do with some better air-conditioning/ ventilation, staff could also greet and give a smile when entering (particularly younger staff), could also do with some better, updated and variable music (same songs on repeat), machines and bubblers are usually out of order for a long period of time, other than that great people, environment and equipment.

Fantastic experience: Great staff and facilities. Highly recommend Matt Beaumont for personal training classes as he is professional and knowledgeable. Thank you Fitness First MV!

Positive experience: Great gym. Nice people. Pity about the nasty Sky News being shown on TV screens around the gym. Otherwise great.

Negative experience: There is always some kind of equipment our of order for unreasonably long periods of time, from workout equipment to water fountains to steam room. The senior staff here are great and I feel they are probably being let down by the company. Most of the other staff are very friendly but some of the young people behind the front desk couldn't crack a smile if their life depended on it.

Negative experience: Lots of advertisements between songs in the gym. Even in the "aromatherapy room" you get to hear about "the new toyota".

Positive experience: Great gym and good people who are not from the ghetto Also air conditioned in the weights room so you don't choke on wee wee air like other FF gyms with swimming pools inside

Fantastic experience: Love it, been going for over a year and don't plan on stopping, good vibes

Negative experience: I just spoke with Robin from Fitness First Mona Vale. I was asking a simple question about my (very expensive) membership and in return I was greeted with a hostel and rude tone. Once I asked her to please not talk down to me after being interrupted multiple times, she said do you want me to hang up on you? I’m sorry but I don’t think a customer should ever be treated in that way.

Positive experience: Love this gym, very spacious and friendly staff. They have a nice range of equipment to cater all needs.

Fantastic experience: I have been a member here for the past month (give or take some time) and really love it. The staff are super friendly and I really feel encouraged and motivated when I walk in. They have many services avaliable to the members such as "free" classes whenever you like, aromatherapy room, monsoon shower, steam and sauna rooms. The place is very clean and there are plenty of machines so you won't have to wait for someone else. They also offer personal training. I really like the locker rooms and the key card aspect. I must admit 5pm closing on weekends does get me as I am at work until 5 on weekends. Although for most full time workers its not a problem. Over all I really recommend the place as a local gym.

Positive experience: Good full service gym with wide variety of fitness classes & equipment

Positive experience: A convivial environment where staff engender positivity and warmth. Clean and well organised without being fussy. I always takes towel to wipe down my use of equipment.

Fantastic experience: Love the new treadmills and free newspaper each morning.

Fantastic experience: Favorite gym. Enough space and equipment. Great environment

Negative experience: Much of the cardio equipment is outdated or inoperable. I have often reported broken equipment but it doesn't get repaired. Some lights also need to be replaced. Overall, the Mona Vale club needs a major "facelift." I agree that the staff are very friendly -- best part about the club.

Positive experience: The staff are very friendly and there is a good range of equipment. The staff now ensure that patrons use towels. And for that I am very grateful.

Positive experience: Nice and friendly gym... good service and plenty of parking...

Positive experience: Gym with variety of areas. Air conditioning sucks

Positive experience: Nice staff and facilities, except carpets like sandpaper! Carpets burns aplenty