I was a Shapes member about 9 years ago, and at the time, I didn't really understand people's complaints about how they treat customers. Today, however, I figured it out. I don't live in Winnipeg anymore, so am now a member at another gym in Calgary. Both my gym and Shapes are IPFA affiliates, which is supposed to mean that your gym membership will be honored by other IPFA affiliate gyms when you're out of town. I have used my IPFA gym membership in a number of other cities, and never had a problem. However, I'm in Winnipeg for about a week while my father is having open-heart surgery here, and thought it would be great to be able to continue my workouts while I was here, particularly because I find exercise a great stress relief. When I got to Shapes, however, they informed me that IPFA rules state that I would have to sign up for a 30-day membership with Shapes in order to use their gym for the week while I'm here! It was utterly unbelievable. I was standing there with my membership card, plus a copy of my contract, plus an email from my gym confirming that I was a member, and a phone number they could call if they wanted further confirmation, and they try to make me sign up for a 30-day membership. This, after a rather condescending little speech from the girl at the desk who wanted to "explain to me" how IPFA works. The amazing this is that right on the IPFA website, they state the terms and conditions for their members, which state that "A transient member is a club member temporarily in a new area who will return to his home area. Transient members are to be honored for 30 consecutive days, after this time, they must transfer their membership." It seems pretty darn clear to me that this means that as long as it's less than 30 days, they just have to honor your other membership, and you very clearly are not required to transfer your membership. At any rate, I was not impressed with Shapes, and I only hope that their own members receive better treatment from other gyms. They sure managed to make a bad week much worse for me. How disappointing.

Love shapes! I have been a member for over a year. Hours are great, staff super nice and accommodating, equipment in great repair and awesome classes. Highly recommend it!

I really enjoy going to Shapes on McPhillips Street ! The Staff are very friendly. I look forward to the awesome Synergy and especially the Hot Yoga classes which are offered many times throughout the week. Fabulous instructors like Tally with Hot Yoga! Lots of parking and they are open 24 hours which is super convenient! They now have brand new flatscreen t.v.'s for your enjoyment during your cardio workouts. Garden City Shapes is a great fitness centre for me to work out, get rid of stress, feel really good, and have fun doing my weekly wellness routine.

SHAPES FITNESS Sucks!! I went there today (St. Pete, Florida) with $500 in my pocket. I had talked to a rep yesterday via phone. She seemed cool enough. I am a brass tacks kind of girl. I want to know how much it costs and what they have to offer. I made an appointment with the Asst. Manager for the next day. I arrived at the Shapes location twenty minutes early. I told them of my "appointment'. Well, the AM was out sick. Instead, I got some very strange girl who was obviously trained too aggressively on "SALE STRATEGIES". She was moving her head all around in a weird way, trying to make eye contact. I kept telling her that I "JUST WANT TO SEE THE FACILITY!" I said this at least three times. I had refused to fill out a clipboard form about my life. I kept telling her "I JUST WANT TO SEE THE FACILITY!” She persisted and kept saying "Well, I can't show you anything because you didn't fill out our form. I have no idea what I should show you!" Again, I said: "I JUST WANT TO SEE THE FACILITY!” She kept nodding her head all over the place to capture eye contact and ignored my requests.

This is a terrible mistake for the SHAPES organization. I was ready to spend at least $500 on a yearly membership. However, they brainwash their employees to the point they don't hear the customer. This is so wrong.
I will NEVER join SHAPES. They are too screwed up!!!! BTW. I never did get to see the gym. I walked out because the sales rep kept insisting I fill out their stupid form. Is this asinine or what???? Their LOSS!!!I I am taking my hundreds to the next gym. Even saying this freaks me out. In this economy, you would think businesses would respect the customer. I guess not. Like I said before; THEIR LOSS!

my brother, for my birthday, signed me up for a membership which would be paid by him out of his account. he stopped paying, they came after me. i tried to fight it. i ended up paying, never using that gym membership because i was banned for putting up a fight. it was in the fine print that i would have to pay if my brother stopped. i had asked where and they wouldn't tell me. i kept getting calls from this guy from a credit company for shapes. he was rude, harrassing and *** when it came to talking with me. once, after listening to him for half an hour treat me like c**p, i told him to stop talking to me like i'm a piece of s**t. he actually said ..." well miss, you are a piece of s**t!" can you believe that...... just terrible.

**Editor's Note: portions of this review have been removed in accordance with the ChickAdvisor review policy

My advice, don't consider signing up for shapes if you are not serious and motivated to stick with them. As for a personal trainer they are only good for helping you find a workout plan and how to use the machines effectively but aren't worth having for a long period of time, because eventually you'll get a hang of doing things on your own and having to pay that extra ($73.00 bi-weekly) and up ontop of the basic membership fee ($20.00 bi-weekly) is just not worth having when could join the various different kinds of workout classes that have no extra cost all included in the basic membership fee. You'll be stuck with that large amount to pay for a year. Shapes has a good facility and friendly staff, but when you got a problem concerning their mistakes on your account, good luck, they aren't as fair and friendly as they were when you first signed up.

Onto my experience...
My sister had wanted to join the Shapes Fitness centre on McPhillips. Due to the fact she has never worked out at a gym in her entire life nor did she feel comfortable going alone she asked me to come join with her so she would have someone to work out with until she felt comfortable on her own. I knew of course that I wouldn't be staying with the gym for long because I like getting my exercise by going to my martials arts class. And find myself physically fit enough and the gym just isnt my thing. We went down to the centre to talk to the manager there. She was all smiles, very friendly but very pushy. I specifically asked the manager because I was only going to try it out with my sister for a short time, what options did i have for a contract? She said my only option was to sign up the 1 year contract they have and that after one month i could cancel out at 'anytime' after one month. We then asked some questions about the basic membership as well as the '1 month trial personal trainer'. My sister had asked the manager many times if the personal trainer is strictly for 1 month and that she only wanted it for 1 month and the manager said "definitely after 1 month your trainer will be canceled". I then repeated numerous times that I would only be signing up for the 1 month only and she assured me that my membership was only for 1 month. She then gave us the contracts to sign and while my sister went ahead and signed, I sat back and read the back of the contract. There were some parts I questioned to clarify with her so that i fully understood. It said i was signing up for a 1 year contract and as i read on it stated that I could cancel after the 1 month trial. It also stated that I would have to cancel my membership with the head office and that a written letter had to be mailed to them. I
(There is no mailing address to them) then asked the manager about it. She said "I can do that for you, you let me know when the time comes and I will cancel it for you. This is where I went wrong. I put so much trust into these words. It's hard to believe you can't trust what the employees of such a big company say. The term 'the customer is always right' does not apply to these people. Anyway. The second week after joining our training sessions had been scheduled and printed out for us. because i work during the day my sessions have been scheduled in the evening. I went to the centre to find out that all my training sessions had be wiped out of the computer system and been completely deleted as well as my sister's. None of the staff *** knew what to do and just told us to work out on our own and come back the next day in the morning when the manager works. Now that really ticked me off, like come on, the head office couldn't at least call me to tell me my schedule has been deleted? Wasted my time. So we came back a few days after during the day (on my day off) to talk to the manager to see what was going on. Apparently the voided cheques we gave them bounced thus having cancelled all our sessions. She told us to go to our banks and try getting the number again and maybe that would fix it, but before that to pay through the interact machine they had so they can reschedule. After doing so we drove to our banks go verified everything and the cheques we gave were correct, we then drove back to the center and the manager tells us that everything is correct and that it was the head office's screw up. Think about all the time wasted doing this and the fustration. We then decided we didn't want the personal trainer and just stick with the basic plan but the manager said we can't and that we have to go through the full month. We decided to put up with it and went ahead. The training as well as the equipment were great. Our trainer was a nice guy and easy to get along with we told him the stuff we went through and he even said "Yeah those guys are stupid" they caused a lot of people to quit and also hasn't been happy with them for quite a while.

Two weeks before the month was over we started to make phone calls to the manager about cancelling the personl trainer as well as my 1 month membership but everytime we called they said she was either busy, out on a break, out in the back doing something, all times of which they said she would call us back. We work during the day and workout in the evening by the time she is not even there. The one chance we got to come down to see her in person she was coming out of the facility and she had said she had to head out and would call us later on. Not one phone call over the past 2 weeks. We even went and asked the staff members on what we could do and they had said "I'm sorry, only the manager handles these situations" and were not helpful at all. 1 month and 5 days gone by, my sister tries calling her back again, she finally answered and rudely said "It's out of my hands now, you'll have to talk to head office", gave the number and hung up without any explanation or anything. We call the number given and the girl tells us its too late to cancel but we can try sending them an email about what happened and that it would take up to 1 week to review our case. We sent the email right away. 1 week and half goes by no call or msgs from them. So I called them back and they had said "because we are busy doing renovations we haven't been able to review your case yet". 2 weeks and a half go by and I'm still paying but havent gone to the facility have the 1st month. Still no call, so I call them back and they still have not reviewed. She told me that they would either email me or call me back. I told her that something needs to happen asap because I'm going back to university soon and do not have the money to keep paying for this. 1month and 1 week go by and Im back to being busy with school and work right after. I forgotten about the shapes thing, for a while then remembered. Called them back only for them to say "I'm sorry but the lady who handles these cases is on vacation and won't be back for 2 weeks." Like why would you only have 1 employee who works on this? Two weeks gone by again and I call. They tell me "I'm sorry but we have reviewed your case and have decided we aren't going to cancel your contract. Despite what our employee told you, because it's in the contract we can't help you." They also claimed they sent us a letter already a while ago but we have received nothing. I told her that and at all times was very polite and calm and she then said "well i don't know, check with your post office or something" and hung up. Like really what else could I do? and in my eyes I don't see how its 100% my fault. Why am I the one having to chase them? Fed up, I went to the bank and asked what I could do, the bank teller told me she had problems with them too (what a coincedense) the year before and how the bank has been having so many problems with them too and adivsed me to be firm. She said what she could do is close my account and issue me a new one. Being desperate I went ahead with it. Now am being harassed by their shapes citadel credit.

**Editor's Note: portions of this review have been removed in accordance with the ChickAdvisor review policy

Frankly, i think members should open their eyes and take responsiblity for signing the contract. Who is to blame for someone not reading the contract? One can easily tell the SALES associate to hold off so you can read the contract? it is known that a sales person ANYWHERE will lie, extend the truth or even misinform a person in order to get commission. That is why, those of you who are of legal age, should read over what you are signing, because it does clearly state everything on the contract, or the personal training form.

When it comes to cancelling; well to be blunt -- they will not cancel the contract. They do provide other alternative options, and it is then the members decision or responsibilty to accept the options. (states it on the back of the contract) -- if you guys would have READ the contract and didn't agree with it, then why sign it?

AND

"CITADEL CREDIT OF CANADA" is the credit department for Shapes. They actually do have the legal right to list any delinquent membership on a credit bureau, if they don't receive a payment for a maximum 5 months, which in turn, will affect a members credit for 7 years. -- Telus, Future shop, canadian tire etc. all have their own credit bureau which will give the client options with their payments, but they can only hold on to an outstanding client for so long AND it is legal.

IF you are under 18 then it is obvious that you need a "co-signer". the co-signer is the one responsible for any delinquent payment or cancellation of a contract (that goes for any company, expecially the bank)

I LOVE SHAPES! Always have and always will. I love the staff, i love the equipment and i love my personal trainer (who infact is not technically assigned or gauranteed to a member) People have to realize who is at fault here. If you didn't like the contract don't sign it. No one put a knife to your back and made you sign it. no one threatened you in anyway. Yes they have a bad reputation, but really its from people who can't find anyone else to blame or look bad.

****

**Editor's Note: portions of this review have been removed in accordance with the ChickAdvisor review policy

well It's been about 6 months since i've signed up for shapes..and yeah in the beggining they are awsome...i didn't have any problems paying 35 bucks bi-weekly...until a month ago when they had fired my trainer...and they never even told me about it until the day i was suppose to have a session with him. That was also the day when they signed me up with a new trainer and 24 more new sessions...the girl had told me my new bi-weekly payment of 65 dollars..and i was like..ehh i guess that's aite...but now for 2 payments they've been charging me 83 dollars with out me knowing they never told me...that on top of the 65 dollars i'm still paying for my previous bi-weekly payment...it's soo frustrating because i know i'm not the only one ***...there alot more other people...but we all can't do anything about it because we signed the contract. So how can we put a stop to it. How can we??

**Editor's Note: portions of this review have been removed in accordance with the ChickAdvisor review policy

I'm 18 years old and just joined Shapes on Pembina on Nov. 16th. I wanted to get a bit in shape before my big holiday in January. First, I saw a commercial on tv about their 6 visits for 6 dollars special, so I called to ask about it and was quickly pressured to come in for a meeting, when I just wanted to be explained over the phone.

When I went in, there was a very cheerful girl who pressured me for TWO HOURS to join the gym. We came up with a big plan and everything an I signed up with a trainer under the impression I would pay for a membership until the end of January and I'd be DONE. I wasn't very comfortable with the idea of a male trainer, but I was told that he was reccomended and AWESOME (a word they ALL overuse), so I signed a contract based on that trainers availability and made appointments with him.

November 27th, I go in for my personal trainer assessment and the trainer isn't there. With no explanation beyond THAT, I had an appointment made for the next day. The next day, I woke up sick, so I called in to cancel my appointment. I was very polite, but soon realized that the Pembina workers have a very hard time understanding ANYTHING, from the little task of rescheduling to the meaning of a monthly contract.

It took me 20 minutes on the phone to reschedule my appointment. When it was rescheduled, she put me on hold for another 5 minutes and then came back saying "I'm sorry, but this trainer is no longer with us"...
The trainer doesn't work there anymore and did not work there the day I signed up either.

Um....

Okay.

So I go home and think about things, look over my contract and then realize that the contract I signed was a ONE YEAR contract instead of MONTHLY. Holy crap. ANd they're taking the money out of my mother's bank account (auto debit) bi-weekly....

I was under the impression that I would be paying 20.00 biweekly for both the MEMBERSHIP AND THE TRAINER TOGETHER for only until the end of JANUARY!

THen I saw that the trainer had its own bill and the general membership had its own bill. And it would be going on biweekly for the WHOLE YEAR for BOTH.

That's over 300 dollars for the year for the trainer and over 500 dollars for the year for the general membership.

I phoned the head office and the woman was very rude and unhelpful and hung up on my me and then my mother later on.
I'm in the process of having a legal letter written up by my family's lawyer.

I feel SO ripped off and disheartened. I will NEVER enter this facility again or reccomend it to anyone.

*** Never go there.
Responses are welcome

**Editor's Note: portions of this review have been removed in accordance with the ChickAdvisor review policy

I've been going to the Pembina location for a couple of months now, and so far I haven't had a problem. The new renovations are looking great, they have a good selection of machines, it's within my budget, and so far whom I've met from the staff have been really nice and really helpful. I also find the gym to be very well kept, clean and everything seems to be in good condition.

The reason my boyfriend and I chose shapes was mainly their hours, I have heard many horror stories from ex members, but the hours that they're open drew us in. We're both night people, and work full time at a job that has us there until 11:30PM, so with their hours, shapes is a great convenience for us. The bonus to working out later is not having to wait for machines, pretty much everything is available at the hours we're there.

Though I have met a couple of other staff members, we mainly deal with the woman who works the overnight shift. So far she has been extremely helpful, and has yet to disappoint. When we first signed up, she was sure to fully explain the contract, letting us know that it was a one year contract, that we could not cancel until the year was up. She also explained to us on how to freeze our memberships (say for example, you break a leg, you can freeze your membership for 3 months that you won't be able to work out. You still pay during those 3 months, but then pretty much get 3 months free once you unfreeze it (lets hope that made sense lol)). And although I am in a contract paying $20/bi-weekly, once I go back to school in January, they will allow me to switch to the cheaper student plan if it is still available then, or to my work plan once the work contract is renewed.

Of course I still am fairly new to the world of Shapes, if I do happen to find the experience taking a turn for the worst, I will definitely give my piece here. So far though, it's been a good experience for me, and for once I'm sticking to the whole world of exercise, the motivation is still there and going strong.