I had two very bad experiences with the staff and policies at Mountainside in Gilbert. I'm truly not over-exaggerating with the 1-star rating--I would never recommend to anyone to get a membership here. To be fair, the fitness center is very nice inside and well laid out. However, my experience is that they run an unethical business. My initial meeting with a trainer was a huge sales pitch. He told me if I wasn't motivated to get down to 7% body fat that I shouldn't come back to the gym, which was quite a shocking statement. Apparently, he was gambling that he could pressure me into signing up with a personal trainer. He thought wrong.
That experience was bad, but to me it was excusable as it was just one representative. The inexcusable part is their cancellation policy. They make you pay up front for the first month and last month, which is fine. However, I went in to cancel my membership by chance on the first day of a month and they told me I could use the gym until the end of the next month. I wanted to cancel that day not two months later. They said since it was the first day of the month that they had already charged my card and that the next month was covered by my initial deposit for "last month" when joining. To me that is simply and clearly an unethical policy that is unfair to the consumer. The fact that they wouldn't prorate the current month was bad enough, but to keep the deposit for the following month was the straw on the camel's back for me. They absolutely should have refunded one of the months.
If they were ethical and honest, this would be a wonderful gym. Unfortunately, I learned the hard way that they are far from it.