Virgin Active South Africa
Reviews and Complaints

I am trying to meet with someone to assist to get the best possible solution to have me back in the Gym. I do not appreciate the unanswered emails and return call requests.

How come a client of a family of 5 for 15 years gets treated like a threat? Wish there was an alternative to this circus

Good evening.

I don't know where to begin or if I'm on the right website but be it as it may, I just feel obligated to raise a complaint. It's out of my nature to do this type of stuff.

Before I left the gym about 2 years ago, I was a very active gym member at virgin active, for more than 6 years. I joined the gym again about 3/4 months ago.

Living in Namibia with only 2 virgin active clubs and allot of members, it is difficult to have a good worked out and planed gym session at peak-times in the evenings and also one of the big reasons I left the Maerua Mall branch in the first place. The gyms are very packed these times, especially the Maerua Mall branch. I joined this specific branch because I live less than a kilometer away.

Long story short, my actual complaint is about time lines on gym beches/racks. There is certain groups of individuals that comes to the gym mostly at peak-time in groups and take extra long times (±- 45min) on certain benches/racks, leaving no time for other members to also use. I'm not even talking about the lack of the number of benches/racks which is also a problem on its own.(for example, there is only one Cable machine/rack, one Smith machine and one Squat rack).

I know it's difficult to monitor this type of behaviour. What I want to ask is, can the staff members not be trained to be more aware of keeping an eye out throughout the gym all the time, to remind members to pack away weights, to not stay to long on gym bench or rack, to keep gym benches/racks clean and to assist members more actively, especially new members. Verbal complaints at the branch reception does not help at all...!

I hope this complaint does not fall on deaf ears and actually gets attended to.

I sent a signed letter in October 2019 advising that we do not want to extend our 5x contracts that are coming to end of term 31 October 2019. There was arrears on the contracts and I made an arrangement to pay of the amounts.

Subsequently Virgin Active decided to extend the contracts and keep adding amounts to the already arrear amounts.

I am battling to pay the arrears as it is, and Virgin Active just keeps adding amounts making it impossible to catch up.

My contract was for 2 years and my signed request to not extend should be respected.

Mrs. JC Polley
[protected] or christa.[protected]@gmail.com

I have had an absolute nightmare signing up with Virgin Active, from the sales rep Elvis Qudedalele, to his manager Muneeb Osman, to Anthony Plaatjies - Customer Service Multimedia Agent, and even to a manager Kay Johnson who promised to get back to me beginning of December and did not. I have been debited again this month!

I initially joined the gym with good intensions in February, the service was so pathetic I stopped using the gym in April. The transaction had not been completed with the back and forth of Elvis and Muneeb, and therefore decided to stop using the gym. Due to the pathetic service and incomplete transaction, i requested cancellation of membership in June, I had made no mention of seeing the club manager, but yet Anthony responded to me saying ''As discussed, I will await your email with the email thread between yourself and the club manager.''

All email trails available.

I have been debited every month even though I had sent numerous emails to cancel as this service was not complete. Kay Johnson mentioned that she will speak to the club manager and arrange for the cancellation... and i am still waiting for feedback with another debit going off yesterday.

Virgin active steals money from individuals. The transaction was not satisfied between both parties therefore the contract should be null and void. I even told Kay Johnson that I dont want to be refunded just cancel the premiums, but this is fraud. The contract was not satisfied!

I will be opening a case at the police station and will go viral if my cancellation does not get processed, and my December premium refunded as KAY JOHNSON was the MANAGER that did not get back to me as promised.

Pathetic SERVICE virgin active!

We received a random call earlier this year from legal team confirming that MR E W COETZEE owes money to VIRGIN ACTIVE.

We cancelled per phone after 1 year as the member only went to the gym +-2 times in the year. We confirmed if all is in order and was confirmed that membership is cancelled. We should only check that the debit is also cancelled on our bank account. Now after 7 years whe get demands for payment on 2 different reference numbers and no matter how many emails that is sent to confirm please provide accounts no response. We gave our PO BOX address when we started the gym and have up to date not received any correspondence with regard to account.

the debit order was cancelled by VIRGIN Active and we can get proof of needed.

I am really disappointed that after discussing with your employees and getting confirmation we are at wrong and owe money.

Could somebody please look into this matter as it is not good customer service.

I was wrongly deducted on my account after freezing it for a month.
Half has been deducted as confirmed on the phone but the second half, I got my full fee of R750 deducted. In other words its useless to freeze my account for one month.

Also, I was mis informed about the peak times, being from 05h-08h in the morning and then after 16h-21:30h
Peak time in the afternoon has always been between 16h-19h. NOW they changed the off peak suddenly from 08h to 16h only.

Even if I come at 20h at night when peak time is long over, this doesn't make sense and no info of this was given.

I recently joined Discovery Vitality and opened a Virgin Active premium membership. I qualified for the September Promo where you get a R1200 take-a-lot voucher or R750 Woolies voucher. The sales guy did not give me any terms and conditions of the promo but distinctively advised that I would only get the voucher once the first payment is made. At month end I went to my branch and made the payment, now I apparently no longer qualify for the voucher as there is an apparent terms & conditions clause that states the payment must be made via debit order. This is complete bull crap and the worst part is the sales guy and the call centre manager are too busy arguing about who needs to take responsibility for the matter and it's been a week since either one has gotten back to me! I WANT MY VOUCHER I AM ENTITLED TOO!

I am Zikhona, I have signed a contract to Kelvin from Beacon Bay branch. Kelvin phoned me in previous months and approched me about he took my number from virgin active system I have him a chance to visit me at my work he came I kept in making stories because I once signed virgin active contract with another sales lady who was Sinazo Binta I was not happy with the contract I payed more than I was expecting, I explained myself to Kelvin his first question was do i have discovery medical aid and vitality and I was under discovery and vitality then Kelvin offered me a gym of R200 monthly because ones under vitality and he told me that i will be paying once off few of R915 to activate my vitality of which that time I didn't have the R915, I told him I am not going to sign the contract yet because I don't have the activation fee. He said no I must sign now he is giving me a big discount of gyming free for a month for me and my spouse I must only R50 I told him I will be having the R915 end of the month which was going to be August 2019 I payed the R50 but I never had the chance to go to the Gym due to work . 26 August debit order of R650 went out of my account debited by virgin active I quickly contacted head office doing Enquire I was told that this is my monthly fee and I was surprised I told the consultant know but I am under vitality my contract that i thought I am signing for is for R200 monthly they told me that i must first do the link off which I didn't know anything about that the only thing I knew was R915 to activate my vitality which I was suppose to pay and if August 2019. I was advised to call the main branch beacon bay I did so they gave me appointment on the same day I went there and I was told to wait for the manager off which the manager was with Kelvin by the time I was signing the contract. The manager told me I must sort the issue with Kelvin, I had to wait for Kelvin he came I wanted to know about the R650 that was debited on my account he said to me because I didn't have the R915 to activate the vitality this what I was supposed to be paying at the moment so I must come and if the month and pay R915 once off, I never argued with him I said okay I went out of the office and I phoned the head office again my only option was to cancel the contract once and for all because the man who made me to sign the contract did not give a damn about me about how I feel he could care my R650 that i was not aware off was taken away from I could have bought my children food for that R650 but he did not give a damn and on top of that he is expecting me to pay R915 once off . I went to my bank and reversed my money after not receiving any help, I phoned again head office to cancel the contract I was told to pay R1300 +R2600 for cancellation fee and then the last that was assisting me advised me to go to another branch instead of doing cancellation and pay the once off fee R915 and activate my vitality then negotiate the R1300 than loosing my money on cancellation, I went to virgin active in Quigney I explained my matter then I was told that they can't assist me there because their once off fee is less than what I supposed to paying in beacon bay. I emmediately gave up, I have done my research on the internet for complaints I have lodged my complaints and I recieved nothing, I do not know anymore the steps that i must take now must I pay the months that i ma behind with which they cost me R650 per month and pay cancellation fee and pretend that nothing happened where's a man who have hidden the monthly premiums is recieving his salary full salary month by month is free and does not give a damn about me and I must loose the money that I am working for my children's money and pretend nothing happened, this is for the second time now it happens once and I payes the cancellation fee and moved on, I trusted a man who was convincing me a R200 monthly gym fee an signed the contract what must I do now can someone there help and tell me what steps must I take now

Good day I am email to express my disappointment with the club . I did sign a member few months ago and was promised to get one month free (which was the month of September 2019). But strangely this has never been effective. I still get my monthly debits.
Kindly do fix this and allocate me with my 1 month free, because it's due to me since the new member was signed during a promotion period of : when you sign a member you get 1 month free.

THANK YOU

Hi,

I regret to say that my experience with virgin active has been very bad. People handling branches are very unprofessional and they just sell the product no matter what cost the member.

The time i joined the virgin active, i did asked for 3 months subscription (on monthly basis) and i was told that there is no subscription for that, which was wrong, i came to knoe later.

Me and my friend were contracted for 12 months, despite of knowing very well that we were on visitors visa 11 (2) which was for 3 months. The sales person get us signed some documents and we did that, he said if your visa doesn't extend, you may leave and you will have to pay nothing. I was not even sent the contract, so that i could check the duration of the contract. We were duped, as were new in the country.

Later on, in the first week of may only, i informed virgin office (grayston branch) that i will not be able to come to gym due to financial situation, but no one listenend and they continued my subscription despite of several reminders. I think there is a provision that if someone is not coming physically to gym and if they are not Able to pay fee, their subscription will be cancelled, but it was not done for me.

On many occasions, i visited and paid fee but said that i am not using your services so cancel my subscription but it was also not done. How can you ask someone for money if they are not using your services, and if they are not satisfied? This is unacceptable.

I request you to please value my time and money, and cancel the subscription and waive off all the dues as i am not supposed to pay for that. No service no pay. Also, on few occasions, when i Phoned virgin active to request for the same, people disconnected the call and literally shouted, which is unbelievable as no one can expect the same from such a big service provider.

Regards,
Rahul Rai
[protected]@gmail.com
Contract number: [protected]
Membership number: [protected]
Member's name: Rai Rahul Kumar

I signed up through the call centre on 21.10.2019 then get told I owe moneys from old 2006 contract, which I knew nothing about until now.
I even signed up between 2012 - 2014 with no hassles and was never told about any old debts then either.
Now the agent took me through the sign up process, I even went to the gym to pay initiation fee etc.
Now head office is using bullying tactics to get me to pay old amount from 2006 which I informed them is Prescribed, so it is illegal for them to try claim now.
Then I get a call stating their Legal team say I must pay 50% or I cannot have access to their facilities - yet I've already signed up and paid start up fee!
This is a grossly illegal bullying tactic, a huge error on their part for not doing their work back in 2006 so why come to me now? When I never had this when I signed up in 2012. I have asked them to come back with some form of proof, or show on my contract where it says I can't have access. Still waiting.
I should not be getting bullied into their illegal claims!

I am a member at Virgin Constantia Kloof In Jhb. Im not able to go as often as I'd like therefore I'm being penalised for that - for the past 2 months an extra R200 has been deducted from my account of which I understand BUT my daughter goes to the gym everyday & sometimes twice a day, why don't I get some sort of discount for that ?

My membership also does not allow me to go to any other gym - WHY ?

Recently a close friend joined one of your other branches in Jhb, his monthly fee is R230/R260 can't remember the exact amount & his able to go to any other Virgin Active Gym & this is not even with Vitality.

On another note - a few months back the gym was closed due to new equipment being installed & some changes been made - WHAT A JOKE ! there's now less machines than there was before, which means people are waiting, getting frustrated. The new equipment is already broken or out of order.
When there's load shedding, everyone basically leaves the gym as there's not much you can do - why are there insufficient generators ?
On another note - "Inappropriate Dressing" -Management at the gym need to do something about this situation - either place notices or approach the people concerned. There are young ladies training practically naked, not leaving much to the imagination. They wearing extremely skimpy outfits, making other women feeling very embarrassed, this is very WRONG. However, this been said, I really feel like cancelling my gym membership.

Thanking you
Mrs T Khan
Card No:[protected]

I joined VA Southgate in March 2019 and was advised my 2 year old would be able to access the gym with me at no additional cost. VA then made the decision to close the Southgate branch and gave us access to premier clubs. I chose to go to the next closest gym being Glenvista branch. When trying to access Glenvista with my son - I am being advised it will incur an additional charge of R205 as I did not provide his birth certificate. At no point did any VA staff member advise me that they need his birth cert to add him onto the system. I do think it is fair to penalize me due to the fact that VA had to close a branch due to rental issues. And did not advise me properly. I should of been advised that he will not be added until they receive his birth certificate. Nobody told me this until now! I would like my son to be added with no additional charges to cancel my membership immediately with no cancellation costs. I have had to change my gym - I did not choose to be a premier club - this was due to VA's changes and now I must pay more for my son? This is not good service. If they cannot help me - then cancel my membership and I will find another gym but I am not paying cancellation fees or any other additional charge.

On the 20th of October while on my way to Virgin active Germiston I notice that the roads were closed due to an event that was taking place at Germiston lake. A 5mins drive ended up being a 30mins drive to access the club. When I got to the club there was no parking for us members because the club parking was full with cars that belongs to people who were attending the event.

After my gym session, boom there was no water. Steam room was off because there was no water.
Tried to enquire with the receptionist who did not have customer ethics at all and rudely said "How are they suppose to know that the water will be cut off".

I found that very rude. I tried to suggest in one of the Whatsapp group that i'm I that if they can just give us the heads up when there'll be events so that we can use other clubs. The group exercise manager in that group told me that I should respect that whe does not work on weekends.

Mind you, the aerobics studio aircons have been broken for a while. On Friday we had load shedding and back up speakers were not charged.

In a nut shell I was told to go jump from mount Everest.

Can this behaviour be addressed.

Regards
Nonhlanhla

On 13/10/2019 at appr. 09H00 I visited Virgin Active Kings Park and forgot my running shoes (blue asics ladies) which are fitted with specialise orthotics. I went three times in the following week and I was told that they are not found in the lost and found area. However the records at the reception shows that my running shoes were found that day and returned to the Manager (her name is Charmaine ) who signed for them. That means that the staff somehow misplaced my running shoes. Due to this I will be able to participate in upcoming marathon because I need the orthotic to run with because I am cripple.

On the 19th of August 2019 I joined Virgin Active with the promise that my first installment will be 1st October 2019 as there was a promo for 1 month free. On the 1st of September 2019 my account was debited and when I enquired I was told it was a mistake and I will not be charged for October 2019. On the 1st of October 2019 my account was debited again, and when I asked for the money to be returned to my account I was told this was not possible. I have decided that I really do not want this contract anymore because it was full of false advertising and poor costumer service. They can keep the money they have already stolen from me it's OK. I will be changing my account just incase they try to steal from my account again.