FFC Park Ridge

As much as I love the South Loop Location, this one is amazing as well. Super clean, great atmosphere, clean pools, huge parking. Thank you so much to the General Manager for making this club outstanding. Also, the child care center here is very professional, you won’t have to worry about your little ones when you are working out.

I was saddened to learn the Tiffany Hoover, a member of the salon at the FFC in Park Ridge was no longer employed there. She was an extremely helpful and friendly employee who assisted me on several occasions with issues I was having. I truly enjoyed coming into see her in the salon on a regular basis. I must admit that I will attempt to find where she has transferred to or where she is working now take it my money to that location.

FFC has been a consistent part of our lives for the past 5 yrs. Prior to me moving to Chi, my husband signed me up so we could work out together when I was in town. When we first started going it was clean and a space we felt promoted positive gym culture & truly lived by their core values. Over the years things have shifted: high turnover, HVAC issues including leaks, member rate increases almost yearly, health & safety concerns-the biggest being a dirty facility. We (my husband, his daughter & myself) take pride in our environment and contribute to maintaining the gym: rerack weights (not just what we use), organize attachments, clean machines, barbells, dumbbells before & after use, and report broken equipment & safety concerns to mgmt. We’ve advocated for this facility and referred numerous members over the years, and spent money at the cafe & spa. Having both owned businesses and me being in service & hospitality for the last 25 years we understand how important it is to receive and provide feedback. In the last 6-8 months the cleanliness decline has escalated and we've provided feedback to staff, managers and corporate. Our ongoing concern of this issue was met with an inappropriate response from GM Janet Long making light of our feedback and followed up with little to no impactful and consistent changes to address it. Recently a no bag policy was implemented, which I heard about because my husband was approached in the locker room by a Manager, a seemingly odd place to have a professional conversation. He stopped carrying his usual gym bag and we chatted with other members who also carry bags that hadn’t heard about the new policy. Trainers worked out with clients who had bags during sessions and numerous members had bags with them during their workouts. Aside from the locker room encounter it was business as usual and no visibility of a new policy, so after a week he decided to begin carrying his bag again. The same Manager from the locker room approached my husband again, this time mid workout to enforce the new no bag policy. Shortly after, my husband received an email from GM, Janet stating our memberships were canceled for refusal to follow club posted policies. From a guest service standpoint, this is highly alarming. If a new policy is to be introduced it should be done with clear written communication to ALL members as well as provide a grace period. This policy is not in our contract, there was no written communication to members and no signage throughout the facility (with the exception of 1 small sign in the lobby, which was easily missed). It is however listed in the Code of Conduct along with reracking weights, no congregating and cell phone usage. It would be interesting to see violations for other guidelines result in canceled memberships. FFC failed to contact me directly to communicate my membership had been canceled. After a few requests, 2 weeks later, GM Janet finally contacted me directly. We established additional money was owed to us, which should have been realized and executed at the time our membership was canceled, not upon request. During that conversation, Janet stated that my membership had NOT been canceled and I was welcome back at any time. My husband received communication the day after my membership “wasn’t” canceled, from the Senior Director of Fitness offering to reinstate myself and his daughter, and the following day Janet herself offered to have us reinstated. We obviously declined. The lack of accountability and disrespect is both disappointing and insulting. It is unfortunate that FFC views member feedback as a nuisance rather than an opportunity to improve health and safety conditions for their members. With consistent rate increases, funds should be reinvested into training programs to provide staff and leadership the tools to follow through on their purpose to enhance the lives of guests and live by their core values. There are many viable options in the wellness space and recommend finding a facility where the cost aligns with the value.

I loved this gym but more recently its overly packed. They conduct all the group activities at the same time and there’s literally not one room or piece of equipment open. It worked with my schedule before and wasn’t so bad during the summer but this is absolutely ridiculous. I cant even swim in the pool because every time I am there they have kids swim lessons or whatever they do and regular paying members cant even utilize that area. overly crowded you will end up just doing damn cardio.