Virgin Active Gym Sandton CBD

One of my favorite gyms! A good size and in the heart of Sandton. There is plenty of space for equipment and machines and plus I haven't really ever had to wait much for machines in this gym. The Kauai is awesome as always

Gym facilities, instructors and management team are great. Just a warning to all members to be careful with storing your valuables in the gym lockers. I found my locker opened after returning from the showers despite it being locked with a digital lockpad. My cellphone and cash was stolen on the morning of 10 October.

It makes me sad to be writing such a negative review of this club which has been my home since 2021. I took a break for about a year from gyming and things have changed in how this club is run and the customer service. In a week of returning to gym I have had 2 incidents. The first was the steam room being so hot to the point it felt like my skin was burning. I could not stand in there for longer than 1 minute at a time. When I raised the issue with the staff on duty at reception (Nyiko) , she acted like I was imagining it and said that she checked it her self when they opened for the day, the temperature was 45 degrees. I went back into the steam room 2 days later and it was fine. The second incident was regarding the chlorine levels in the pool. I swam for about 35 minutes. From the time I left the pool my eyes were burning to the point I could barely see. This went on all day, my vision had a milky residue. Frequently tears would roll down my eyes. Keeping my eyes open was unbearable. It took having to put eye drops all day for me to get better. When I reported the issue to the club via phone call they told me to speak to Lisa the next time I visited the club. The next day I was able to go to the gym again and found Lisa to address the issue. This was the rudest encounter I have ever had with a person. She told me that I need to be wearing goggles when I swim and eventually stormed off after I tried to tell her that I have been swimming since I was in grade 6, now I am 34 mind you and this has never happened. Clearly the chlorine levels were off the charts. Later I found out that Lisa was just a swim coach…Why was I even told to speak to the swim coach on this matter? From both experiences it was disappointing how dismissive the staff was. They acted like nothing could ever go wrong at the facility and that it was a me problem. Simply listening to my concern and double checking the issues at hand would have sufficed in the moment. You never know when something can in fact be faulty, the steam room could have been broken and the pool chlorine and ph levels could in fact have been off. Both incidents could have turned out for the worst. The attitude of being dismissive and acting like you’re being bothered when someone raises an issue should not be there when you work in customer service. For a place I considered a second home because of all the friendly trainers and staff they used to have, this attitude was heartbreaking. A place of service is as good as the people who deliver the service.