East Triangle YMCA

This is a medium sized YMCA, with a large outdoor pool that is open about year round. Pickleball is a very popular activity on the handful of well maintained courts. There are plenty of exercise classes to join. Your membership gets you full access to all the other Triangle YMCA branches. The crowd is polite and there are not a lot of men competing for a bench press. There are locker rooms and dry saunas in each of the men's and women's locker rooms. The hours have recently been extended, so check on the website for their up to date time schedules. I recommend this YMCA after having attended many others over the past years. My only wish is that they had a steam room!

It's a small Y compared to others I've been to in other cities. Its very clean. I haven't tried the outdoor pool yet. They don't have an indoor pool or steam room. They do have saunas (one for men and one for women ) that are connected to the locker room/bathrooms. I love the sauna after my workout! The kid zone is great! I use it 2-3 times a week. My three year old son loves it and the staff are very sweet and friendly. I am only there in the evenings on weekdays so I don't know how busy they are during the day but in the evenings they are moderately busy and expect to have a little wait for the machine you want. People are good about not spending too much time on one machine though so you'll get a decent workout on multiple machines in one hour. They got a good room for stretching too. I've never done a class here but supposedly they are popular here. The outdoor basketball and tennis court always seem active too. Staff are all polite as well.

I have visited this location twice and had 2 strange experiences. The first time I went with a friend who is an actual member, I am not a member. She was visiting me in Clayton and I mentioned to her there was a YMCA here. While we were out she wanted to stop by and see what the clayton location looked like. When we walked in the receptionist wasn’t too welcoming at all. My friend explained to her that she is a member but I am not, however would it be ok if we just looked around. The lady acted as if it was an issue but she ended up letting us look around. Since the place is so small it took all of 10 mins to see the place. As we were leaving she didn’t ask if we had any questions or even ask me if I was thinking about joining. During the 2nd visit my friend invited me to come to a class with her after I told her I had a guest pass. Upon entering I let the receptionist know I had a guest pass. She asked me was I there to take a class and I told her I was. She then says “ok guest cant use the pool”. I let her know again that I was there to only take a class. Once the class was over my friend wanted to look at the pool area, I followed her. Before we even got to the door where the pool was the same receptionist yelled loudly “the pool cannot be used by guest” . I turned around and told her yet again I was not there to use the pool and that my friend who is a member wanted to look at the pool. Both of us were dressed in workout clothes and had our yoga mats. We were not dressed to be in a pool. Ive been to two other YMCA locations and Ive never been treated this way. That location definitely wont see me there again. The Customer service is just awful.

UPDATED:

I decided to give them another chance. Most of the staff here are very pleasant, friendly and helpful. We have taken swim lessons, I’ve done aerobics classes and worked out in the gym. On my initial encounter, there was one particular employee that was unwelcoming but since then she has toned it down and I have enjoyed the other people at this gym.

ORIGINAL:
The facility is very clean and well organized even though it's one of the smaller YMCAs I have been to. However, the staff at the front desk has made me feel very uncomfortable several times as if I don't belong there even though I had a membership. They seem very judgmental and unwelcoming and that was enough for me to cancel my membership.

The YMCA has gone down hill so fast. They are unorganized, unapologetic and refuse to fix their mistakes. They are certainly not upholding any Christian Values and are like most things, only interested in your money.