Northwest Cary YMCA

Our family has been proud YMCA members for nearly 20 years, so we were genuinely excited to bring my senior father to the Northwest Cary YMCA for a 7-day trial pass. Unfortunately, what we hoped would be a warm and welcoming introduction to a trusted community space turned into an upsetting and alienating experience.

From the start, the interaction with the front desk staff, particularly Celeste, felt unwelcoming. My father, who is a senior and doesn’t speak English, was told immediately — and repeatedly — that he could not be in the pool area, not even just to sit and watch his grandchild swim. Despite calmly explaining that he had no intention of swimming and just needed to stay near family due to language and comfort reasons, the response we received was rigid, suspicious, and lacked any empathy.

What was especially hurtful was when Celeste told another staff member, in front of us, to “make sure he doesn’t sneak into the pool.” A short time later, staff came out to physically check whether my father had gone into the pool area — which he hadn’t. The implication was clear: we were being treated not with trust or respect, but with suspicion.

It’s hard not to feel that his age, his inability to speak English, and potentially even his race played a part in the way he was treated. As a family, we left feeling deeply disappointed, and my father — who was excited to be part of this experience — felt judged and unwelcome.

If there are special policies at this location, that’s understandable — but they should be communicated kindly, and not in a way that singles people out or makes them feel less than. The YMCA is meant to be a space for community, respect, and inclusion. Sadly, our experience today did not reflect those values.

We sincerely hope the leadership team will reflect on this feedback and take steps to ensure all individuals — especially seniors and those from diverse backgrounds — are treated with dignity, care, and inclusion.

I absolutely love love love this YMCA!!!! It's very spacious and new and has Everything! And the sauna is always working and a treat! And the steam room is usually working. It's so many places to find a place to workout and they have a indoor track that circles around the workout areas! I think that is so cool, that the track is not in a secluded area. Plenty of gym space, pools, and the child watch is really cool looking for the kiddos. They also offer summer camps at this location during the summers which I love!

The staff of this store deceived a minor child for money and to attract people. When my child went to apply for a gym membership, the staff told her that the 100-yuan membership card was for life, and the monthly membership fee was paid separately. Then they asked the parents who were not good at English to sign. After one and a half months, because the child had no time to go to the gym and did not go after paying the monthly fee, she wanted to terminate it temporarily and not pay the monthly fee to retain the membership. However, the staff said that if you do not go for three months, your membership will be lost. If you go, you have to pay another 100-yuan membership fee! Are you kidding? If the staff told us the rules honestly, we would not apply for membership here. We went to find them several times, but the staff shirked the responsibility by saying the rules. Then why did the staff deceive the child when applying for the card? The manager promised to deal with it after Christmas, but no one has replied until now. I didn't expect that for 100 yuan, this company would do nothing but deceive or ignore. I hope everyone will be careful of the staff who will deceive people when going to this store. They also said that they are a non-profit organization and only want to make money. With such dishonest employees, why don't they explain the rules dishonestly when applying for the card? When shirking responsibility, he kept telling me their rules. Why didn't he tell me earlier? He even lied to the kids and said it was a lifetime membership.

Not the best business practice!
We will be out of the country for a month and expect to be able to freeze the membership for a month but no. The payment was processed and they're not willing to apply it to March since we won't be here at all in Feb. If we wanted to show up for free for a month we obviously couldn't but they are happy to keep the money for the month we won't be able to attend at all! That's a shame and very disappointed. Double standards. They need at least 15 days notice before your billing date ( figure that out) to help. Like we don't have a million little pieces that already have to fall in place and track with having the entire family away for a month and the day to day life. With my membership renewal on the 24th I would have needed 15 days prior notice meaning should have told them a month before my travel, thing is I didn't know that we would be gone for a month, a month ago! This shouldn't be so hard to figure out. We are now rethinking the membership and it's a pity as we also take our kids to track out and pay for them too. Why keep the money when you could do the right thing by the principles that you try to perpetuate and simply apply the money to the following month. Not asking for a refund or anything!
We opted for this YMCA due to proximity to home but driving and extra 5 min to a different gym might not be the worst idea.
The showers and lockers leave a lot to be desired. Showers and shower curtains are full of mildew/mold, fixtures coming out of of the wall, some shower heads with low to no pressure due to lime accumulated.
Sauna and steam room need a deep clean as does the entire locker room. Towels are old and small and they limit at 2! At 130lbs in size xs to s I can barely wrap one around me! If you want one to go into the steam room it's soaked and would need another one for showering so forget about one for hair. Hair dryers are old and everything is dusty and none of the attachments fit.
There have been some upgrades to the equipment recently but it doesn't make up for the shortfalls.
I thought YMCA can do better than this!

I have been denied services multiple times at this location.

On 05/02, I signed up for the 5pm gentle Hartha Yoga class and was scanning my card at the front desk at 5pm. As I walked towards the room where the class was held (right across from the front desk), a staff member was closing the door and said I could no longer go in. I told them I was there on time but they insisted I couldn’t go in because "the door was close" even though he saw me walking towards him with my yoga mat as he was closing the door.

A couple of months ago, I signed up for a 6:45pm pilates class and was denied entry as well. I was there on time but they told me it was full. What is the point of signing up for a class if it doesn't guarantee me a spot in the class?

Take your money somewhere else.