Iron Kingdom Heidelberg

Pretty bad experience at this gym - my son was overcharged once he cancelled his gym membership and he had hardly understood the ridiculous conditions of exit from them - criminal, fraudulent and deceptively advantageous in many ways
No stars - had to complete one star to submit review

Awesome gym, massive free weights area and heaps of best equipment for bodybuilding!
Also, very nice members and amazing staff!

Ridiculous contract and cancellation policy - will charge $250 for cancellation regardless of interstate relocation even after 9 months of attending with no consideration of circumstance. They are purely money driven and have zero idea of community. Staff are unsure of policies and owners/managers are never available to discuss questions they always just pass on information. Hip Thrust machine was always out of order and never able to be used. Can find much better gyms out there with better equipment, staff and community. Not worth the membership and barely worth the 1 star.

If toxic masculinity could be a gym, this gym would be it. Not surprising at all after meeting the staff. So glad I had a casual entry first instead of just signing up, definitely would’ve regretted it!

Worst gym in Melbourne! Not a single wipe to clean equipment, loud and annoying music, veryyy rude front desk staff, there’s never a parking spot available and now I’ve been wanting to cancel my membership due to a medical condition but they didn’t accept the medical certificate and still wanted to charge me $250. And now they’re still taking money every week even tho I haven’t been able to go to the gym!

I thought i would give this gym the benefit of the doubt, however do NOT spend money at this gym, the owner is arrogant and very money hungry and not respectable at all.there are many other gyms in the area that are better

My experience with this gym has been horrible no one should be threatened with physical violence especially When it’s coming from the owner. They charged my account throughout the Covid lockdown and now have the audacity to ask for more money that I DO NOT owe and I will not be intimidated by the likes of them and I just hope that other members get out while they still can. I signed the cancellation form which the owner took right out of my hands claiming that he can’t accept it which was a LIE all so they can keep taking YOUR money. Now let me ask you do you really want to go to a gym where you’ll get text messages about gym equipment not being put away and most likely being chased by debt collectors? I know it is unfair which is why you’ll receive a better experience at other gyms even the police officer recommended a MUCH better and safer gym

Recap
. Owner is EXTREMELY rude
. They will show NO compassion towards you
. And if you cross paths with the owner it won’t be a great experience I promise you that

Beautiful gym, but they need to add a disclaimer to not being able to deadlift heavy. As it must drown out the terrible music and constant grunting and screaming going on.

Would rate it 0 stars if I could.

Extremely rude and arrogant staff member/owner. One apparent "PT" was disgustingly rude regarding me forgetting my towel. He belittled me and aggressively forced me to leave the gym, that bloke has some serious anger issues.

Owner is also quite aggressive, literally came up to my face and told me to leave as I had parked in the "wrong spot" despite being no parking outside what so ever. Where was I supposed to park? 1km down the road? Why open a gym with no proper parking arrangements in place? I'm sure there are many similar stories to other members during the gym transition.

Much better gyms out there to give your hard earned cash to.

Love this gym.the equipment is awesome it’s clean and everyone is really friendly joined 2 months and best thing I ever did.

The business owner and management at this gym must be smoking something strange or fail to have any commonsense. I was informed I needed 30 days to cancel my membership which I provided to the gym and the person at the reception said this was fine and he would put it through and record that and I didn’t need to sign anything. As a member for 1.5 years you would believe that there was nothing further required form myself. Around 60 days later I noticed that my account continued to be direct debited after the 30 day period ended despite not using the gym. When I approached the gym to enquire about this they said they had no records of me cancelling which i could not believe and they said the person I spoke to had now left. They would not listen to me and said records were not taken and I needed to provide another 30 days notice therefore stealing in effect an extra 2 months worth of fees from me amounting to around $180. I could not believe what I was hearing which was blatant fraud and theft but they kept saying I owed them that money and if I did not pay they would send this off to a debt collection agency to chase me. I am considering legal action and paid the money to the gym to get them off my back for fear of defaulting me on my credit file as I am buying a new car in finance shortly and worried they will default me. I also told them I was disgusted and that I would have my brother and girlfriend cancel their memberships as a result and they continued to lie and say they had no records of my conversation with the receptionist to cancel. I took photos and videos of my written cancelation to them that they requested this time due to them being fraudulent in case they tried this trick again. As a consequence they have also now lost 2 and additional 2 x memberships when I informed my brother and girlfriend of this which they were disgusted in costing them approx $1,800 in annual membership fees for both. I had both of them take photos and videos of their cancellation to avoid any dicey behavior as it seems management try to goad and trick you out of extra money to them so my brother and girlfriend were extra careful and videotaped passing on their written cancelation notices to avoid the same thing happening. Don’t be be tricked by them as they will try and take extra money from you. I am in disbelief as to how I have been treated and in shock as I have never had this happen to me before apart from Nigerian scammers or Indians ringing up randomly to encrypt or defraud you into some scheme over the telephone. I’m stunned and considering legal action, informing Banyule City Council, Consumer Affairs, local media outlets and the ACCC. Has anyone else experienced similar issues as would be interested in banding together to raise the issue further to avoid others suffering this kind of treatment. The behavior and treatment I was subjected to was deplorable!

The gym are desperate to take your hard earned money at all costs by creating unknown costs, fines and fees and charges to your account. If there was a zero rating they would get that. When attempting to cancel your membership they will slug you in the backside and try and extract as much money from you illegally. Per the other reviews they deliberately ignored peoples request to cancel their memberships whilst Covid was on by pretending to never respond to your requests so they could continue taking your money. No documentation provided to clients, poor record keeping and communication and they verbally confirmed my membership was cancelled so I stoped using the facilities but than lied and said that was never agreed to and sent me documentation saying I was still a member and needed to provide notice to cancel - when I disputed this they failed to listen, lied and kept sending documentation saying I owed money - when I refused to pay they threatened debt collection so I was conned out of hundreds of dollars in illegal fees. Criminal, desperate and fraudulent like behavior from management - dont bother joining this gym as they will rip you off and it’s not worth the stress - have a read of the email trails and you will see a common occurrence - I’m staggered they are still open. Disgraceful desperate and fraudulent activities by this gym to steel your money.

As shifty as a shithouse rat. They are criminal thugs that are deceptive about contracts and lie to their members, don’t answer the phone or try and find ways to prevent members from cancelling.

The toilets there also reek and smell like a rat has died in them. The basins are fungating and there is also mould in the change rooms.

Bunch of dogs - stay clear at all costs.

Be very very careful when joining this gym. During Covid lockdowns they continued to direct debit my account for services not rendered which is illegal. Several attempts were made to stop the weekly payments coming out of my account via telephone, email and post which were all ignored. After weeks of no response and hundreds of dollars of lost fees I cut off my direct debits with my bank and served them written notice that I wished to cancel my membership as I was under no contract and only a weekly membership. When the gym re-opened they continued sending me text messages claiming I owed money to them and increasing fees without justification via text when I was not even a member claiming I owed exorbitant and extraordinary fees which was unbelievable. I couldn’t believe the way I was being treated and when I indicated I would not be taking up a new membership they tried to extract as much money from me as possible by continuing to send text messages weekly increasing the fee when I never even attended the gym and was under no contract because I cut off my direct debits and informed them of my gym cancellation. They said if I owed fees than I can’t cancel my membership. Originally as a goodwill gesture I said I would pay them $50 to settle the dispute but they wanted admin and all these other fees that they could not justify. I requested a breakdown of what the fees were for and they didn’t provide any information and illegally tried to tie me into a non existent membership and outsourced the debt to a collection agency which has spiked and now at circa $400 which could impact my credit file. I will not pay based on principle and feel like I am being manipulated to try and get as much money out of me as possible and have lodged complaints with ACCC, Consumer Affairs and will take them to VCAT. I’ve never been treated so appallingly in my life and feel like I am being defrauded illegally so they can try and get as much money as possible. Facilities and equipment are great but be very very careful around joining and leaving the gym as I hope nobody is treated in the same manner.

Stealing money throughout lockdown. It’s against Australian Consumer law and when I and many other asked for a refund the owner simply replied with “we do not do refunds. ”

They charged money throughout lockdown I ask to cancel the membership and they charged my account after lockdown FOR YOUR OWN SAKE DON'T CONSIDER THIS GYM, THE MANAGEMENT IS HORRENDOUS!

Still charging members even though they are closed and telling members they ‘cannot refund’. This is against ACCC saying they are not allowed to charge. The gym states they are suffering as they are not getting financial support from the government however not considering that their members are in the same situation and are struggling.

Good gym ruined by management. Shut down their Heidelberg location with no notice to members. Membership conditions are extremely vague and management try to use those conditions to enforce $250 fines which are illegal under consumer law. Eg.you could be fined for using your mobile in the gym. Explains why members have left in droves, the gym is near empty most nights.

This GYM is one of the most unprofessional places ever. They used to run from Heidelberg and forced to shut down by the council. They opened up the GYM again during covid without any communication. Had to know that they reopened only from their page on Instagram. Asked to keep my membership on hold as I am not getting full access to the GYM as per my contract but they asked me to pay suspension fees of 6$ per week (they said as per my contract). Asked them to send my contract and they ignored me so I had to block their account from my bank. Later on they took my case to a debt collector and I asked about my contract again. The debt collector sent me a copy of my contract and I found that there is no 6$ suspension fe mentioned in my contract. Its just a fee thy lied about to steal money from their customers. The contract clearly states that they offer 24/7 service which they were not providing when I asked for a suspension.
Overall, the worst GYM to go to as they do not value their customers. I’ve heard a lot of customers are now even been charged while he gym is closed. I suggest all affected customers to file a one suit against them so this GYM can shut once and for all.

Signed up at their heidelberg heights gym on a 1 year membership only for them to cease operating 3 weeks later. When I asked for a refund I was told that they would not reimburse. Dodgy, don't trust as others have mentioned