You should check with a lawyer whether the Swiss law holds them responsible for the theft.  The Fédération Romande des Consommateurs can help you in that -- in exchange of a small annual fee, which is money well spent.

Holmes Place is a terrible gym!!! I have the misfortune to be a member although that will change soon as I don't intend to renew my membership especially because it offers no value for money altogether with poor service. It's sold as a posh gym but there's nothing posh about it. The fact that they were completely negligent regarding your theft confirms how poorly managed and irresponsible they are, not to mention careless!  

which gym will you join once you leave Holmes?

Hey guys,

thanks for replying to the thread.

@Omegaman: Thanks for the info. I only lost about 200 francs in cash as the thief for some very strange reason only took cash and left my cell phone and even put back my wallet. I'm not too concerned about the loss, just the fact that Holmes place doesn't seem to care about my peace of mind or security at the gym.

@Giankee: I've definitely seen Holmes place go downhill in the last 4 years. It's always crowded now even during "non-peak" times. As a member, I don't really ask for much. I keep to myself, do my workout and leave. But when I have a problem like this, you'd think they would be more concerned as the thefts likely affect other people too.

@Mike: I've been looking into Silhouette. Their clubs look pretty nice and there's one that's a lot closer to my home (Acacias) than Holmes place. Plus the membership fees are half what I pay at now. Also, I think they have a pool at the one in Bernex. The only thing is that their hours aren't as good, which for me is the only reason I stay with Holmes place.

ah, Silhouette----the nightmare Silhouette ! I go to the Eaux-Vive Sihouette, the dog shit all over around the side door entrance, poor air conditioning at the dressing floor; I've used once Jacuzzi and got skin infected! Plus the door man is staring at people as if we are all somehow illegal to be there. The administrative office clerks have absolutely no idea what does it means to provide the service to the customers! The Aerobic classroom lack of air when more or less 20 people doing sports together at the same time, and we are not allowed to open the window! of course this is not their concern at all, all what they care is to get our membership fees! Tell the truth, Silhouette is awful! 

The only reason I joined Holmes Place was for the opening times (one of only 2 I know of in Geneva that opens on a Sunday) but the facilities and condition of the place do not justify the cost. In Zug, I paid half as much for far superior equipment and surroundings.

In view of your experience, I have made up my mind to cancel my membership and join Harmony at La Praille. It's about the same price but there's better equipment, more space and a pool.

Great, so Silhouette is terrible too. I'll probably look into Harmony then. The website says their hours aren't so bad, except they close at 5pm on weekends during the summer. Plus they have a pool! In all honesty, as long as I can find a club with decent equipment and good customer service, they can have my money. Thanks David, for the info.

Let me hijack this thread: does anyone know a nice gym at/near Chambesy?

Acacias Silhouette is nice. Not as good as ICC Center once - but still nice. never got skin infection or any other problems. I can recommend it.

Ed...if youre a registered resident of Chambesy, get yourself along to the mayors office in Pregny and buy a annual sports membership. It costs CHF80, and for that you can use the pool and the tennis courts at the sports centre...(down the road from the trois coqs)...and the Plage privee which is closed off and separate from the big plage at the Chambesy lake side...it has also changing facilities, clean WC's and a huge BBQ..

The pool is a 25m one with lanes for lengths, as well as changing facilities and a restaurant... deck chairs etc are provided free of charge.

In fact its all free after you pay your annual fee, and the card is good for two poeple.

As to actual gyms.... in Geneva theyre pretty much all bad... however, there are a couple of good ones outside if you have a car,,, eg in Collex Bossy, or Mies.

Additionally if you want super luxury... the Gym and Spa at the Hotel La Reserve is apparently top notch with personal trainers etc and comparatively (Service/Hygiene/equipement ect) not that much more money.

Alternatively you can go for the personal trainer touch in Chambesy.. http://www.personaltrainergeneva.com/index.html

Apparently Tamara is a fox....

the residents pool thing is defo money well spent in my book.. 

@ Charlie - thanks; that sports membership is a pretty good deal. I'd heard about the beach but not the pool, will check it out. I'll also have a look at clubs in Collex-Bossy or Mies - any recommendations there?.

I was a member of Holmes Place about 6 years ago and was disappointed... The service wasn't good nor followups, however they were quick to ask for money and didn't care for the rest. So I left that club.

Now I go to Harmony at La Praille and sometimes Balexert. It's a good place and they are open on weekends. At La Praille, they close at 9:30pm on week nights and at 5pm on weekends but only until August 28th. After this date, they will close at 7pm on weekends.

Many collective classes and big room to do individual training. A pool and spacious locker room. I'm happy with this club.

Good luck with your search...

The silhouette in Mies (by the roundabout as you enter Versoix direction Gve ) behind the Krav Maga training centre is supposed to be good...well . it was good enough for Arnold Schwartzenegger when he popped in last month.... hes starting a NGO in Versoix... hence his visit.

The one in Collex, you'll have to go see, its small, but according to a friend who lives near by (ex rugby pro) its well equipped and costs are less than gva and there is the odd eye candy in there (which helps).

Thanks. I'll have a look at both this weekend or Monday.

Holmes Place has, by very far, the worst customer service in Geneva...wait a minute, did I just write "service" ? they are not interested in providing service by any means, all they want is your money. My wife and I are leaving the country, they want to continue charging us even though our contracts are coming to an end. We have been unable to talk to the person supposedly in charge of "customer retentions" despite several attempts. I am seriously considering getting in touch with a lawyer to sort this out. Anyone willing to share stories? I happen to know someone who used to work at Holmes Place - the terms of their contract are intentionally not clearly drafted so that customers are, let's face it, legally abused. They make me sick. If a lawyer cannot help, I will be glad to talk to some journalist friends who will love the story. 

I belong to Harmony and frequent the one at Balaxert which is the smallest one of the group.  In general the staff is super friendly and the machines are really new and nice.  The classes are decent and the free weights are in multiple sets so you don't have to wait for your turn as much.

The locker rooms require you to drop off your ID to obtain a locker key - not sure if that makes it more or less safe?

However my one complaint is that the gym get very overcrowded and... well, "pungent".  Its to the point where I'm considering writing a letter - if they have policy that requires you to have clean and fresh trainers a well as to clean off the machines after each use, I would think the same thing goes for one's personal hygiene/body! 

Hey BigDaddy, I had the same thing happen at Holmes Place about a year ago.  I did not know it happened until a week later and spent time racking my brain on how I lost just shy of 200 Francs out of my wallet.  It turned out the lock I was using (my own) was not big enough to lock the lockers, you could turn the latch with it locked and open the locker (nice system).  They were not much help (it was a week later), but I did change locks and make it a point to tell people when I see them using locks that do not work there.  I have a while to go on my membership.... I like the hours and the location, but other than that, not much of a place.

Dan

So happy! Finally get rid off the memebrship in this horroble place.Never again!

As said Nancy_Geneva, service quality was just rubbish, but they never forgot to ask for money! Also, last summer it tooka a place a massive advertising campaign. Result, huge number of new members in the same, relatively small place. Sigh....

So where to go? Silhuette in ICC (mamy in city center, etc) or new Harmony Fitness Center in Blandonnet Business center, opening late November 2011.

Never herd nothing wroing about Harmony (only 2 relatively big clubs_ La Praille and Balexert).

A. Schwarzeneger has been seen doing his gym in Silhuette in Mies. :-)

Only bad stuff about Holmes.

:-(

Cheers,

A colleague had his fancy/expensive watch stolen from his locker at Holmes Place last year. His complaint was managed just as badly as yours. 

Yeah, I don't know why holmes place keeps the current club manager. The service is terrible, and seeing how many people have problems with them, it's pretty clear the problem starts at the top. Even when I asked to end my membership, the club manager kept dragging his ass despite giving me verbal confirmation that he'd started the process. I had to talk to the assistant to the manager in charge of "membership retention" before they finally cancelled my membership. The most annoying thing is afterwards, the club manager sent me an email making it sound like they were doing me such a huge favor. The stupidest part is that all they had to do was to address my concerns when I first asked for help and I would never have even thought about quitting their stupid club.

I had started writing a letter and was going to send it to the head office letting them know how incompetent I felt their service was. I still might, but at this point I have other things I'd rather do than think about their overpriced club. For anyone who wants to know though, the address to the head office is:

Holmes Place Lifestyle Clubs GmbH

Charlottenstrasse 65

10117 Berlin, Germany

Tel: 030-20 91 48 48

I think they'd be more likely to listen to complaints if you contacted them directly instead of trying to get ahold of the Geneva club manager.

I have only good things to say about my gym, Topform.

http://www.fitness-topform.ch/

It's only convenient if you can easily get to the airport from where you live or work, though.

They also do corporate rates for the larger companies. 

Whilst it's outside of Geneva, I go to Atlantide Fitness in Gland, nothing but great things to say about the place, the staff are all absolutely brilliant, personable and genuine! I was with a friend, who paid for just one session, he planned out his exercises and wanted to grab a sauna at the end, though he got a little carried away, and ran until 10 minutes before closing, obviously not leaving time for a sauna, he asked the staff, who said unfortunately there wasn't time, but he was welcome to come the next day for free...which he did. BRILLIANT service!

The staff know your name, they're genuinely chatty and interesting people, not the faceless husks you find in other gyms!

Membership isn't cheap, but this is Switzerland, so you get used to that!

Highly recommended though if you live near Gland!

I'm currently a member of Silhouette and use the one in Paquis - I guess this is the one described as ICC by people above, right? To be honest the place is filthy. The changing rooms and shower area are just disgusting. I really wanted to use the sauna but, considering the general state of the place, there was no way I was going in there. Don't get me wrong, I'm not the kind of person who is obsessive about cleaning but I stopped going there ages ago because of the lack of hygiene. I guess that's what a cheaper gym gets you!

I've not seen the Harmony gyms yet. Holmes place didn't seem worth it for the money when I went for a trial. After reading the above stories, I definitely won't go there now.

I just went for the first time to a crossfit place on Rue de Lyon (www.crossfitgva.com). I really like the concept. It's not a conventional gym with rows of cardio and weights machines. It’s more about  teaching you how to use your body as a whole in workouts and is driven by classes. I found it way more motivating than just getting on a treadmill or doing a circuit on weights machines. I think if you're really serious about getting fit, then it could be really good for you. I'm going to sign up for the introductory course. If anyone else has signed up I'd been interested to know what you thought of it

Ah, thanks! I meant the one in Paquis

I've sent them a message (management in Germany) - twice. Nobody has responded.

Come on, this sounds nothing like Maunoir.

What dog shit?

Doorman? Where?

Granted the air conditioning system leaves a lot to be desired, but since when are we not allowed to open the doors to air during class breaks.

Silhouette is not perfect by a mile but is great value for money if you have a little motivation. Some (but not all) excellent instructors.

Does anyone knows Holmes Place insurance company and has their reference number?

About  2 month ago my locker was broken and some of my valuable possession were stollen. The club manager is very reluctant to provide me with the name of their insurance company every time coming out with  reduculous excuses. 

So please if you had been in a similar situation and filed a report in order for your insurance to cover the loss, let me know the name of Holmes Place insurance.

Regards

Wow I am surprised about this topic. For sure I'll be more careful at Holmes Place with my belongings. So far no troubles at all, but I barely speak with people in there... 

It disgusts me that after so long, they still have the same attitude towards their clients as when I was there. I haven't been with Holmes Place for over a year, and I haven't missed it one bit. My advice would be to first file a police report about the theft (I think you have up to 6 months, but I'm not sure) and then contact the head office. They might be more inclined give you information if you have a police report. Be sure to tell them who you spoke to and when. The worst case scenario would be you contacting your own insurance company to get them to find out the company of Holmes Place. 

Do you have the name of the manager you spoke to? This isn't just out of curiosity, I'd like to know if it's the same one that I had to deal with. To say he was unhelpful would be an understatement. I documented all the problems he gave me and saved all the email correspondence with him (which is what I'd suggest you do as well) as a record just in case. Also, should you decide to quit the gym, which is what I did, and the club manager wants to meet with you, just say no. He cancelled our meetings twice on me at the last minute and then when I told him I was quitting, despite assuring me that he had everything in order, it turns out he never even mentioned it to the manager in charge of "membership retention". I had to threaten to contact the head office before they did anything. When he finally sent me an email confirming the termination of my membership, the wording made it sound like I was the one making trouble and that he was doing me such a huge favor.

From what I could find online, there might be a new head office. The information is:

Holmes Place Group Head office  
Leidsegracht 38-40 - 1016 CM Amsterdam - The Netherlands 
Phone: 31(0)20 52 13 040  [email protected]

I'd recommend calling along with email. It's hard for them to ignore a call, and email will provide you with a written record.

In case I'm wrong, you could also try the number for the Berlin office I wrote previously.