levi michaud

Review of Apple Athletic Club

I m giving this place two stars only because the m...

I m giving this place two stars only because the members themselves were so friendly. But do NOT come here if you are out of town.

We came to the front desk of the Apple athletic club bright eyed and excited. Our goal was to find a place to play pickleball while visiting my mom. We asked if we could get a free guest pass (because it said online that we could). The people at the front desk said yes, then asked if we were residents. We said no, were from San Diego. They said then you ll have to pay a daily rate of $15 each. That s very expensive, especially since they only play a short period of time, and we don t even know what level of play (if any) to expect. I have never experienced prices this high for pickleball EVER, and San Diego is more expensive than Idaho! The guy at the counter said he couldn t help us anyway, that we had to talk to a sales rep. He called her over and in walked Katie the worst sales rep ever.

She told us we had to pay $15ea for a day or $35ea for a week. Although I was quite certain she might be able to do something more reasonable for us, it was clear she wouldn t. We didn t want to pay $30+tax a day for one day (15x2) and then $70+tax later (35x2) if we liked it, because then we d pay a total of $100+tax just to play pickleball 2 hr a day for 4 days!

What if we play and we don t like it, could we get a refund if it s not what we re looking for?

No, unfortunately we don t offer refunds.

Can we at least go in and see it, to see if we d like it? To see if anyone s even playing?

No, we actually can t let you into the facility without paying. But there is someone who works here who is a high level player who would know more.

Can we talk to him?

No, he s not here.

Can you at least call him for us, or give us his number?

Sorry I can t give out his private information.

Is there anyone else we can talk to, to address our concerns regarding level of play: how many (if any) players, if there is anywhere cheaper?

No, sorry we can t let you talk to anyone without paying.

Is there a website we can look at? A Facebook page, maybe?

No, sorry.

Okay... so we drive all this way to be told we have to pay all this money or leave. From the way she explained it, I didn t expect Idaho falls to have anywhere else to play pickleball, which, if you know the sport, is very addictive. So, resisting the urge to just leave, I cave and pay $75 (with tax) to play. Upon entering, I m glad to see about 20 or so players here. The people are friendly and very surprised to hear about our bad experience. After talking to a few of them, it turns out there is another place to play (more our level of play) that s FREE!

A couple of these lovely members grabbed our contact info so they could get us more connected during our visit (which would have saved us a LOT of headache if we could have done so sooner). A few even went to the staff to see if they could maybe make amends, but, not to our surprise, the staff did nothing. (That same brunette sales rep even walked through the courts later without batting an eye at us).

I feel like Apple athletic club took advantage of us because we are out of town. If you are lucky enough, avoid the guy at front with beard and tattoos, and some sales rep lady named Katie . Or even better, go somewhere else (although, I do hate to say this because the members themselves are friendly). Albeit to say, whatever reason you are looking to visit Apple Athletic Club, they just want your money.