Mississauga Burnhamthorpe Rd. YMCA Centre

I've been a gym member since 2000. Overall, lots of classes, variety of machines, the track is facing many large windows, changeroom decently clean. Lots of thieves though! Almost every 4 months, posters on the walls of women's changeroom warning us of thieves recently. Do not leave wallet/phone/car key in locker!! My locker got broken into and thief stole gym bag. I had a Dudley lock. Luckily, I don't bring valuables. All she stole was old clothes and a hair dryer.

Here a story about what happened on November 23rd approx 7:30pm at the gym. I have been going to the Y for few weeks as a new member to play badminton. My attire consisted of a t-shirt and shorts and I wore a jacket and sweatpants over it. When I get to the gym area, I just take off the outer layer and start playing. I signed up at this location to try out and see if I'll like it here. The staff is usually nice both at reception and the designated areas, but today I encountered a 'different' staff member. Like any other day I walk into the gym with my badminton bag and start to take off my outer clothes. Suddenly a person (black, 6 feet, medium build) comes up to me and says, "You know there is a change room here right?". I gave him a confused look because I've never seen this person or knew who he was. Then I responded to him: "I only took off my jacket and sweatpants, I didn’t change here". He then said, "You can’t leave your jacket here at the gym, it’s against the rules". I was coming here around 2 to 3 weeks and this was the first time hearing this rule. He told me it's because of theft reasons and everyone has to leave their belongings in the locker room, BUT my badminton bag is okay to stay at the gym but not my clothes. Let me mention here that I still had no idea who this guy was. He was just a guy wearing a black shirt and black track pants. So I tell him "no I’m not putting my clothes in the locker room, I've always left it here at the gym". First, I didn’t bring a lock with me and second, its way more uncomfortable leaving my stuff inside an unlocked locker than at the gym where I can see it. So at this point, I figured that he was probably one of the workers here because no regular person would bother me this much about my clothes. But I guess he didn’t think to introduce himself or wear a name badge to indicate that he was a staff. We argue for another few minutes and at the end he tells me "Look, you can go talk to the GM about it. If you didn’t know the rule, we can tell you about it". The nerve on this guy! He talked to me like he owned the place and his 'tone' that he was using wasn’t professional at all. So okay, I ask him "can I just put my clothes inside my bag then? I have enough room to put it away" because he told me earlier that my bag was fine to stay. He thinks about it and tells me "no you can't do that". Umm what? Why can’t I do that? I literally could have just gone out and stuff my jacket into the bag and reenter the gym and he wouldn’t have known. He was full of BS and I told him Im going home at this rate. This guy, with a smirk on his face, tells me "okay". Honestly at that point I started packing, but my friend who I met at the Y tells me that I should just wait until his shift is over because he's leaving soon and offered me to put my clothes in his locker if anything. So, I listened to my buddy and I did stay for few more minutes and waited. While waiting, the staff guy noticed that there was a jacket underneath the bench inside the gym. He asks around if it belonged to anyone, but no one replied. So he grabbed the jacket and tossed it outside and my buddy then asks if that’s any safer than being inside the gym and then he gives the ‘rule’ talk to my buddy. They continue to talk after and I overhear the staff guy say, "you know what, we encourage "walkers" here at the YMCA". And by walker, he meant people who "walk" out from the Y. Wow, what a guy. As soon as I heard that I pack up my stuff and marched straight to the reception to cancel my membership and asked talked to the upper management about this guy. The manager came out and I explained to her everything that the guy did. And on the side note I found out that his name was "Josh" or "Joshua" and I only found out because my buddy told me. Honestly, I don’t expect this guy to get fired but YMCA needs to educate this guy on manners and customer service. He may have worked there for a long time but you don’t speak to your "clients" in that manner. So there it is, I guess I'm one of the "walkers" that he was gloating about.

I have been a member since 2000 and I wouldn't sign up at any other gym but the Y. The membership price is very reasonable and competitive with other gyms that do not offer nearly as many activities as the Y does. Parking lot can get super busy at peak times and yes the floors can get crowded so for all the haters complaining about the crowds, stop going at peak times. For the other people complaining about theft, well...is it the Y's responsibility to secure your valuables? Unless they provide safety deposit boxes, I believe it would be the user's responsibility to secure one's valuables. It is not like they can install cameras in the change rooms so rule#1 of working out: leave your valuables at home. Not sure why someone would leave hundreds of dollars, electronics, other valuables in their locker unless they carry them with them while working out. It's common sense, not like you leave wallets or purses in your car on plain sight. The same goes for weights being all over the place, I don't think it is the staff's responsibility to clean up after you so if weights and equipment are all over the place is because people are not respecting the common space. Should the Y offer orientation upon sig ing up so people respect other people's boundaries? It's common sense, teaching people to respect people would eliminate 90%of the negative reviews. It is not a Y problem it is a people problem. The Y is amazing so stop hating because of a bad experience caused by somebody else other than staff or building facilities because from my experience they have always been spectacular. They offer vast activities such as: floor hockey, volleyball, soccer, taekwondo, yoga, pilates, spinning classes, badminton, table tennis, swimming pool, personal trainers, free weights, treadmills, elipticals, rowing machines, stairmaster, basketball, several group classes, running track, boxing sack, yoga mats, kettlebells, trx,etc. It is wheelchair accessible and definitely a place you want to be if you want to be healthy. Not your elite gym but an inclusive fitness centre where serving the community is a top priority. I have recommended this place over and over again and everyone I recommend it to signs up. I like it because it is a healthy athletic community that feels everyone feel welcome.

Been here a few times, overall not a bad place. Good for a quick workout. Really, only rating this place is because some of the other negative reviews of this place irk me. Reviews aren't meant to fulfill personal vendettas, they're meant to give an objective analysis of the establishment.

As a member of the YMCA I use their locations in Mississauga, Oakville and Burlington. This One has an outdated Gym but the swimming pool is good. The service is good too.