LAFitness Training Package Misrepresented Internet

The only positive thing I can say about this facility is that it has a lot of equipment (although some machines have remained broken for the six months I have belonged) Weights are left all over the place and hard to find (no re-racking takes place), fitness balls and bosu balls are flat  There is a lack of weights in the lighter range for women. Towels are a chronic shortage. 

The worst is that the salesman misrepresented the training package I bought.  I was asked how often I work out and I said twice a week and  was persuaded to buy a year's plan which would "lower" my  fee to $50/session.  Then, after I started,  I found out that a session is 30-min.  Recently, when signing up online, I found out it is for 25 min.  I am also being charged
for 8 sessions a month whether I use them or not.  True, they roll over into the next month, but if you go out of town or miss sessions, you wind seriously behind and unable to catch up.  Every other fitness center I have belonged to, I have bought a package for $50/session (a lower fee) when I buy 20 sessions at a time.  Then, I can use them as my schedule permits.  No so, here.  I am stuck with $400/month of sessions which are so short that we hardly get started when it is time to stop.  Yes, I could  do a double session, but I would be paying $100 for 50 minutes, which is what a really top of the line private trainer might charge--coming to my home. The training experience at LA Fitness is certainly not worth that price.

The trainers at the club try their best to keep up with the grueling schedule of back-to-back 25 min. sessions, but I sense that they are running ragged, underpaid and overworked. No trainer has complained to me, but you can tell they are on overload.  Moreover, if a previous client has held them over a bit (the computers and scheduling process are incredibly slow), then we are down to 20 minutes, and the poor trainer has no break. Worse, when I complained that I felt the training package was misrepresented to me and I was not satisfied with the experience, I was told my only recourse was to "buy out" my contract at 50% of its value, i.e pay them $1,200 to get out of the $2,400 remaining on my training package.  Buyer beware!  I wish I had read the reviews before I bought!!