John A. Davis Family YMCA

allan haller

the cleanest YMCA facility i know of. Also i lost my wallet and it was returned with every last penny intact. Clean towels always provided. i highly recommend John A Davis Family YMCA. allan r haller

Dolores Cde Baca

I am also trying to stop my membership at this gym. The pool was closed over Thanksgiving break and the pool and workout facility was closed over the Winter holiday. All the while, I was paying for them to be closed while I have extra time to workout and the desire to be healthier. It was my goal to maintain my weight loss over the holidays and so I learned how to workout at home using YouTube for free since the gym I pay for was closed. The staff actually turned me away at the door twice in this process and suggested that I drive to a location in Santee during this time but it is inconvenient to drive that far from my house. How is this promoting a healthy lifestyle? Like most people, I have a very demanding schedule so when I make time in my day to workout and I have paid the membership, I expect to exercise and not be turned away. When I did go to another location and I went through the front door, the staff there asked me to wait because they said I had an NSF charge- which is completely ridiculous! They did not apologize for the accusation or for detaining me at the front door - that was the City Heights location on El Cajon Blvd. The only reason that I did not gain weight was because of my own determination. When I went into the La Mesa YMCA when it was finally open again, I didn't give them 10 days notice to cancel, I gave them 9 days and they still couldn't cancel and charged my account again so I'm stuck. No one even apologized for the further inconvenience. So that I don't waste my money, I am forced to drive out of my way because I don't want to continue to deal with this incompetent staff. They sure could charge my account immediately when I set up the membership but couldn't cancel it within 9 days. DO NOT JOIN THE LA MESA YMCA- you are better off on your own!

Kathryn Ghiorso

This YMCA is very small, with not too big of a selection of weights, and workout space. In addition, they only have one stair master, but a ton of available treadmills and stationary bicycles. The stair master is always in use when I'm there, and it's frustrating to not be able to use it, since it's my main form of cardio due to my knees. The staff is friendly, but this is not worth the high monthly cost. Most likely will be switching gyms soon.

C.D. Castro

My roomie and I are currently looking for a place to become members for regular workouts. Very impressed by the professionalism and warmth in an initial phone conversation with a woman named Judy about their amenities, and class schedules–I had high hopes that this YMCA would be an ideal place to join. I visited last week on a 2-Day Pass, with the intent of taking my daughter's to use the pool, and at the same time, tour the place and hopefully, sign-up. To our dismay, we were told the pool was closed for maintenance, but to call the next day because it would more than likely be open. Sabrina took us on a tour of the facility while we were there. She was friendly and informative and I was further impressed with the competency of the staff. The place is smaller than other YMCAs, but nestled in a nice, peaceful area, at the end of a solitary road behind the Seau Park. It appeared clean, and there was ample parking available, and wasn't crowded when we were there. There was a good number of gym equipment, and comfortable areas to work out. We returned the next day and again received a professional welcome at the front office. I was convinced to join and intended to register before we left, after our swim. I wasn't so convinced after our swim though. Firstly, the lifeguard on duty hollared out to my daughter, as she swam past the 4'6 mark of the pool, "Young lady! Stay on this side... (motioning right with her hand towards the shallow end where my younger daughter and I were) You can't pass that point." Confused and startled, my daughter swam back towards me. Having read the rules on the second page of their pool schedule posted online, and also given an exact hard copy of it when on the tour, to my knowledge, their facility's rule as it should apply to my daughter's is "Ages 7-12: may use the aquatics facility with guardian, or if the guardian is located in the facility. Guardian must check the child in to the pool." No where does it restricted space to a quarter of the pool area (half the length of the pool was divided into 2 swim lanes and the other half was divided into 2 parts, in which my daughter was further restricted access to). My daughter, who is 12, may look younger than she is because of height, but she certainly looks older than 7, has been swimming since she was 4, and if observed for a minute, was clearly an able swimmer . Furthermore, the lifeguard didn't ask her her age, or see if she could pass the "swim test" as stated on their same pool regulation as their way of gauging a swimmers ability to be left unattended. She was denied use of certain areas of the pool, no reason or rule given. Note, aside from one other swimmer (who was using one of the sectioned off swim lanes) we were the only ones in the pool. The lifeguard didn't deem my daughter able to swim in the area provided, but she later considered her a good ebough swimmer to ask for her to position the floating line that she wanted in place to constrict her swim area to so she wouldn't have to get in the pool herself and get wet doing! If my daughter wasn't so welcoming of the challenge, I would have left right then. Also, lifeguard shift was changing so I thought I wouldn't have to deal with anything more. Wrong. As I was poolside aiming downward and snapped a photo of JUST MY girls as they floated together, the life guard yelled that there was no picture taking allowed. The swimmer in the swim lane, who apparently was a long time member for years, even questioned the directive as we both were under the impression that their rule was, as it reads, "PHOTOGRAPHY To protect everyone’s privacy, we ask that you refrain from taking photos of the pool. If a photo can be taken in a manner in which only yourself or your children are in the frame, you may take photos. During swim lessons, we ask that you only take photos on the last day of class in the aforementioned...." I even mentioned having read the rules, but the lifeguard wouldn't listen. Disappointed and disgruntled, I packed us up and left.