Mindbody

Avantages

I have used Mindbody from both sides of the fence, one as a user as well as a business owner. What I liked most as a user is that it's simple to use and allows the user to get a gambit of various class offerings without having to go to various different websites or apps. If you're looking for a yoga class at a certain time, a certain location- it gets you there and lets you book it right from the app.

Inconvénients

This is strictly from the business side, it's a little clunky to use and again this is from the business side- the costs did increase over time with the add-ons. This can be very problematic because the up-sells didn't necessary equate to more guests to the mediation studio we were working through.

Alternatives envisagées 

Avantages

My Art & Piano School enrolled in MindBody's basic package back in December 2013.
The school consists of myself as the founder/instructor and my office manager.

We needed a platform to schedule or reschedule individual piano lessons or group art classes from her laptop and phone, provide reminder emails to students and print daily attendance charts to pull student folders and set up the classroom.

Enrollment and payment are done in-house, not through the scheduling platform for security purposes. (We don't want adults booking seats in children's classes or vice versa.)

Their technical support was pretty good about the wait time and their phone staff was courteous and helpful.

Up until October 2018, we were happy with MindBody and its affordable bare-bones package.
Then they discontinued their basic package and doubled the price.

I was sent into panic mode trying to find another similar company. Thankfully the company we switched to was just starting up and looking for clients. Their bare-bones package is less than what MindBody was charging us before the really big rate hike.

If MindBody had kept their basic affordable package, we would still be with them.

Inconvénients

The price hike and discontinuation of their basic package. We did not need all the bells and whistles they were sticking us with. We do our billing and scheduling in-house for security purposes. Running a small art and piano school providing affordable tuition to the community is our focus. Too bad MindBody didn't see a way to support the little guys.

Avantages

I like that you can do everything in Mindbody. From booking appointments, reminders, charting, using it on the go from your phone, managing inventory, waitlists, SOAP Notes, HIPPA compliant, scheduling, and payroll among others.

Inconvénients

For a medium to large clinic this is a wonderful softward to invest in. If you are a small business like myself, there are almost too many features. It is better to go for a more basic alternative at a lower price point. Also, as an Acupuncturist I work with Qi, and it's silly, but I find the design and layout doesn't appeal to me.

Avantages

The software was very easy to use, loved that I had my own ap. Made booking for my clients very easy and made the appearance of my company look and feel welcoming, inviting and legit.

Inconvénients

I was with MindBody for over 3 years and then they restructured their company. The sent a letter out about a price increase that was "coming". When I received my letter of price increase .... it was not a PRICE INCREASE it was a gauge into a small business. It was a price increase of 300%. Not a type-o ... 300%!!!!! I called them multiple times and asked, begged them to adjust the pricing to help a small business. Their response .... "sorry its our new policy". The big issue was that I wanted to keep my existing app that was already created, already hosted and they wanted to charge me a ridiculous price to also keep my app active and online.

Avantages

Being listed among my competitors and found by other users.

Inconvénients

This is the most expensive and clunky application I have ever attempted to use. The back end is just awful. I signed up for three months because Mindbody said it would take that long to see results. At the end I was out $500 and didn't get a single new lead.

I am pretty tech savvy when it comes to using online programs and software. This program was such a headache. I didn't need all the bells and whistles they offered. I just wanted to manage my clientele. It was so difficult that I ended up just setting up the basics and, after I received no leads and, they wanted more money for promotion, etc. I cancelled.

They continue to call and email me to try to get me to sign up again. I keep asking to be removed from the list.

It is awful that Mindbody has such a hold on the market. There are such better products out there that charge less and function better. Don't feel trapped by them. Get out and search for something else if you are unhappy and, especially if, you are losing money.

Avantages

The only time there was any helpful customer service was in getting everything set up, during the trial period. This disappeared after the trial period was up.

Inconvénients

For providing a service, this company has to have the worst costumer service I've ever experienced. Every single email or website request triggers and auto-response that claims they're experiencing higher customer service volume than normal. And yet, this has never not been the case. We lost count of the hours we spent on hold on the phone actually trying to get a hold of someone. After accumulating customers on their platform, they try and lock you in, and wanted to charge us $600 to transfer our existing customers to another merchant account processing service. We ended up keeping the service only to not disrupt our current customers' experience. Terrible service. Highly recommend avoiding this company's services at all cost.

Avantages

It is pretty widespread so if you frequent establishments that use it, and you've learned how to operate then it wouldn't be so bad.

Inconvénients

As a user, the experience of encountering the Mind Body system on some places website is a pain... and as someone who has implemented into a website, it's also a pain.

Avantages

As a web designer, it's great to have an integrated software that allows people to directly sign up for consultations, schedule times, reach out, and have it all go directly into the system. This eliminates the needs for Zaps, manual data entry, or custom coding.

Inconvénients

The forms sure are ugly! Plus, it's difficult to customize. Plus, if you happen to make a mistake setting things up, and the notification emails are sent to the wrong place (oops), there is no way to find those submissions. Sorry about that, fitness company I work for.

Avantages

I ran my spa business for years on this plateform. I would recomend that anyone in the business of booking clients have an app. Mindbody did pay for itself and the email feature for the first year was awesome.

Inconvénients

For a small spa this is a big program and can have too many options. I would recommend it for a medium (4-5 person) or larger outfit.

Avantages

I’m sure they software would have been great however problem after problem with the support team on setting up days to train to management over charging us and refusing to work with us regarding that’s it was a nightmare and a huge waste of moneys.

Inconvénients

Problem after problem with support trying to get the software going, we were very excited to change to this system, however, being billed for a system that we couldn’t use was a little more than silly. We assigned to a tech that couldn’t work with the hours we need to have staff training, we were not offered another tech with hours that worked for our salon team.
Ever month I tried to get this going excluding canceling clients to accommodate ... so silly?!! Yes.
In the end, I canceled and the company overcharged me a month.
One of the sales members reached out about a year later and offered to help to get me back on the system, I was very greatful and happy as I had heard great things about the software. In the end, I ended up speaking with a very condescending manager about what not only what they were not willing to offer any support for the 7 months of paying and no software but he charged my card twice saying I owed money and didn’t follow threw with providing me access to the site when promised. Very stressful to deal with people who take your money and you can’t get ahold of. I would recommend using another provider if you care about your money

Avantages

This is a great booking, tracking and payments system. Overall it will have all the functionality you will want. Client tracking, payment processing, booking and availability and so much more. customizable to your specific needs.

Inconvénients

The drawback is you will be stuck with the high rates and fees of the payment processing portion of this software, usually 30 percent higher than the industry. It also has a very slow and tedious import export process for client data, which most owners don't have the time to mess with.

Avantages

Mindbody is super easy to integrate into my client's webpages, and allows them to manage appointment bookings, online sales, and staff scheduling with ease. The automated marketing function is really user-friendly, and allows them to connect with clients, promote their businesses and helps drive positive reviews.

Inconvénients

The app can be buggy at times (sign-in issues, booking errors, long loading times) which has lead to frustrated calls from customers of my clients. From a consultant standpoint, load times for the desktop version to my clients' webpages can also be improved.

Avantages

I wish I had something good to say about Mindbody, but the cost, lack of visual appeal, functionality for both the studio owners and customers, and horrible customer support leaves me speechless.

Inconvénients

Mindbody needs to focus on their software and not their Bold Conferences. They have so many clients leaving them because they have dropped the ball, deflated it, and are looking at it on the ground.

Avantages

The software was very intuitive and easy to use for the most part.

Inconvénients

The con's about the software is that it would often have glitches and down time where we couldn't be using it. It runs the business so it was a huge issue when this was happening. The support wasn't great either.

Avantages

This eliminated the lost wages and wasted time of missed appointments that were communicated solely between the trainer and client. It also holds more trainers accountable for being on time. It was always frustrating for me when I was there to train my own client but had to take time to tell the client of someone who did not show up what they should do. I did that to be nice, I was not paid for it, it was extra work that penalized the people with work ethics. This was a game-changer from those not-that-long-ago days.

Inconvénients

Nothing!! I am glad it even exists! It has been nothing but positive in the sometimes-chaotic world of fitness.

Avantages

Mostly as a consumer, I liked how easy it was to use. The app always worked it was easy to navigate on my phone and I could easily book classes and appointments.

Inconvénients

A lot of gyms use this program to let individuals book classes. I wish that you could keep track of your progress better in the app. Including weight tracking and progress.

Avantages

Nothing good to say. Just shocking experience and can't wait for refund and cancellation! Total negligent misrepresentation of the sale agreement as I had told the sales person of the 3 locations
our business operates in and she even got the addresses of all 3 but failed to inform me that to have all 3 locations listed on Mindbody would require 3x the subscription fees!

Inconvénients

Misrepresentation on sales call. When I demanded a refund, the customer service told me that she would help me "build a case" in the request and that it would take 7-10 days for her to find out if it is successful. Excuse me? You legally misrepresented a key term of the sales agreement and now you want me to wait for the case to be deliberated? Do you want to be sued for legal misrepresentation? When I asked to speak with her supervisor, she told me she also needs to send a request form for that and it may take days for them to get back to me. Totally agree with all other reviewers here about terrible customer service and difficulty to cancel the subscription. Really wish I never had signed up with them!

Avantages

Easy to use and recognizable. Built in adds sometime draw people to your business when they are searching for services and locations.

Inconvénients

Cost- way overpriced and necessary features cost extra. We strive to keep overhead low so we can offer the best services at the lowest cost and companies like mind body make that difficult to achieve.

Avantages

Checking students into and taking payments for classes
Setting up classes in the program and making them available to the public
Seeing important reports on revenue, student attendance, profit, etc.
Available on mobile devices as well as desktops.

Inconvénients

It's a bit pricey for a single teacher to keep track of just a few classes. It'd be great if there was a smaller product with fewer features available at a lower cost.

Avantages

This software provides a back end software for invoicing along with scheduling and website integration.

Inconvénients

It is required to create an account to use many of the services online. There is no check out or schedule as guest options.

Avantages

This application is so convenient when it comes to scheduling classes across different locations, keeping a variety of classes and staying organized.

Inconvénients

It's sometimes difficult to search by the specific gym/class you are looking for. The internal search could use some improvement.

Avantages

MB is incredibly easy to use and teach staff quickly how to use. It’s functional and practical, easily applicable for business in terms of tracking revenue etc

Inconvénients

The poor response time when something untimely like a crash happens

Avantages

It's easy to use and gives you the full schedules in many studios in the US to reserve your spot in class online and track all your classes

Inconvénients

It could use a friendlier user interface but its functional and not too difficult to navigate around

Avantages

This is a great software for clients to make appointments with. Easy to see what is available and the ease of setting the appointment is awesome. I have used this for several different businesses around town to schedule an appointment with. I much prefer it to calling them up, so I can just see what is available instead of trying to talk through available appointments that fit my own availability.

Inconvénients

I don't have any issues with this software at this time as a user. It does seem a LITTLE cluttered on the home page with a lot of information.

Avantages

I can easily see how many fitness classes I have left on passes I purchase, as it updates as I use them. I mainly use it for this purpose and find the display easy to understand.

Inconvénients

I believe there have been times when it was difficult to see how to navigate to the page where my class passes were displayed, and I had to play around with the app a bit.