“Booked the lesson after seeing an advert on the Internet. But a taster 30min lesson for £35 & paid there an then, the lesson would be in 2 weeks time. Lesson ended up getting cancelled and Re scheduled, no doubt will get cancelled for a 3rd and final time????”
“Our teacher was very nice, but didn’t give the kids any time to process one stroke before she was on to the next, she didn't engage with them and rushed through like she was going through the motions.
Also, there were two occasions when my son was crying in the middle of the pool (he has never cried at swimming before) once because he was confused and overwhelmed at the fast paced changes, and once because he was kicked in the face. I would expect a teacher in the latter case especially to get in the pool to assist him, but instead she just stood at the side saying “what’s wrong?” So in the end my daughter swam over to help him. All in all not a positive experience.”
“Whilst the lessons have been good, the management and running of the company can only be described as amateurish and unprofessional.
Our teacher left the company and despite him providing four weeks notice, we were given zero weeks notification that our lessons would stop for many weeks whilst they found a replacement instead without having any contingency arrangements for cover in such situations.
As a result of a pause in lessons we found lessons elsewhere and on obtaining a place we served out notice on Swimnow. Whilst Swimnow allow you to 'bank' lessons you're unable to attend, they refused to honour three lessons we had banked and had adequate records of. On raising complaint by email, both to their office and their CEO, a week passed without response and on calling them, one of their staff (Gareth) seemed to forget he was talking to a customer, being rude, refusing to listen and even laughing at me. Had the lessons been cheap I would have let this go, however at around £90 per hour I wanted to recover my money - since joining an alternative lessons, it's now clear to me that Swimnow's lessons do not add the ~£35 of value they charge over small group lessons elsewhere.
The teachers are all very friendly and I appreciate that whilst the face of the company they cannot do anything about their companies incompetence for which they are extremely let-down.
If you're considering Swimnow, I'd seriously advise you to look at alternatives first.”
“Would not recommend! Their website states that lessons are 1-1 or 1-2 private lessons in uncrowded pools - this couldn't be further from the truth, lessons are held in a crowded small public pool with no room at all, if you are nervous or self conscious this is very unsettling, so much so that we decided not to bother with the lesson, when I tried to contact Swim now after the lesson to complain about this I couldn't get through at all. Very misleading!!!”
“My swimming instructor Lisa was amazing and she would get 5 stars. However, the company is poor. When you are having lessons, constantly phoning to get you to pay for more lessons (which are expensive). Call at weekends and emailing constantly. Before I finished, I was due a certificate. Didn't arrive in time. Emailed repeatedly with no reply. Eventually they emailed back and said they would post one. It never arrived. Not interested as didn't need more lessons. Something as small as a certificate is easily done and is worthwhile, but they were not interested, extremely poor condisering how much it costs for lessons. Only interested in money not the actual customer.”
“In my opinion DO NOT book swimming lessons with this company!
A course of 6 lessons cost me £270 - so £45 per 30 minutes. Not insignificant by any means!
The lady teaching me - Lisa me was lovely. Not her fault at all!
My huge issue with the swim school occurred when my mother in law was taken unwell a few hours before one of my lessons.
She had to be taken to Stoke hospital and by the time this was established by the Paramedics I knew I would have to miss my lesson.
I couldn't leave my very unwell mother in law in ED alone and confused.
I emailed the rep Graham, and also mentioned it to Lisa on the next lesson. However, all Graham could say in his return email was that they operate a strict 24 hour no show policy and I would lose the lesson.
This happened around six weeks ago and I've been away from home since.
I've recently returned home and contacted Graham about the matter again.
I explained that I'd booked 6 lessons upfront before I went abroad. I just wanted some lessons beforehand to help me in the water a little bit and It would have helped at the time If the school could have offered me another lesson maybe a day or 2 later, as the situation was unavoidable.
Graham hasn't responded at all. I've had a WhatsApp message today from Simon (manager?) responding to my query???? but instead advising me about taster lessons, swimming lessons and locations near to me!.
Even if he were to offer me 1 lesson now, that wouldn't help.
I've been on holiday and don't require any further lessons now
He also says to ring or message him back which I have . Surprise surprise no response - I've done both.
I'm sure If I was ringing to book lessons the response would be more or less immediate. (It certainly was when I did initially book)
Certainly not at the extortionate price of £270 ( I was desperate at the time)
I'm not even necessarily asking for my £45 back. I feel as If that's lost now!
I just expected better customer service at the time for the money paid
I rarely write reviews. This whole situation has annoyed me hugely and I just want to warn other people off this company.”
“Very poor communication, receive interesting email 6/8 re adult crash course lessons (very interesting in my own situation) used the "drop message" option to request more info the same day.
7/8 get an automated email back directing to website (that makes no mention of the course) and asks to leave a number for a call if questions not answered. Well, definitely not answered so left details, a request to leave message if no answer as not always possible to answer call...and....no calls after 7 days.
Don't get me wrong, I wasn't expecting a call the next day - but for what suggests to be a busy promo - no call Mon-Fri, directing to website that has no details up - really poor. This may actually be the 2nd time I've tried to get info/book with these folks (unsure re situ the first time) but after this - they obviously don't need the money- unsubscribed and going elsewhere”
“You have to pay a not un-significant fee of £35 for a 'taster' session. They took this in advance and I then had to wait for over 4 weeks to be scheduled into a session by which stage I had already given up and scheduled another instructor elsewhere. I had to cancel the taster session at late notice. I was then offered another session with no mention of another charge, only to be told a few days before the session that I would have to pay another £35. I would have no issue paying the fee if this had if been explained when the session was offered. Rather than apologising for the lack of transparency, your customer service rep, Gareth Mills, got incredibly defensive on the call and then hung up on me. Terrible service all round!”
“Shocking!!!!! , pool used not fit for purpose asked for a refund but they refused, didn't even bother going to any of the other lessons I'd already paid for”
“Absolutely shocking!!!
Charged £270 for what I was told was 6 sessions 5pm-6pm twice a week, I can swim but wanted to learn the front crawl technique, arrived at my first lesson to discover I was only getting half hour lessons totalling 3 hours, the lesson took place in a pool about 10metres long 3 strokes and I was at other side, can't refund me and I won't be waisting my time going to the other 5 sessions. CRIMINAL”
“Despite emailing a few times and calling on phone, no one got back to us and we have not taken any lessons yet. However we have received this survey to rate our lessons! Disappointing!!”
“If you want consistency you won’t get it. Bad communication and customer service. My instructor was hard to get ahold of. I had 1 lesson in a month while repeatedly trying to book lessons. Asked for my money back, waited 5 working days. When I enquired about the refund I was told that they forgot to do it. So I have to wait another week. Would not recommend. I should not have to chase someone who is providing a service.”
“The lesson did not happen. I was told that they would contact me with a new date. It has been more than three weeks, I have not heard back from them. I will have to get my money back.”
“After waiting for months for a taster class that I had to pay for…I still have managed to get my daughter onto a set class…instead get offered on off classes where someone as cancelled.. how is a child meant to learn if no consistency.”
