British Swim School Frustration

[Anonymous]

Has anyone else had a bad experience with British Swim School? The actual instruction and the instructors were great. However, in the 4 months we have been with them, they have cancelled 7-8 of the sessions due to an instructor not being available (sick or busy). That is about HALF of the sessions we paid for. When I asked for reimbursement for the missed sessions, I was told make up sessions have just been sitting in my account. Why would I schedule a make up when they consistently cancel our sessions? On two occasions, I did not find out until we arrived at the pool with a fully dressed and tearful toddler. When I checked my account, the cancellation occurred less than 30 minutes before the session. As parents know, we are already dressed and in the car by then. We are not checking the App. Overall, good instruction, bad staffing, and extremely poor customer service. At 40 dollars a session in shared classes, this was a huge waste of money. Does anyone recommend any other programs?

[Anonymous]

Try Goldfish! This has not happened to us there.

[Anonymous]

Look into the different programs run by all the pools close to you. Some rent space, and some are through the owner. I had better luck through those smaller programs.

[Anonymous]

I think your experience with that company may vary by location. I knew someone who wasn't happy at a location (maybe Tysons) and was happier after switching locations. Their approach has been very effective for my three year old.

[Anonymous]

I worked at British swim school. It was a very chaotic and not structured place. Although I do think parents like it because of the name and how sophisticated it sounds. I personally don’t think it’s a good idea— but also depends on the area.

[Anonymous]

Oh and the water is super cold n which is why instructors are always out-

[Anonymous]

Its a huge waste to do swimming once a week for little kids. Commit to 2 weeks at the pool in summer every day and kids will swim.

[Anonymous]

My 1-year old son has been enrolled at the Kennedy Commons location swim school and it has been great until today.

When it was time for free play in the floaties, the instructor dumped the toys into the water and I went to brag one and it was covered in black mould. I then started inspecting the other toys and they were also covered in mould. When I brought it to her attentions she looked shocked and through those toys back into the same basket. I then saw one of the other children playing with a duck and the sun was shining through the windows and I cold see the dark patches on the inside of the mould. I showed that to her as well and she put it into the basket.

At the end of the lesson it was still bothering me and came back in to talk to the woman who was supervising and let her know about the mould but she seemed indifferent. I asked her if they cleaned the toys regularly and she said yes. I told her that they should remove all of the toys from the bins today and not allow the kids to use them because they're all contaminated and she said ok.

I left, but it continued to bother me so I came back in and they were using the toys with the new class. Completely disregarding the fact that they were not clean or safe. I told told her I would file a complaint and she said ok, entirely disinterested in my concern. So before leaving I told all the parents there to watch out for mould and left.

I called to report this and they advised they would investigate and that they clean the toys after every use but I highly doubt that. I will be cancelling. It was the lack of care that is bothering more than the fact the toys were in suck a state, at least if they took it seriously I could get past it, but they really didn't care.

Very disappointing because they are great with the kids and the actual lessons are great, but I can't get passed the indifference to the safety of the children’s health. The number of times my son has out those toys in his mouth turns my stomach everytime I think about it.

Side note: I could even smell the mould and mildew which made it worse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 1-year old son has been enrolled at the Kennedy Commons location swim school and it has been great until today.

When it was time for free play in the floaties, the instructor dumped the toys into the water and I went to brag one and it was covered in black mould. I then started inspecting the other toys and they were also covered in mould. When I brought it to her attentions she looked shocked and through those toys back into the same basket. I then saw one of the other children playing with a duck and the sun was shining through the windows and I cold see the dark patches on the inside of the mould. I showed that to her as well and she put it into the basket.

At the end of the lesson it was still bothering me and came back in to talk to the woman who was supervising and let her know about the mould but she seemed indifferent. I asked her if they cleaned the toys regularly and she said yes. I told her that they should remove all of the toys from the bins today and not allow the kids to use them because they're all contaminated and she said ok.

I left, but it continued to bother me so I came back in and they were using the toys with the new class. Completely disregarding the fact that they were not clean or safe. I told told her I would file a complaint and she said ok, entirely disinterested in my concern. So before leaving I told all the parents there to watch out for mould and left.

I called to report this and they advised they would investigate and that they clean the toys after every use but I highly doubt that. I will be cancelling. It was the lack of care that is bothering more than the fact the toys were in suck a state, at least if they took it seriously I could get past it, but they really didn't care.

Very disappointing because they are great with the kids and the actual lessons are great, but I can't get passed the indifference to the safety of the children’s health. The number of times my son has out those toys in his mouth turns my stomach everytime I think about it.

Side note: I could even smell the mould and mildew which made it worse.

Ugh. Very unacceptable.
Glad you spoke up

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I worked at British swim school. It was a very chaotic and not structured place. Although I do think parents like it because of the name and how sophisticated it sounds. I personally don’t think it’s a good idea— but also depends on the area.

Listen to this person. As someone who has taught kids gymnastics and dance at several companies, I know a lot of them are like this and it's not just bad for the employees -- it's negative and sometimes even dangerous for kids.

Trouble with scheduling and staffing are major red flags whether you're an employee or a patron. I want to see consistent staffing (mostly the same people every time) and the schedule has to be reliable with rare deviations from the published schedule. And when the deviate, they should be able to communicate that very clearly and with enough notice 99% of the time. It's understandable if there's a true emergency where you get late notice (once my kid's class was cancelled due to a tornado warning, I don't blame the school for not being able to let us know earlier). But if it's a staffing issue? Totally unacceptable. That likely means they are short staffed or have people quitting on them with little notice. It's a big red flag.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone else had a bad experience with British Swim School? The actual instruction and the instructors were great. However, in the 4 months we have been with them, they have cancelled 7-8 of the sessions due to an instructor not being available (sick or busy). That is about HALF of the sessions we paid for. When I asked for reimbursement for the missed sessions, I was told make up sessions have just been sitting in my account. Why would I schedule a make up when they consistently cancel our sessions? On two occasions, I did not find out until we arrived at the pool with a fully dressed and tearful toddler. When I checked my account, the cancellation occurred less than 30 minutes before the session. As parents know, we are already dressed and in the car by then. We are not checking the App. Overall, good instruction, bad staffing, and extremely poor customer service. At 40 dollars a session in shared classes, this was a huge waste of money. Does anyone recommend any other programs?

I could have written this post- 6 years ago. It had been recommended to us by a friend and I kept trying to give it a chance, partly because we had so many makeup tokens! But cut my losses after a year. Never had this issue at Goldfish. We venetually got off the wailist at a summer pool and that was what really got DC swimming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Try Goldfish! This has not happened to us there.

Never an issue at Kid First either. We had a good experience with them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I worked at British swim school. It was a very chaotic and not structured place. Although I do think parents like it because of the name and how sophisticated it sounds. I personally don’t think it’s a good idea— but also depends on the area.

Listen to this person. As someone who has taught kids gymnastics and dance at several companies, I know a lot of them are like this and it's not just bad for the employees -- it's negative and sometimes even dangerous for kids.

Trouble with scheduling and staffing are major red flags whether you're an employee or a patron. I want to see consistent staffing (mostly the same people every time) and the schedule has to be reliable with rare deviations from the published schedule. And when the deviate, they should be able to communicate that very clearly and with enough notice 99% of the time. It's understandable if there's a true emergency where you get late notice (once my kid's class was cancelled due to a tornado warning, I don't blame the school for not being able to let us know earlier). But if it's a staffing issue? Totally unacceptable. That likely means they are short staffed or have people quitting on them with little notice. It's a big red flag.

Just because someone has worked at one location does not mean they are all the same. British Swim School is a franchised company, the franchise's are owned by zip code. You can have 10 BSS in the same area but different zip codes, and that could mean different owners. Unfortunately, most instructors are younger employess (although well trained) and do not have the work ethic that older employees may have. Being short staffed or having people not show up isn't a red flag.

[Anonymous]

Swim Labs in gaithersburg was good for us (better than the Kids First).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Its a huge waste to do swimming once a week for little kids. Commit to 2 weeks at the pool in summer every day and kids will swim.

This. I think group lessons are a waste too. I'm not the type to pay for private anything, but I realized we were getting nowhere in group lessons. Private didn't end up costing more because we needed so many fewer lessons.