I AM DONE!
Our…read more6-year-old daughter has been attending SwimLabs in Newington for about six months, and unfortunately, we cannot recommend it.
We've spent roughly $160-$200 per month, totaling well over $1,000, and the value simply isn't there. Most frustratingly, two classes were canceled back-to-back, and we were not offered a refund.
The class sizes are another major issue. With so many children in the pool, our daughter gets only a few minutes of actual swimming time during each class. There is very little individual instruction, and the instructors provide virtually no feedback. Even during their "Swim & Tell" sessions, we have never received meaningful feedback about her progress, what she needs to work on, or how she is doing. For example. Our daughter is in beginners 3 with 3 other boys. They are constantly arguing, fighting, kicking, and splashing all while our daughter attempts to learn. No actions by the school or parents to take action.
To be fair, our daughter is more comfortable in the water than she was when she started, and we appreciate that. However, after investing over $1,000 and six months of classes, we expected to see significantly more progress.
There is also very little consistency because the instructors seem to change frequently. It makes it difficult to establish any kind of continuity or individualized instruction.
Unfortunately, there was also an incident this past week that really left a bad impression on us. Our credit card had expired, so when the monthly payment was attempted, the card was declined. The owner approached my wife about it in front of our family and the other families at the facility. We found this extremely embarrassing and uncomfortable. We completely understand that payment issues need to be addressed, but there are many more appropriate and private ways to handle something like that. A simple text message, phone call, or email would have been more than sufficient.
For what we are paying, we expected a much more structured, consistent, and personalized experience.
Unfortunately, based on our experience, we would steer clear of SwimLabs.