The hygiene in the swimming pool and the shower/changing rooms at Eltham Leisure Centre is extremely poor and as a result, I have gotten sick every week for the six weeks I used the facilities. During my time there, I was working fully remote from home due to my mental health and only leaving the house to swim at the centre and do grocery shopping once a week. I also drove everywhere. Although I am a little overweight, I am generally physically healthy and don't get sick easily. Since swimming at Eltham Leisure Centre, I have experienced various ailments each week, including a dry patch on my left eyelid which my GP thinks is a fungal infection (I have never experienced such a thing in my life), conjunctivitis, tonsilitis, and a ten-day cold, including a horrendous sore throat, headaches and fatigue. A couple of weeks into my use of the swimming pool and I noticed it was visibly extremely dirty. There were debris floating around everywhere including a used plaster, white bodily tissue and loads of sand at the bottom of the pool. I complained to the duty manager (red-haired young man) who informed me the vacuum had been broken for a week! I couldn't believe it. Surely this was a safety issue? The swimming pool should not have been open during that time. I waited four days before returning to the swimming pool (I had a target I needed to meet for mental and physical health) and apparently the vacuum was working again but the pool was still visibly dirty, only a little less than the week before.
On another occasion, there was an awful smell as soon as I walked through the barriers. The air felt thick and unclean, and it was difficult to breathe. It seemed like there was a lack of ventilation/clean air.
During week six when I was suffering from the cold (mentioned above), I cancelled my membership in anger. I had joined the Better Gym so I could get fit and healthy but instead, I've just become sick in many different ways. I emailed a complaint via the website and the Operations Service Manager responded to say they were doing the regular checks and the water is clean enough but clearly it isn't. I also posted on the Nextdoor app and a lot of people have agreed with me that Eltham Leisure Centre is filthy and they have left.
Since then, I have contacted Better Gym and asked for a refund as the service they have provided has been extremely poor - to the point of dangerous as I was getting physically sick and this was aggravating my depression and anxiety - and they said they MAY offer a refund if I got a note from my GP. Getting a note from the doctor for a refund costs £30 so I sent them copies of medication receipts which confirms that I at least had to buy several medications (eye drop from my conjunctivitis and steroid creams for the fungal infection). They then offered a refund of £33 which I declined and insisted on a full refund of around £70. I received a one-liner to say I needed my GP to confirm I got sick from using the pool, however, while the doctor can confirm my symptoms, I'm not sure they can say for definite it is from using the swimming pool. You can only confirm this by doing a thorough investigation, which is not feasible and also, impossible now as the time/situation has passed.
Better Gym has failed spectacularly and should refund the whole amount - not only for my physical issues but for the mental distress it caused me. I was relying on swimming frequently to lose weight, get fit and manage my mental health. I had just come off antidepressants and needed a simple routine - work from home and swim - and this worked for a couple of weeks until I noticed that I was getting a new ailment every week due to using the dirty swimming pool and facilities. Better Gym offered me hope but only made it harder for me to manage my life. As a result, I left Better Gym and searched for other swimming pools in the area but this was another challenge that I did not need to take on when trying to manage my mental health by living a simple life.
Considering Better Gym is a successful chain gym and it is shameful that they are unwilling to refund the small amount of around £70 for failing to provide the service they have promised and putting my (and others) health at risk. People join leisure centres to get fit and healthy, not sick and this is what you can expect by joining Eltham Leisure Centre and other Better Gym facilities. read more
