Not a fan. I deeply wanted to love this place, but things didn't go well. I enrolled my 3 1/2 year old daughter, who before coming here used to love playing in a pool. She didn't know how to swim, yet, so we were excited for her to finally learn doing something she so much seemed inclined (and willing) to learn. Coaches seem to change very frequently at this location, as she experienced 3 different instructors in a handful classes... hard to get to trust a person with such lack of consistency. After a couple of successful lessons, she was progressed to put her head under water too soon, and eventually didn't want to go anymore. We tried to motivate her by asking the different instructors not to progress her that fast, but by the time they followed our input, they had already lost her: she wouldn't even get inside the pool anymore. Now a year has passed, and she STILL doesn't want to go back. We have suggested a different location with different instructors, but she just doesn't want to go. Clearly, the system they used at this location ended up causing the opposite result, which is a complete rejection of swimming and pools in general. Obviously, I can't be happy with this. Now we have no idea when she'll be able and willing to go back. Not recommended. read more

I've had my son enrolled in swim Jim since he was 4 months old but I'm sick of their policies and decided to pull him out. He's been stuck on the same swim level for about 6 months now, learning almost nothing new. I have friends who have kids in other swim classes who are far more advanced. The person who answers the phone for the NY region is not accommodating at all. She didn't care in the slightest that we were cancelling due to a very simple fix on their end. Plus there is a continuing registration fee that they charge you every year, that just seems like a scam. All in all, it's okay but their policies are out of date, not accommodating and there are better classes in New York. read more

Our four year old son had been going to SwimJim for about 8 months now. We loved Sarah our instructor. However, we feel compelled to warn all parents that this place is UNSAFE and ABUSIVE for children. Our son was in the water, holding onto the rail as instructed to do so, and excitedly bouncing up and down. A lifeguard on duty called rosemary, that we had never seen before, shouts at him to stop, and he doesn't hear her as the place is large and loud. She then proceeds to LIFT HIM UP FROM THE WATER BY YANKING HIM FROM HIS WRIST. Pulls him out of the water and sits him out. He was crying and shaking in fear, as no one had ever physically assaulted him that way. We are filing a police report and never, ever returning to this place again. It is unsafe and unsuitable for children, and condones violence and abuse. read more

My kid has been taking private lessons for over 6 months now, after taking group lessons for over a year. They keep saying he is great (and he can swim) but he is still not swimming. They seem to be getting him to focus on all kinds of advanced skills (in the name of water safety) but he still cannot swim. My guess is that this is an operation to get you to enroll with them long-term. I am cancelling. read more

The instructors are great. They seem to follow the same instructional methods so even if you go to different location, you shouldn't have any problems. I like the staffs who work at the pool as well. They are informative and kind. However the staff who picks up phone is terrible(NYC office). I asked a few questions about the process of missing classes - she immediately got annoyed with my questions because she had to explain about the rules and became very rude. I could tell from the tone of her voice - sounded like she didn't want to talk to me at all. That gave me a bad test after that. I called another time to reserve a make up class. I believe the person who picked up the phone was the same woman as the previous phone call - I asked the instructor names of the available classes. I preferred to book a make up class with the regular teacher if it's possible, so I don't think this is a bad question. But then she hung up on me! Was she too lazy to tell me the instructor names? I don't know. It was really shocking to me. This kind of treatment does not happen often. I really liked this swim program and my daughter's swimming skill is improving, but I am done. I don't want to deal with these rude staffs. Whenever I ask for a make up class, do I have to talk to this woman?! No way - I switched to a different swim program. Bye. read more

SwimJim has 5 locations in the city. The staff is very accommodating and friendly (Email, Phone and Instructors). We took our 5M daughter to her first Swim Baby "SWIM'N'SPLASH" class and she LOVED it! Keisha (Sp?) was a great instructor and very clear with her instructions. The best part was we were able to hold our babies in the water. It was a free 20min class (free before 6M of age) and you can go once a week until they are 6M. After that, they enter the Swimfants course. Actually no, the best part was they allow the parents to switch off midway through the lesson. Like I said, very accommodating! read more

This program is terrible. Our teacher is un-energetically goes through the motions and songs and its very clear she could care less about the children in the program. What's more, the overall administration of the program is horrific. The classes end up being $45/half an hour swim and if you need to reschedule they are extremely unflexible only letting you re-schedule one class per swim package you purchase and making NO exceptions. Oh yeah, and for the one class you reschedule you have to PAY AN EXTRA $20. Do not waste your money. Every time I call to ask a question the customer service is extremely rude and a waste of time. read more

I disagree with the review directly below mine. Accommodating is definitely not the word I would use to describe SwimJim's staff, at least by email. I'll explain in detail. I just learned of SwimJim this past week through another mom in one of my moms groups. She advertised that the classes were free for infants up to 6 months. I thought "what a great idea" especially since we have a pool in our building and I would love to get my little guy started in the water and enroll him in for swim classes. So we signed up on their website hoping to check out a class or two of the "Swim N Splash" program which is the free program for infants up to 5 months (I guess that other mom was wrong or they had changed their policies). The next class offered after that is for 6 months and up called "SwimFants". Since our little guy had never taken swim classes before, we thought it would be great to try the Swim N Splash first before enrolling him in SwimFants. We received an email from the staff telling us that Swim N Splash is only through 5 months of age and pushing us to enroll in the SwimFants class. Since our little guy had just turned 5 months recently, I asked if it was possible to accommodate us and grant us an exception so that he can attend one Swim N Splash class to see if he would be okay in a class setting in a pool. My reasoning was 1) he had barely turned 5 months and 2) the Swim N Splash class is free to begin with and offered in part, I'm sure, as part of their marketing strategy to get parents to enroll their infants into the paid programs upon satisfaction of completing the free program. I believe my reasoning was sound, not unreasonable and not far reaching. A program intended for babies should understand why a mother would be concerned with enrolling her child in an entire program and not being able to stay in the program since he or she is at such a young and sensitive stage. The staff did not bend, instead citing that policies are in place for good reason and instead telling me that my child can "observe" a SwimFants class instead. I am not sure how a 5 month old "observing" a swim class can resolve my question which was whether or not my little guy would fare well in a class in a pool setting, so that did not make any sense to me. Also, I am not sure why my 5 month old is allowed to participate in their SwimFants (6 months and up class) when he has not reached 6 months yet, if that is their such policy as well. I understand that policies are in place for good reason - I practice law after all. For example, it is a good policy to be required to wear swim attire in a pool. It is a good policy to not allow disruptive and belligerent children in a class. It is a good policy to not let a 1 year old into a 5 month and under swim class because they are too far apart in age and it will be hard for the teacher to control and manage an additional child who is so much older. However, it is not good policy to be so rigid that you cannot make one simple accommodation for a potential customer. I cannot believe the staff/SwimJim is so short sighted. To me, it was a clear indication of how future interactions with SwimJim staff would transpire, and as a fulltime working mother, I do not have time for that kind of rigidity and lack of customer care and service, especially once I turn my money in for a full on program. I will be looking for another swim program for my son for sure! read more

My child was enrolled for a short period of time (once a week for less than 2 months, the introductory class) in which time, he had 3 different instructors. The class he was signed up for had 2-3 kids in total which is not a bad ratio. The issue I had was the teaching methods were aggressive for my child. It was his first experience in a swimming class and while I understand introducing the kids to the concept of swimming, my child was scared of being dunked under and not comfortable at all with it. Given the many change in instructors, there was no trust established with him. By the 3rd class, he would beg me not to take him to the swimming class. It was then hinted that I was to blame as my child would keep looking at me and begging me to help him during the class - screaming, crying because he was scared of being dunked under. It was even suggested that someone else bring him to class instead of me. That benefit of the doubt that I had, wanting to trust they were professionals went out the door. This solidified my thoughts that this place has no regard to the level of comfort and pace of EACH child. This cookie-cutter type approach is fine for kids that are comfortable in the water, mine was terrified and screaming bloody murder, and there was no compromise to ease him into it. Fast forward to present time, and he is terrified of swimming pools. Just mentioning the words makes him stop playing and he says "I don't like swimming". When I called to cancel the rest of the classes, there was zero interest in wanting to know the reason behind it. I'm not even sure the person on the phone passed along the feedback I provided or even cared about it, which was disappointing to say the least. Parents, beware. read more

I am giving it at least a 2-star rating because my son was safe at all times but he made close to zero progress over the course of 4 months. The first instructor - though very nice - did not challenge my son based on what he had already learned in his previous swim school even though the swim school had a very similar teaching approach. Hence, he simply regressed for a number of weeks. The second instructor paid more attention to my son's personality and how far he could be challenged. Overall, it's been a waste of time and money for the entire family. I raised my concerns but little was done other than a lengthy email. I regret not spending more time reading online reviews and going for conveniency. read more

I took my 20months old son to Swimjim midtown west at the skyline hotel ; swimbabies on Sat mornings. As it was his first swim class I asked the staff while registering for the first month is it was the right class for him and they said it was the right class. He pretty much cried the whole time the first class which the instructor said it could happen. The second class he was a bit better until the instructor kept taking him away from me saying he needs to get over separation anxiety and while he was desperately crying and balling she kept making him do swimming motions with him and told me to stay away from him cos the mom being there makes the baby cry more. I was not comfortable with all this but decided to go with what the instructor was saying as I thought she's the instructor who has experience with dealing with kids so decided to give the benefit of doubt. Then the unacceptable happened. While my kid was crying as hard as he can as he was so scared and uncomfortable as he the instructor wouldn't let me hold him, she dunked him under the water. Seriously. Can you imagine being dunked under the water first time in your life while you are crying so hard ? It's hard to even catch your breath when you are crying very hard itself and imagine being dunked into the water in the middle of that !! I got extremely angry with this. I didn't say anything to the instructor but that was the last time we went there. Now he's super scared of the pool (he used to love splashing in water) . We went on vacay a few weeks ago and he was so terrified to go into the pool which was not the case before this terrifying experience at Swimjim. read more

My child always has lots of fun, I love coming to swimJim. Class instructors are great. Everyone enthusiastic and cares about doing a great job, from maintenance staff to instructors! Everyone was very helpful. read more

Unsafe instructors, unresponsive staff, unethical policies The NYC business complete disaster from start to finish. The teachers are as bored and uninspired as they come, and routinely park whole class fulls of children at the same level for months on-end, without trying to improve their swimming or provide any parental feedback. But they will take it upon themselves to launch small children into the air to do backflips, in a tiny pool packed like sardines, where kids could easily land on each other--probably because it's the only fun the kids seem to have during an entire class. The office staff show no motivation to do anything other than charge your credit card (even when class is *cancelled* bc the pool is closed for repairs, they bill you and make you figure out a make-up class.). It goes all the way up to their CEO Jim who just makes excuses right and left...you can tell after speaking with him that he sets the culture of bill-and-park kids, with little supervision or training for his employees. Save yourself the time and money, and protect your child's well-being by choosing a swimming program with some credibility like Imagine Swim or the JCC. read more

Update: I just got off the phone with the owner of SwimJim. He was good enough to call me after my disenrolling. While he could have ignored my concerns he called me and worked to find a solution for my concerns. That's the kind of responsiveness I'd hoped for (though I definitely don't think it needed to be the owner to resolve my issue). For that reason I've updated my rating. I have been sending my daughter to SwimJim for over a year and until recently it has been an overall positive experience. I have had great interactions with the swim staff but the pricing and customer service have been money hungry and not customer focused. Besides the cost consistently climbing in the year we remained loyal and used their "autoenrollment." I recently chose to disenroll my child from class prior to the next billing cycle and to her taking a leap in class level (she was aging out of one class and I to another). I was told I could not do this without a financial penalty. I'd been billed more than a month in advance. If I took an in-house credit I'd receive my full tuition value, if I wanted a refund they'd deduct 30 percent of the value. They argued it was because they could no longer fill the spot I was booked in. Importantly, I've been charged for a spot my daughter was no longer enrolled in (she was aged out) and received condescending "advice" about what "other swim programs" in the city do and don't do. Sorry to see my relationship with them end so negatively but hope other families don't have our experience. read more