Freedom Leisure Reviews 

Awful customer service from freedom leisure in Wincanton. Went for a swim last week pay as you go and decided to set up a joint membership for myself and my Mum. Phoned on the 31st August to be told that the Free joining fee no longer applied and that we had to go to the centre to sign up (not what their Facebook advised) Turn up at the centre and the young girl on reception (who is clearly vulnerable) has no idea what she is doing or how to set up a membership or what to charge. Spoke to Luke the 'manager' who was very inexperienced/incompetent in his role. Look forward to a call with the General manager next week. Awful service. Will now travel further and pay more for a membership that offers better service. UPDATE - phoned the centre 3 times to speak to the general manager Andy Buse. Left a message twice and was agreed he would call back.. 2 weeks on still haven't heard from him. Awful management once again.

Facilities are okay but the way they deal with customers is awful and a nightmare. In January this year myself along with some of my friends signed up for a membership, however seeing as we were paying alot for a variety of facilities which we didn't use we swapped gyms. On the 25th of January we cancelled our memberships which had been acknowledged by email however, we were still charged at the start of February. It then took both myself and my friends emailing and phoning the gym multiple times and being told repeatedly that we would receive it in the upcoming week before we finally got our refund in April. After receiving the money back i wanted nothing to do with this gym and unsubscribed from their emailing list, however i would continue to receive their marketing emails despite going through the unsubscription process several times. In the end i had to go through the company they use to advertise to be taken off their emailing list. The final straw for me to write this review is that even though i have cancelled my membership, unsubscribed using their link and selected do not contact on all options i am still receiving text notifications, the cherry on top being that to stop these texts you must text a mobile number that charges you for texts.

If you are considering this gym be 100% sure that you want to go there because the cancellation process is hell.

I've just dropped my child off for a swimming lesson and noticed a young chap with laptop in hand, assessing student swim teachers when a swim teacher mentioned about his sitting in close proximity of the pool edge/ walkway and health and safety breach to which the chap with the laptop says he doesn't care, I accept that this was tongue in cheek but as a qualified senior Health and Safety professional throwaway comment like that can be detrimental as it is a comment made by an employee in front of members of the
public in today's world with huge H&S exposure comments like that demonstrate to me a nievity in health and safety knowledge and a poor professional attitude. Surely the individual should be sat on a seat and not lounging by the side of the pool where patrons and staff are moving around

First and last time taking the kids to Guildford lido. Still letting people in despite the fact there is nowhere to really sit in the grounds. This place is heaving, not really a comfortable and nice environment for a nice day out in the decent weather. Car park is tiny so you have to park a 14 min walk away.

Freedom Leisure operates some of the most substandard sports centers I have ever encountered. The rationale behind councils selecting Freedom Leisure as their service provider remains unclear. These facilities are characterized by poor hygiene, inadequate management, and staff who exhibit disinterest, hostility, and a lack of training, resulting in an insidious atmosphere for patrons.

I have Parkinsons disease and I have been playing table tennis at the Bexhill leisure centre for over a year now. It is well documented that exercise is so important to help to slow the progression. In May this year my membership was due for renewal. I advised the membership member of staff that I receive PIP and he said I could have a reduced price membership. He gave me no other information and didn’t explain that my membership had changed. I booked a table tennis table last week no problem, but when I arrived to play I was told that my new membership didn’t allow me to book table tennis. When I queried this with the member of staff who renewed my membership, who knew that I played weekly, he said “ I don’t know what you do, if I knew what every member did here that would be amazing!” So rude. He denied that he hadn’t explained my new membership to me and said it was my word against his!
I am so annoyed and I can’t believe that he lied so blatantly. I was missold the membership.
He refused to help me. I am making a formal complaint.

As an ex employee I can categorically state that Freedom Leisure is an awful company.
In my case I ended up with a parking fine whilst on duty in Ringwood Leisure Centre. Freedom Leisure entered a contract with Parking Eye and failed to set up a list of staff entitled to park in the leisure centre car park whilst on duty.
There was a general lowering of standards in maintaining the leisure centres I worked at as Freedom Leisure were always trying to cut costs.
So avoid anything to with Freedom Leisure..

Newtown local leisure centre Gym Powys equipment is broken
Has been like this for few weeks now
air-con isn't working
I pay

Building Maintenance Safety standards appalling close to 4 HSA standards breeched just watching from the pool

James Harding, Graham Harris, Connor in memberships, great customer service and friendly attitude. Many other staff were great too. A lovely centre to visit, well worth the membership fee. Look after these staff Freedom Leisure!!!! Thanks for all the help and advice.

I thought FL was supposed to help provide access for all but they are totally unhelpful and too expensive and have abolished concessions that GBC set up for its facilities to allow access for all

A horrible place that I only use because it's the only pool with easy access for the disabled I can find in the area. The website is atrocious. The app is just as bad. The staff are not great either.

This review is because, having gone on both the website and app to book a swimming slot for later today, I was first faced with no bookable slots at all, then when they finally showed up I was sent through 3 different screens to accept and pay. Only to realise that somehow I had paid for a slot at 6am, not 1pm. And guess what, they don't allow refunds. Not even a couple of minutes after you've booked. And, checking the terms and conditions, it is written to suggest that if you don't attend a booked activity, then you will have to pay a full adult rate for it (I pay a rate for people on low incomes). I am currently furious. This is just the latest in a long line of incidents that I've put up with from this company.

Having no hot water for over a month at rave side, now no hot water at falais and I have heard none at Bexhill either, slightly suspicious obviously trying to save money and not giving a dam about it's members, will be looking around for a another gym.

Had a lovely Pilates class with Debbie.
Very attentive. Making sure we were all doing the exercises right.
Only thought is the offers aren't as good as they were before freedom has now come in to place.

Had a phone call quoting a “renewal” price valid till end of March, went in today and got told it’s not valid and we’d have to pay the full amount.
Complete scam and Ben at Cirencester needs to sort his stuff out as offering prices then changing them because “computer says no” is absolutely the worst customer service we have had in a long time. Avoid Cirencester Gym!!!

I have lived in Caterham for 28 years and used the council run gym. Freedom leisure took it over some years ago ( maybe 6 years ago?)promising to improve things and to keep the prices down or even reduce prices.
I can say that I can no longer afford now to go to the gym as a centre member who drops in every now and then. The last time I went I was charged over £12.( about 1 year ago) the price was about £6 4 years ago.
The strange thing is that when I rang other freedom leisure centres they were charging less for the drop in gym. I tried to find someone from their head office several times but was unsuccessful. Nobody seems to know who or where these people are. It feels like there is a skam going on. It is meant to be a none profit organisation.

I can't believe the dishonesty of this company. We signed up for family membership by Direct Debit, we even have receipts from Freedom Leisure for each month of membership. We now see they have somehow be taking more money from our account than we agreed and signed for in the contract!!
Even though we have 100% proof, the Centre Manager was just rude and dismissive when we raised it, while the Head Office is impossible to contact. Next stop will be reporting a fraud to the Bank, maybe even the Police. Family Gym membership shouldn't be like this.

I have been a member of my local gym now for 10 years... since 'Freedom' have taken over, the Leisure Centre has drastically gone down hill. I regularly attend gym classes and i must say all class instructors i can NOT fault, none of the following issues are through any fault of the instructors, they are instead the fault of the utterly abysmal management.
If you are an early gym/class go-er, there is no facilities to dry/straighten your hair, hair dryers are NOT provided nor are there any plug sockets to bring your own, this really isn't good enough.
Any feedback given within the centre is completely ignored, for example, classes are being shorted from 55 mins to 45 mins, class times are being changed and for us as members this means we are unable to attend consecutive classes and the poor instructors are then trying to cram what should be a 55 minute class into 45 minutes, we are therefore are unable to get the best out of our workout and everything is rushed. Even though this has been reported by several members to the relevant staff/management, it has just been shrugged off.
There is so much more i could say unfortunately.
I am not actually sure what the £56.00 a month i pay for is going towards?!?!

I regularly swim here (Sheerwater) and am disappointed that cleaning standards have dropped. The pool changing cubicles, showers and toilets are filthy. Are cleaners employed at this venue? Do the staff not notice how filthy areas are?

Was issued free day passes for some free swims, by the duty manager, for my daughter after a particularly bad experience when I last took my daughter there. My daughter has, since, used all but one of the passes to go swimming. Today she was refused entry because she can't use the passes apparently because she is under 16!! I was also 'informed' that I wouldn't have been given so ma y as its one per person and not several! So I'm a liar now too!
The left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing and, as in my previous review, the staff desperately need some training! Please .. for the love of God freedom leisure! Decide what your protocols are, stick to them and TRAIN YOUR STAFF!