The Wave Reviews 77

Friend in our group had emergency surgery a few days prior to our session.
They wouldn’t offer any refund or compensation. Very disappointing

The wave itself is wonderful - never disappoints my husband and my 16 year old son , they always have the best time .
I feel that the wave is letting itself down unfortunately in quite a few areas. Loads of staff milling around most of whom (except a few who were on the ball) seem to be fairly clueless, lazy, stood looking at there phones etc! … computer says no, sorry , not sorry! One of the lifeguards was vaping which I thought was a bit unprofessional!
Coming up from Cornwall or anywhere where else is an expensive trip by the time you have paid for everything involved in coming to the wave, fuel, fee, accommodation etc only to be absolutely screwed over by the prices of food and drinks at the wave!
Absolutely shameful pricing, the food and drink on offer is expensive. I just don’t understand why there is not a greater range of affordable food and drink on offer? We decided to eat elsewhere as many will especially a family with more than one child! Which is a shame as we were all starving so it was also a bit inconvenient!
I don’t like being a ‘Karen’ but I really feel that families should know this before going so that they can get stocked up with drinks and snacks before they go!
In summary, the wave is great but the people behind it are being a bit greedy in hard times … if management don’t step in and sort out these fundamentals I give the wave 12 months at best … which will be a real shame.

Had a beginner lesson this week, and was thoroughly happy with the experience. We had two instructors with a group of about 10 or 11, including ~4 kids. For £40 you got half an hour land session, then an hour in the water, which seemed good value to me. The two instructors were great, very energetic, engaging, and friendly. They gave tips everytime you went around, and you could ask plenty of questions. There was a bit of queuing in the water during first few sets, but by the end of the hour it was fine, and I was too tired to carry on any way. Seems to be lots of negative reviews on the booking system and communication; it seemed to work fine when I just booked my follow up session, but perhaps my opinion will change with time. Seems odd the beginner session (without an instructor) is £5 more than the lesson. The walk from the car park is mildly annoying, as you have to factor in thetime, but it is only 10 minutes (someone on here said 20, but they must have been walking very slow) plus it does say on the website. Showers were hot, and you don't need any coins for lockers. Not sure if I'll take it up long term, as it's an expensive hobby, plus the membership bundles aren't available for purchase. Overall would highly recommend.

I was disappointed with my experience at The Wave. The communication during the session was poor, which made it hard to understand what to do once in the water. The initial lesson outside was clear and helpful, but once we got into the water, the instructors seemed disengaged and low in morale.

The class size was far too large, which meant we spent most of the time queuing for a wave rather than actually surfing. On top of that, the session was mixed with both young children and adults, so the instructors focused mainly on helping the kids, while understandable this leaving adults with no guidance. For what was advertised as a beginner session, there was essentially no support in the water.

It’s such a shame, because the facilities themselves are excellent and the concept is great. With smaller groups, clearer communication, and more engaged instructors, this could be a brilliant experience — but as it stands, it was very disappointing.

I am not someone who would normally take the time to write a negative review, but my recent experience with The Wave customer service team and reading other reviews with similar experiences has motivated me to write this. Before The Wave changed ownership I had many positive trips to surf at The Wave. Unfortunately there seems to have been a change in approach since and my recent experiencehas been extremely poor and, although polite, after explaining the challenges I have experienced as a result of the recent closure and change in ownership they have taken no responsibility for the lack of communication and support while the company closed due to financial issues and then re- opened. I had seen assurances that customers would be advised of their position, acknowledging they had no access to their booking systems, phoneline wasn't and is still not working, my previous paid for bookings in my account were not showing at all, email address changed and had to find the new one to send an email to request support, so I was unable to get any support or clarification on whether my previously booked sessions would be honoured. I was met with a brick wall and eventually told they would no longer correspond with me on my query, basically now ignoring my emails and showing no empathy or understanding or value of my custom and of a situation they had caused. I would strongly recommend avoiding using their services as would have no confidence they would be supportive in the future.

Amazing infrastructure, amazing staff, great vibes all around. I have surfed a few times before so I was aware of the basic, but everyone was super kind and willing to help all the time

Following up on my review of a month ago, the only communication I have had is to ask initially for my booking details (!) and then to be patient whilst they work through this.
This has now however got beyond a joke and i will be taking the matter further with the consumer protection authority if i do not hear from the company soon.

The staff and facilities are great! I booked on for a beginner lesson and the instructors were amazing and I had a great time, would definitely recommend! A massive thank you to Charlie and Amy (my instructors) as they really pushed me whilst teaching the group and I had a great time

Literally just copied and pasted a review as exactly the same story
Since the takeover the communication has been terrible. I have 7 sessions left over from a bundle to use but can’t book online, can’t speak to anyone about it and no one returns any calls or emails. I've now had to contact my bank and submit a chargeback request. No updates at all about existing bundle packages. Surfers with the bundles are generally regular users. Without them you won’t have a business and treating us all like this is unacceptable.

I purchased a 120€ gift voucher from The Wave in October 2024 as a gift for my boyfriend who is a surfer, intending to use it during our visit from Greece. Unfortunately, this turned into an infuriating and unresolved experience.

Booking system broken – Their website only allows bookings for the current week, making it impossible to plan ahead. We are flying from abroad and need to book at least one month in advance. (When i purchased the voucher, this was totally doable by their system).

Gift card unusable – Due to a change in ownership, The Wave admitted they currently have no access to their own booking system or voucher database. This has been going on for weeks.

No communication – After requesting a refund and referencing UK consumer protection law, I received no reply at all. It’s been over a week since my last message.

This means I am completely unable to use the service I paid for, and The Wave is holding on to my money without offering any timeline, solution, or even basic communication.

Avoid this company unless you enjoy wasting your money, chasing down customer service, and being left with no surf session and no refund. Deeply unprofessional and unacceptable, especially for a business that markets itself as a premium experience.

Since the takeover the communication has been terrible. I have bundle tickets to use bought but can’t book online, can’t speak to anyone about it and no one returns any calls or emails. It’s not on. No updates at all about existing bundle packages. Surfers with the bundles are generally regular users. Without them you won’t have a business and treating us all like this is unacceptable.

Went to The Wave today and wasn’t sure what to expect after all the recent news about it closing and reopening.

I’m happy to say the service was just as good as ever, and I had a really special day out. The staff were friendly, the vibes were great, and the waves were pumping.

Would highly recommend - get down there and catch some waves. You won’t regret it. Josh

Trying to book currently but unable to speak to anyone. Emails aren’t being answered, phone lines are down and online system won’t accept my gift voucher code!!! This is ridiculous. Can someone at customer services call me back asap!!!

2 massive price hikes in the same year? Pretty much not worth it anymore…

The Wave experience from start to finish is an expensive, frustrating and disappointing experience.

They gladly take your money and then don’t let you book dates, their website and booking system is always glitchy, their system has deleted or lost my paid for surfing slots 3 times in the last 8 months. Then you can’t get through on the phone, they take more than a week to answer emails.
The facilities are getting more and more run down every time I visit, they cost goes up and up each time I visit and the hospitality and customer service, either on the phone, email or at the venue is beyond terrible!!
While the price goes up the amount of surfers in the water on each session seems to get more crowded and the amount of waves in a session gets less… seems to be a greed money grabbing business model and so disappointing because has the potential to be amazing concept and experience…. It’s just being managed and run into the ground by greedy management and lazy employees…

Terrible experience and poor customer service. They started providing poor quality boards . But be careful taking your own as it can easily damage on the concrete . They are clearly a struggling business now and it’s probably better for they environment that they do close - you know all that electricity is coming from coal plants

First all, the customer service in general is very poor. During sessions, the staff don't provide any advice or support which means many wasted waves because people don't understand line up etiquette, or how the waves work here.
Secondly, one of my sessions was cancelled last minute due to it being "too cold" and was issued a voucher with a short expiry. I didn't realise this and they just refuse to extend it. Totally robbed, sham of a company - especially considering how much it costs. It is a real shame because it could be so much better.

The food was dreadful it needs a rethink a huge queue with little choice left and the loaded chips were inedible - disgusting

This place is a classic case of great idea with terrible execution. The first and possibly biggest issue it has is that the car park is a huge distance away from the venue. Whoever thought this was a good idea needs to be fired as it would be a big walk for a normal venue, but for an activity that requires things like surfboards/body boards, wetsuits, change of clothes ect, to walk for 20 mins before you get there is rediculous.

Then comes the actual venue, signage which looks like an after thought as there is no clear way to go, you come straight into the retail shop and resturant, again, no thought on customer greetings. When you finally work out where to go, there is nothing to tell you there wont be a person to speak to to sign in, you have to do it on their screens, very easy, if they had made it clear that was what you had to do, then comes the scrum for a wetsuit, which is always fun.

If you need to get changed, make sure you dont have kids with you, as the outside 'changing rooms' are laughably small, they have a huge site and decided to make them smaller then a storage cupboard, madness. Oh and dont bring any valuables, the 'lockers' are so woefully thin, you would fit a handbag, but if you are taking a change of clothes (which considering its in water, who wouldnt) you struggle to get any of your things safe.

The activity itself was mediocure, my kids were bodyboarding but the waves themselves are turned off every couple of minutes just as they are getting the hang of it, and then turned back on, repeat for an hour.

I will give them credit for the food, it was delicious, so they got that right.

But overall it would be better to continue driving for 20mins down the M5 and go to a beach, as the waves aren't turned off, the facilities are better and you wont have to go 20minutes each way to walk there.

Amazing place, enjoyed it very much. However very cold but doesn’t really matter after a few minutes.