Puddle Ducks レビュー 

Could be a amazing company but poorly run the teacher we had was amazing the lessons are 5 star but having done 15 lessons my son got to 6 months and according to the website I was expecting him to move to the 6 to 15 months class to start learning new things but was told there was no space and would have to be in 0 to 6 months classes for maybe till he was 9 months old so not willing to pay for him to be held back doing the same things and not learning new skills I canceled

The swimming itself is great, we managed to get ourselves in at a nice warm pool and the instructors we have had from when our LO started at a few months up to now (shes at Dippers level now) have been friendly, very encouraging and all in all good (if not a little rushed but understandable given the amount of content and length of classes).
The issue is with payments and courtesy classes. We just paid for the next term only a few weeks ago and suddenly im getting calls saying the payment didnt go through (the last payment definitely did as was unexpected so took me into my overdraft). Turns out they are trying to take for the next term already and warned me that I need to pay by a certain date or she wont be allowed to continue. The date is weeks away so its all getting a bit pushy on the payments which is taking the fun out of it honestly. Also the process is weird and complicated... they dont just take a payment every term or whatever- its like you pay for a term, then they take a little bit (or not) depending on the difference between terms. Hard to get your head around even as long time customers.

Finally I'll say that the policy with courtesy classes absolutely sucks. If you aren't able to come to a class then you tell them in advance and they give you a courtesy class to use later- excellent. The thing is that if you don't use them before your paid term is over then you don't get to use them after. You can only use them whilst you have a paid term active with them. This may be okay in other areas but we are in Brighton where space for a courtesy class almost NEVER come up so you're forced to continue lest you lose your money. Right now we have 3 courtesy classes waiting to be used and 3 weeks left of classes before we have to renew. I have checked every day for classes to come up but nothing. Its getting a bit expensive for us now and our LO is to a point where shes confident and it seems puddleducks has done the job to a point we're pleased with so we dont really want to do any more classes but if we dont fork out for another term we lose 3 classes that cost £14 each... £42 of classes down the drain. Held at ransom basically

I must admit, when I booked puddle ducks I didn’t read the reviews till after, and I was nervous about going today and having second thoughts, however I’m glad I did go.
Not to sure why puddle ducks is getting bad reviews,
I went to freedom leisure centre today in Maidstone and it was really good!
The Leisure centre is a bit dated but it’s clean, which is important.
The puddle duck instructor was really lovely, helpful and friendly! My son had a great time.
I will be recommending puddle ducks to all my mum friends!

Xx

Please avoid taking swimming classes with Puddle Duck. My daughter drowned during her level one classes! There are only 2 trainers per every 8 level one kids in the pool!

My daughter and I went to the puddle ducks class at the Plains pool in Elland, Halifax.
The pool is attached to a house. The pool itself is an ok size, the instructor was nice and welcoming. The changing facilities dismal!!!!
You have a tiny changing room and a stool!!! To try and get changed in, you can't even tune around it's that small, you're expected to try and get changed with a baby in your arms as there's no room or space to put them safe whilst you get changed, the locks on the doors are broken, the toilet as no door on it so everyone can see you.
I ended up taking my baby's bath seat in the second week so I knew she'd be safe whilst I got dried and dressed, had I not booked a 10 week session I wouldn't have gone back, mums crying as it's hard to get changed in a tiny space not big enough to swing a cat, honestly they are supposed to be a family run business, with baby's coming in and have no facilities to support and help you and because of covid you can't have a partner or someone in there to help, it's a disgrace.

Really poor experience.

We bought a block of ten lessons for our baby daughter. Then Covid happened. She doesn't particularly enjoy the classes and the changing rooms (in the Noke hotel) are not Covid safe for the number of parents in the class.

Because the changing room is too small, they expect parents to wait in the cold with their crying kids outside the pool till a space frees up. The tricky thing is that as any parent knows it takes a fair amount of time to dry and dress a little baby. Obviously a more responsible thing to do would be to limit the class sizes to match the facilities they offer.

Even though they don't provide adequate conditions they won't refund you for the classes. If you cancel they will only refund the future months' worth of lessons, regardless of how many you have purchased or actually used.

Any 'courtesy' classes i.e. classes you paid for in your original block of 10 lessons but pre-booked in their system as 'not attending' that week are not refunded. You cannot even pause the membership and go back later when it is safer as they make them expire and won't allow you to use them without an active membership (£66 a month, even if you have a balance of 'courtesy' classes to use).

Suggest using an alternative swimming club if you have one nearby as Puddle Ducks have been a bit 'tricky' as a company as the other reviews on here seem to indicate.

I emailed in advance to explain that my son was 9 weeks old, was born premature and to see if he could attend the classes. I also asked what he should wear. I received an email back explaining that they take babies from new born and to buy the swimming trunks. Excitedly I booked. Before the lessons I received an email with instructions for how the classes would run due to Covid. It stated that you must not bring the car seat into the venue as there was not enough room. So as instructed I carried my baby in and got him changed into his swimming trunks. After less than 5 minutes in the pool I was told that I should get out as my baby was probably cold and too small. When I got out I was told that we should bring him in in the car seat and to buy him a wetsuit to keep him warm. All of this information would have been very helpful before I arriveD! I felt very embarrassed, this was the first class I had done as a new mum. We were then locked down again so by the time classes started again, my son was around 13 weeks old, I had bought him the wetsuit. again we were in around 5 minutes when I was questioned by the teacher if he was tired or hungry. I decided to leave. I didn’t like the way I was spoken to and found the company to be quite unprofessional. Not forgetting the week prior the class was cancelled 30 minutes prior because the water was too cold!!! Would not recommend

Booked a block of 10 lessons at great cost pre covid. Wasn’t comfortable going back straight away after lockdown and was given courtesy classes. However can only use these if you keep paying for more classes. Absolute rip off, avoid and go elsewhere as I am now doing!

I’m disgusted & extremely disappointed in how MidCheshire Puddle Ducks have treated us.

I wanted to start my son swimming from the age of 3 months. I did some research to ascertain local companies; I chose Puddle Ducks due to the weekend classes (so hubby could attend too).

You need to buy a block of 10 classes which cost £142.50. Before making the purchase we emailed Puddle Ducks to check class availability & also to ask if we had to take all 10 consecutively (as knew we had a 3 week trip booked in the middle of the course).

They only responded to the availability question & not about taking the classes consecutively. Annoying.

Hubby replied requesting the booking form, and again asking the question - do we need to take the classes consecutively.
He did get a reply eventually which was (verbatim) 'For any classes that you cannot attend you are able to book holidays and a courtesy voucher will be applied onto your account. This will enable you to catch up on the classes that you have missed out on, on a different day and even at a different pool (if you wish). The courtesy classes are bookable 6 days in advance.’.

Due to this we went ahead with the block of 10 and started our classes. The classes & instructor were good. They’re only 30 mins long as the group are babies so £14.25 per class seemed a bit steep but we ignored this as we just wanted to enjoy the experience.

Now it gets a little complex; PD automatically put you on a ‘Recurring Payment Scheme’, something I was unaware of as it wasn’t mentioned on the Booking Form.

I’m sure this recurring method is in the small print/FAQs somewhere but as new 1st time parents we didn’t go looking for any T&C oddities, and as we had contacted the team & received the above response by email why would we?!

Mid way through the classes PD tried to take further money from me, numerous times actually, however I’d used a dormant account to make the initial booking (luckily) so they failed each time. Once I realised what was happening I emailed to ask to be removed from the recurring payment scheme as we just wanted the classes I’d paid for. They took me off the scheme no question. We eventually got to class 10, which was our 7th actual class as we’d missed 3 in the middle of the course due to our trip. I then logged onto my account to book in the 3 unused classes - to my annoyance I couldn’t select a new date for these but I just assumed it was a system error and emailed the team.

The response was this (verbatim) ‘With regards to the courtesy class vouchers, you are only able to use them whilst you are in a regular class to book an alternative class to the one you would usually attend. They do not have a cash value I’m afraid, so can’t be used to pay for more lessons.’

Not the clearest reply but basically saying “you're no longer paying for lessons so you’ve lost out on the 3 classes despite the fact we knew you couldn’t attend and we’d even discussed this in advance”. I was annoyed but ereplied to explain I just wanted to bring my son to 3 more lessons as I had 3 ‘in the bank’. They refused and to say I’m fuming is an understatement.

Their reply to my early email never stated I need to stay on the recurring payment schedule nor that I would need to take the 3 substitute classes in the 10 week course period. Had I known we wouldn’t have booked as it simply wouldn’t have worked for us from a cost perspective or timings as I knew we were taking the 3week trip in the middle.

As they refused to allow me to take the missed classes I asked for a refund which was also refused. Therefore I’ve paid £142.50 for 7 x 30 minute lessons! This works out at £20.36 per 30-minute baby class!

I feel how we’ve been treated is disgraceful. Also, the team's communication skills are shocking & I’d suggest HQ offer some basic training to all franchisees in order to avoid muddying their name.

I'd urge other parents to STEER WELL CLEAR unless you have money to waste!!!

I've used two puddleducks areas lancashire and Derbyshire. the teachers are all fantastic. Customer services is fab and most importantly my son loves it. You can see every week his growing ability in the water. Can't recommend highly enough.

The best thing we ever did for our son. He has thrived in this environment and learnt invaluable skills that he will refer to for life and use for fun!

Total and utter waste Of space not to mention disorganised. I have lost count now of how many times you have cancelled classes at the last minute without any o POI prior notification.

For any parents thinking of signing up to this shambolic outfit, think again and don’t waste your hard earned money