Academy Swim Club

Our family loves Academy Swim in spite of how difficult it is to do business there. My daughter (almost 5) takes private lessons and LOVES her instructor. She even made up a jingle she sings all week long about how much fun she has. And she’s doing well and progressing nicely. That said, the Parent Portal is a pain in the *neck* and it would be so much easier (and much appreciated) if a busy career mom could just call, have someone answer the phone, acknowledge the cancellation, and book the makeup.
We are having her birthday there next month, so we shall see how this goes. I’m hopeful!

Totally bums me out to see so many negative reviews of this place! We just moved here from Hawaii. My daughter is 1 ½. Because we moved a lot, shes actually taken swim lessons at 3 different facilities before we moved here. These are the best lessons I’ve had!
She’s had lessons with Celine, Miguel and Natalia. I think each teacher has their strengths and she’s liked all of them. The progress I’ve seen in just a few lessons is pretty remarkable and very exciting (floating on her back very well, and reaching back for the wall). What I really appreciate is its NOT just singing songs and playing with pool toys. They focus on repetition and skills.
The facility is decorated really cool (Hawaii theme) and she loves going. The pool and showers are clean. She loves the small showers !
As far as front desk staff, the lady I’ve dealt with is great. I believe she is new and she’s always helpful. We have to miss a few classes and she clearly explained their makeup policy and I think it’s fair.
The pool is always busy, which can be distracting for a toddler. But they are a business, and it’s not the first place I’ve been to with multiple lessons going.

I used to love this place. I actually drive 30+ minutes from the valley to go here. I took my husband here for adult swim, instructors are good. I had two of my children there one in baby swim and one in a group class. Again good instructors. As soon as they switched over to their electronic system it really has been a pain! They rebill your card each month I’m fine with that. Since I have this new pin card I have a problem every month and have had to pay a few admin fees since they can’t charge it. They have not once offered to waive those fees. Well those have added up! Not to mention if your kid wakes up sick you can’t cancel your class without paying for a make up, which to me is totally absurd especially with toddlers. I have lost hundreds of dollars in makeups and debit card fees. Oh and then you have to do everything through their parent portal repayments makeups it’s so impersonable you can’t even call to talk to anyone. Half the time no one answers and half the time when they do they are rude. Mahria has been great but she’s not always there. I’ve had my boys in their classes since May and had planned to start my one boy finishing his levels to sea otter where I know he’s safe in the water. However for 2916 they are charging another registration fee! I think I’m sad to say that I’ll probably be going elsewhere. As a parent it’s sad to transition your kid from a place they love just because of how a place is administratively handled. Good luck parents!

I like Academy Swim Club. We’ve been coming here for some time now. My kids’ swimming teachers have been wonderful. I’ve had one incident where a make-​up class didn’t get scheduled. Because of the delay of the class, I ended up requesting a credit/​refund on that class and they had no problem issuing it. From the emails I get, I can tell the management is trying to make it work for everyone. My only suggestion is to get more full time teachers so the kids won’t end up having new teachers all the time, as it has happened to one of my kids, however I understand how hard it can be and it would drive up the cost/​price. Nonetheless, overall I’d definitely recommend Academy Swim Club!

Unfortunately I don’t have the option of providing them with half or no stars, so that’s the only reason they even got one star. I am not one to take time out of my day to write a negative review, but these guys really deserve it. Please do yourself a favor and read through these negative reviews. They all have the same issues; an absurd no refund policy as well as a horrible administrative staff. To summarize their refund policy; once we have your money, we will not give it back. Our daughter had been taking lessons here for six months with little progress. I did not try and blame this on Academy Swim Club as I feel some of the issue is with my daughter. My wife and I thought we would have her take a break and come back in the spring. December is a busy month so it was also one less thing on our plate. We had two make up lessons we needed to do and had already paid for December. Once again, even though I have paid for a service that was not provided, I can not get a refund. I don’t expect to receive a refund for the make up lessons because that’s on us, but I do expect a refund for lessons I paid for but am not receiving. Do yourself a favor and find another place to take your child or look into having someone come to your house. We had someone come to our house for half as much and taught my child just as much as Academy swim, but in much less time. Unfortunately she moved out of state, so I found myself dealing with this place. I will never do business with these guys again. And I would strongly advise that you avoid them to save yourself some frustration.

This place is a mess! I called not one not 2 but 3 times to sign up y kids and after leaving 3 messages on the answer machine n still nobody called me back I decided to drive by and talk to them. Obviously the first thing I asked was y they don’t call people back n this lady tells me that they don’t call back and that I should email them. Really? After that I was told that semi privates were $ 28. She never mentioned to me that was per kid, that that was a registration fee and that I had to pay 12 classes in advance in order to sign my kids up. In stead she scheduled a semi private for my kids and told me «see u next Monday».
Got home told my kids they got excited, Monday comes n I get a email saying that the class was canceled bc I never made a payment! Are you kidding me? Emailed them back and they told me all the above about fees n stuff. Got so fed up that I told them that I would take my business somewhere else n I did it.
Besides that the pool is very crowded. Lots of stuff going on at the same time. Maybe like 5 classes at the same time? I was dizzy! My kids would never be able to focus on their classes anyways!
I wish I could give 0 star for this one!
Twisting the facts won’t help. Train your staff is the best you could do. Don’t waste your time trying to be right. Go train your staff!

My almost 4 year old has been enrolled for several months now and we love it.
Yes, there was a rough patch with the administration, but all now seems to be rolling smoothly. My son moved up a level and we were able to get him into a new class (via e-​mail) within a matter of minutes.
The teachers are amazing and really have great techniques to help the kids learn.
The facility is always clean and is very welcoming.
Please don’t let all the negative reviews dissuade you from checking them out. They seem to have really gotten their act together. :)

A little pricey (about $ 18 a class for group classes and about $ 30 for private) compared to YMCA but worth every penny. The Valencia location is nicely decorated and has showers that accommodate little ones. I could take my 6 month old to class with no help and get us both showered and dressed relatively easily. If you take classes at Newhall, they will take $ 1 off every lesson.

Administration is terrible! Just to schedule a make-​up class or private 15 was a headache! Front desk couldn’t scheduled it for us. we have to schedule it through their website (which was not user friendly) or wait until a staff called us back! It was also a pain to talk to someone in the front desk and when I left a message they would call back 5 days later! Also, the pool had so much chlorine that it would burn my sons eyes! There’s many other things we didn’t like about this place but our main reason we cancel bc we didn’t see progress and it’s expensive.
Our only positive comment is my son enjoyed it and we like it’s an inside pool. unfortunately our experience wasn’t the best. We feel they care more about the money.
Gilda M,
Trying to respond back. It’s sad that ASC doesn’t take any responsibility to the lack of consumer service. Your reply sounds like an excuse! This has been happening before you lost your front desk staff! We were patient enough and we gave ASC a second chance! and we still weren’t happy with the way this business is run! My husband reported mold in your showers and it was not taken care off!!! That’s disgusting! What other excuse do you have for that?!
About the water that has to much chlorine you suggest googles and eye drop… I don’t think you have met me and my family.
1. My son is 1 ½ yrs old toddler.
2. He won’t keep on anything on his face.
3. Eye drops are useless if I apply them before and after the water. It will still burn his eyes during class!!! It also burn my nose and eyes and I wasn’t going into the water!!! Somedays the water was ok and some days it was a strong smell of chlorine! It’s an indoor pool and it needs more ventilation! I understand you have to keep to guidelines of the amount of chlorine but it’s not the first inside pool I’ve been to!
Your response does not make me want to go back! Don’t know your customers and don’t take any responsibility for bad customer service! Thank you but no thank you.

This review has two sides: one good and one bad. Let’s start with the good one.
The process by which the kids are trained by instructors is very effective. My older kid started taking swim classes at Academy Swim 4 years ago — and not only she learned, she progressed enough to move to a swim team and exit the learning program. My little one has been swimming there for six months and overall enjoyed her experience. The pool is warm, the instructors are incredibly patient and whenever there was an issue they would usually address it quickly.
Now the bad… and having read the past few reviews — it’s become a real problem for the Academy Swim — administration.
Whereas before I could come up to a front desk person and solve every problem in 5 minutes, now the Academy relies on its website and Voicemail to conduct business with parents. Not a very effective way, by the way. Trying to reschedule a class is an exercise in futility as no one is capable of looking up a schedule to give us any options. The instructor was ill and we wanted to schedule make-​ups, we could do so for 2 months. Since my kid has started to for some reason not want to go to swim class, we decided to cancel — again website is the only option. Even though they say they’ll call up to 7 days, it took 3 weeks and over 7 phone calls to get a call-​back to confirm. In the meantime, they charged another month — something that the person on the phone was apologetic about and promised a refund.
Suggestion to the business. Staff your front desk — and make your business personal again. I get we’re all used to phones, websites, etc. to conduct the business — but if those aren’t working (and based on Unilocaler reviews — they don’t) — time to get back to what made the Academy a business worth patronizing in the first place.

The worst customer service, computer system is terrible and the management will never call you back or return an email. After 2 years of being their customer I have had enough. Most of the instructors are good at at their job but the administration is so bad that we are finding a new place.

Enrollment process is such a pain. Horrible administration staff (answering service never return calls, front desk has no idea of this, parent portal webpage always broken). I took the assessment a month ago and was told that id get a call back the same week to confirm. Did not hear back for 3 weeks and just heard back (reasons i did not believe). After a long struggle, just completed the enrollment. Anyways, hoping the instructors will be good. If not pulling out after the first class. Will not recommend to anyone…

My son has been attending swim lessons for seven months now and he loves it! I will be taking my two year old soon!

I’m very pleased with the way the company decided to take action. Administration reached me to resolve issue and did so in s very timely manner.
Though I am not happy I had an issue to begin with, I am happy that they took customer service to the next level and made it good with the client.
I love the swim classes and will be staying as a client

Stay far away from this place! My kids got chronic sinus infections once they started lessons here, but swim academy has a strict contract, that you must meet a minimum amount of lessons before canceling. Regardless of your excuse, even if it’s your child’s health the swim academy will hold you to your contract! Once our contract was complete we still had a balance, swim academy refused to refund our money because there contract states no refunds! You ask to speak to a supervisor and the front desk will say they are the supervisor and talk to you like they have been hypnotized by some higher power to refuse all request! Stay far away from this place they have horrible customer service and are all about the dollar not the kids!

Great indoor swim facility for infants and children. A fun environment to learn basic swimming techniques as well as proper form and coordination.
The instructor starts off with a complimentary in pool assessment. Upon signing on, they work with the child every week to reach the requirements to move up to the next level. They offer private one on one, semi private or group settings. Each child goes at their own pace without feeling left behind. They build endurance in the water, muscle strengthening and treading stamina.
The school also conducts safety week where students are asked to wear regular clothes & shoes to get the feel of being weighted down. They learn life saving tips, focus and how to remain calm in scary situations.
Kris B. has been our instructor for a long long time and he is great with my children. He is very friendly & encouraging. He makes learning fun while elevating their confidence. Kids enjoy the end of practice cannon ball throws and belly surfing which leaves them happy to have played in the water. The Swim Academy is year round, rain or shine with heated pools.

We have a pool in the back yard so swimming is a must a true life or death situation. That said, I love this place but even more importantly my 3 boys ages 6, 5 and 3 love this swim school. We have been going for 8 months now and I have nothing bad to say about it. 8 months ago all of my boys would have sunk like a stone in the water. Today my oldest will be attending swim meets this summer and the younger ones are not that far behind him. But most important is that they love swimming, they are confident yet respectful of the water, and they just love their teacher so much (in fact they insisted that their birthday party be at the swim school so thier swim teachers could celebrate with them).

I really love this place! My four year old was terrified if the water and now he is excited to go to class. The instructors are amazing and really love what they do. My only complaint is that the billing is confusing, and a 24 hour notice for a toddler if they become sick is next to impossible. They should really be more flexible when it comes to dealing with children.

After 6 months, they decided to start refuting negative reviews on Unilocal (maybe people are starting to realize what kind of business they run).
You say it took you weeks to get a hold of us? Strange… We were almost «Begging» for your consideration because of our son’s medical condition.
We decided to let my Business Credit card company handle the issue because we were getting NOWHERE dealing with you.
You got the MD note first week of March, my son has NOT started a lesson in March, yet our card has been charged already until end of April!
If my credit card company did not intervene, we would have been ignored like fools.
Your day by day account of what happened is nice and all, but it’s too good to be true. People are smarter than to believe your blatant lies, especially that more than 90% of your Unilocal reviews point out to the SAME rotten problems we’ve encountered dealing with you.
My son did not attend the whole month of March because of his medical condition, and even with an MD note, you denied us refund of that money…
You can have that «store credit»…
If it makes you happy, if it lets you sleep better at night… Take it, we will never use it.
In the end, even if all of these were just your word against mine…
Parents— ask yourselves,
Do You Really Want This Kind of a HEADACHE?!?

Another thing, they don’t charge you consistently. Before they would charge you the 5^th of the month, which ended up being closer to the 10^th or 12^th. Then they notified us they would charge us on the 15^th of the month (this has only happened once) and that was the first time they told us about it. As a company/​business they are not professional. Nothing about them, screams that I want to come back other than the instructors.
I love the instructors. They are so helpful and encouraging to the kids. I HATE the customer service. I waited for 20 minutes the other day while Daniel was on the phone dealing with a potential customer. He didn’t call anyone to assist him. Myself and the 2 or 3 people behind me just looked in horror at him as he continued to ignore us.
Fortunately my interaction with him is few and far between to keep me content. A person with better people skills would be better appreciated or a better staffed front desk would do the trick.