Swimming fees, AIReallyBU?

[IAmRubyLennox]

Tell me what you think.

3 DC: 8,7, & 6. None of 'em can swim.

Phoned the lady who does private lessons at our local health / leisure club. She says it's £202 for a block of 10 private lessons, and that you can put however many children you have in at once. So I pay up, and all my 3 have a half hour lesson together every week.

At the end of 10 weeks, I pay £202 again.

Today was the end of the block. I went to pay at reception. The receptionist asked how many DC I had, and (being a truthful type) I told her I had 3.

She says I have to pay £517 because I have more than 1 child in there at once.

Their rationale is that they've decided that private lessons = 1 instructor:1 child.

My rationale is that
a) they can't put the price up by 156% without any prior warning whatsoever and expect me to be fine with it.
b) the DC aren't going to get anything different for this than they have got in the last 20 weeks.
c) my children are in fact having less attention 1:1 than in a private lesson
d) the swimming instructor tells me that she doesn't get paid any more for having 3 of them, and they won't get any more pool time.

The bottom line is that I won't be paying for a block at £517 because I plain can't afford it.

I do know that I've been getting a good deal for a private lesson for 3 DC at £20.20 a pop, but it does seem a crazy increase from £202 to £517. That's over £100 an hour, which is more than I pay my solicitor.

AIBU?

YANBU.

I would speak to the instructor again. The receptionist may be wrong.

£202 is reasonable. £517 is not.

I would go back to the swimming pool and query it. If the receptionist is correct, I would remind them there is a recession and tell them they can choose between £202 for all three at once or nothing. Would they prefer £202 and a happy customer, or nothing and a pissed off one.

squeaky, that was my instinctive reaction. Sadly, turns out the receptionist (despite being horribly smug about it) is correct. Company policy, turns out. The instructor says she will speak to the swimming manager and explain that they're losing business as a result of this, but I don't know whether or not this will make any difference.

Can you teach them yourself?

I was kind of taught by a mixture of my Dad, my siblings and then the school eventually.

Mine are about £70 for 8 sessions, 4 or 5 in the class with an instructor in the water. They move them up and down classes according to ability, which means they carry on learning and improving all the time.. So your first price was much closer, although I'm not sure one instructor could do a range of ages as well...

I'm a very very rubbish swimmer. DH is a super one, but works away most of the time. I suppose now they can swim a bit, it wouldn't be a tragedy if they joined a class lesson, but none of them are mega-confident, plus it suited me nicely that they all went together because it got it all out of the way in 30minutes on the same evening.

If they want that type if money then expect three different half hour slits so they get the 1-1 you are paying for !
Although I know you can't afford it :(

i pay £40 a month (that's 1 half hour lesson a week at £5 a go x 2 dc's). that is for a class though, with up to 8 kids in the pool with one instructor, round here private lessons (1:1) are £10 an hour.

Speak to the leisure centre manager. I think the receptionist has got this wrong. It sounds way too much.

I am not sure there is a lot more you can do - other than obviously not pay it.
At least the instructor is going to try for you.

Would it be worth each of your DC's taking it in turns to have a block each of 1 to 1,and then going swimming as a family in between?

You could get a book from the library which will help you with strokes and teaching techniques,and you can re inforce what they've been taught.

Or the other obcious option is normal lessons.

speak to your local swimming club. Not health centre, but club. Usually beginner lessons are around £80-90 a term (about 12 lessons) depending where you live. and swimming clubs often have a big staff/child ratio (ours are often 1:3) - They also have a vested interest in getting kids swimming quickly (so they can move them up to the competative squads).

Well I pay £5.50/half hour for DS1 and he's taught with 1 other boy (but ratio could be 3:1) so I think the original price is just about ok - £500+ for 10 weeks is just absolutely crazy.
(I am greater London btw, so used to the premium)

Our local borough council-run leisure centres used to do intensive lessons but seem to have stopped now.

I'm sure this is going to be one of those situations where you pay your money (or not) and take your choice, but it's a huge PITA. The DC were getting on well, liked the instructor and so on, and now I'm going to have to find someone else.

Glad that it's not just me being tight about the £517

the only thing about them all being taught together, is they will progress at different speeds. i have dd in level 6 and ds in level 3. i know it's convenient to have lessons at the same time though. i spend hours at the pool every monday as ds has his lesson then we wait (and wait, and wait!) for dd to have hers.

Is there any chance the instructor would work with your children at another pool as a private arrangement? That way it would be up to her ho which she charged instead of it going through the pool. My ds did a few lessons this way to start him off.

You may well find all three would be placed in a class together anyway ,OP,as you said they are all non swimmers,and of a similar age grouping.

Pools will often try and accommodate and will endeavour not to put one sibling in a slot,with another sibling in a very different slot (although this is not always possible)

I pay £5.25 per lesson for 35 mins in the pool in a group of ten kids. DS is very nervous in the water so I'm considering getting him an intensive 1:1 course in the holidays if I can afford it (in addition to carrying on the weekly lessons). I've looked into it and I can't recall the exact price but it's around £12 per 30 min lesson I believe. £500 is crazy! Is it in a private gym/hotel type place? Could you look for an alternative, even if you have no intention of going, and use the threat of leaving for another class as a form of negotiation?

No, not in W.Sussex, in Wiltshire.

Interesting what hatti said about a club - they can all swim a bit now, and one of the local clubs does train at the same pool as they've been using for lessons up to now. Could be a plan.

My two DC's have a 30min 1:2 lesson each every week and DC3 and I go to a 30min 'little ducklings' class once a week too. I pay £120 a month for all three at a hotel/spa. We are in Devon.

I would look around for a more reasonable deal!

Just go swimming lots yourself !! You can teach them. If not there are a lot more reasonable options around I am sure.

iamruby, I really recommend clubs for swimming - my son went there after languishing at level 1 for 2 years. First week in, instructor moved him to level 3, the following week to level 4. They hadnt been moving him at leisure centre because they didnt have space in level 2.

I also question some of the teaching methods used at leisure centres. The club swimming teachers are usually under direction of a head coach, usually an ex swimmer, (and the younger coaches that have trained at loughborough uni and are specialists). Like I said, swimming clubs are interested in getting kids swimming correctly right from the start and less concerned with doing the stage awards.