David Lloyd gyms, 11yr olds now teens?

[Purao]

Has anyone else been disappointed by their sudden change of classing 11yr olds as teens? I really want to cancel our membership with their changes but have been refused.

A couple of weeks ago they announced the 8-11yr old kids club would become a 6-10yr olds kids club and there'd be a teen programme for 11-14yr olds which is yet to materialise.

Their kids clubs used to be 3-5yrs, 5-7yrs and 8-11yrs with 2 hours of kids club a day! This was good. It has now been changed to 3-5yrs and 6-10yrs only.

11yr old DD is now to old for their kids clubs which DD enjoyed and it worked perfectly for myself going to the gym and classes.

8yrs+ are allowed in the gym with a parent so DD now has to spend anytime at DL in the gym with myself, only other option is to sit in the clubroom by herself or go swimming by herself. She'd be bored with the latter both on her own and I'm not comfortable with these two options either.

We have a years membership and taking a 11yr old to the gym with me wasn't what I signed up for, it was the kids clubs for DD and gym and classes for myself.

The only clubs they do for 11yrs are as before the changes, the family Synergy and Battlebox classes 8yrs+ which again requires a parent to be with their child and we didn't enjoy these before they cancelled the kids club.

They do supervised gym as before the changes with a kids leader and a group of 8-14yr olds in the gym for an hour 2x a week but again DD didn't enjoy this.

Surely with this change, no kids club for a primary school age 11yr old which was 2x clubs 1hr each a day, 7 days a week, we should be able to cancel our membership. It impacts classes for myself which I can no longer attend as DD is too young to go to these classes with myself and I can only use the gym with my DD in tow now which impacts my gym time.

Yes 1st world problem but I joined to lose weight and get fit and DD to do kids sports clubs, it's expensive. Surely others are affected? How are other parents and kids managing these immediate changes? (Tips would be great)

What was their reasoning for refusing the cancellation?

It was that they will be providing a "Teen programme" to replace kids club for her age (yet to materialise) and DD can do their previous parent and kid classes (that she didn't go to as she doesn't enjoy them and neither do I. They then went on to try and sell their tennis and swimming lessons, which are an additional cost to the hefty gym membership and out of our budget and not of interest to DD)

Surely if DD is suddenly too old for the class and they haven't provided an alternative class they should refund. I'm sure there must be others in a similar position as you who wont be happy with this

You can argue for your cancellation on the basis that they no longer offer what you signed up for nor a suitable alternative.

Look out for the Fit Workout of the Day… that’s what they’ve called the teen workout class at our club (it’s only 30 mins though. So not as versatile as the kids’ club).

Exactly, I've said to our DL club what we signed-up and now receiving isn't comparable. They've said we have an annual membership and can cancel only at the end of our membership (I'll have paid almost 2K by then!)
Thanks for the heads-up on the new 30min class (nothing like the 2hrs a day and not long enough for the 45min-1hr classes I used to do but will allow me 30mins in the gym on my own).
I don't understand their rationale behind stopping 11yr olds in kids club (and whenever was a 11yr old a teen! DD is a young 11yr old and loved all the friends she made in the 8-11yr kids club)
Surely it's not just 11yr olds, what's the point for 12yr olds plus.
Imagine the gym will be overrun by children now, along with lone children in the clubroom and walking around the place :( kids on their own in the pool!

Op do you know what else they are planning to offer for tweens 11/12 year olds?

If you tell them you are moving more than 50 miles away they HAVE to let you cancel. I have done this at DL before.

My son was 6ft at 14 years old its crazy how they have divided up the ages.

Some 11 year olds will be secondary in Scotland they'd be 11.5 before secondary.

My 11yo is tiny for his age, and seems really young to be using adult gym equipment as that seems to be all they are really offering.

Will lookout for Fit Workout.
So far they're just offering supervised gym but of course have cut the weekly frequency of this back and a "teens night" -2hrs, same hours as the 8-11yr old clubs were but they were daily! This is weekly, in the clubroom with the 3-5yr old group and 6-10yr old group! 'Teens' all 11/12yr olds, why would an actual teen be interested in this.
Does the 50mile thing really work? (I'd imagine them saying to move membership to that club or suspend membership?)
Yes, there's a huge difference with little 11yr olds (DD still wears 6-8yrs/some 8-10yr clothing) and actual teens!
I'm absolutely going for Nuffield or a standard local gym for myself once this annual membership is done! And just pay for DD to go swimming when she wants to at a leisure centre (and save >100 a month!)
DL have let members down with older children but will miss out on business, retaining these 11yr olds+ into adult memberships. We're done, I'm literally going now only when DD is occupied elsewhere!