Local leisure centre websites 🤯

[TwinklyTornadoBear]

Why, for the love of god, are local leisure centre websites so catastrophically shite? We’ve lived near three different ones now, and each time it feels like a competition to see who can design the most user unfriendly site. They’d get a slicker result if they outsourced it to a bunch of 12yr olds.

Want to see the timetable? Just scroll past the Ts & Cs, GDPR statement, parking policy, contact info, and probably the town’s coat of arms, right down at the very bottom. Because obviously that’s the most logical place to hide it.

They’ve got three completely separate systems depending on what you’re doing. Booking a session - use the main site. Want to see lessons, go to Course Hub. And don’t forget the HomePortal which you occasionally end up in, and looks the same as everywhere else, but is just designed to send you on a wild goose chase. You also get to re-select your “home” centre from a randomised drop-down list every single time. Maybe Exeter, tomorrow Dundee - does your local
pool even exist anymore?

Swimming lessons are a whole new level of joy. First you’ve got to find where to book them on the site (which should earn you a Duke of Edinburgh badge in orienteering). Then you can add your child to a waiting list… except the staff say the waiting list doesn’t exist. Not to worry, just keep refreshing at 6 a.m. every morning like it’s Glastonbury tickets.

All the while you’re tripping over lengthy statements about their “mission and values.” I don’t care if your mission is world peace and your values are kindness, courage and turmeric smoothies - I just want to know when the pool is open, how much it costs, and whether I can book a gym session without studying computer programming. 🤯

Is this just a local curse, or are leisure centres nationwide engaged in some secret pact to make their websites as unusable as humanly possible?

Ours does have a website but I think most people use the app which is very easy to use.

Yes have noticed this! And I can never get back into the system to check my children's progress, or change their slot. I would rather an old fashioned html list, a Google form plus Stripe, honestly

You’re not wrong. I tried to look at ours recently, I really just wanted one timetable as an overview to see what my options might be. But it seemed like I could only filter by specific days/activities rather than have an overview. There was also no proper information about each activity. I gave up in the end.

And emails! They are all centralised, so I'll never get info about when the pool is randomly closed for a gala, but my 5 year old gets tips on how to maximise his workout and the baby is encouraged to start her weightloss journey 😔

It took me ages to navigate mine the first time. All I wanted to do was find the swimming timetable.

Ours is really easy. BH live and everyone active. Go straight to timetables for the sport I want, leisure centres I use are all remembered and then just click book!

Haha I manage websites and shit websites drive me insane. No answer other than made on a shoe string. I also find there’s a lot of web “experts” who can talk the talk and impress non tech management so get contracts when they are not fit for purpose but non tech people don’t know what to ask.

And then there’s the fact swimming lessons aren’t generally at times which suit working parents. My local leisure centre told me they messed up the contracts for swimming teachers requiring them all to finish at 5pm they didn’t consider later hours may be needed and the contracts can’t be changed apparently.

a nearby leisure centre posts all their lessons Facebook and updates for 1-2-1 cancellations which works really well.

Ours is Lincs Inspire. I looked to see if they still do 9am general swim on a Sunday. I'm going to nip in and ask- much easier. Abandoned website after half an hour!

Our local one is run by Better. Utter shite. I once went to the leisure centre in person to try to book because the website and app are so useless, and the staff said bookings cannot be done in person and directed me to some screens in reception - which didn’t work. Arghhhh!

Absolutely agree, they're so shit!

We go to one place where they've also got an app. I used it to book a swimming session, it said 90mins. After an hour they said we had to get out so I went to reception to ask wtf was going on, and he said that particular session is now only 60mins (a recent change, we've booked that slot before with no issues). I said it says 90mins on the app, I'm sure of it because otherwise I wouldn't have booked it. He said "we do advise you use the website to book". But when you try on the website it says use the app! They've changed the timings on the app now but the website is still shit.

Ours appears to regard people wanting to know how much activities cost as being a scandalous impertinence

Ours is also atrocious. I had to ring the other week because it was so bad and asked whether they did family swim memberships (seems like a no brainer to me) and the lady on the other end of the phone sounded like I'd suggested something completely crazy. The answer was a resounding no.

….because cuts to Local Authority budgets means that money has to be spent providing vital services, rather than on Digital systems.

It’s a shame as, in the long run, decent Digital services will save time and money. LAs can’t afford the salaries needed to bring the technical people they need in (or aren’t able to pay the market rate without the Taxpayers Allliance having a meltdown). This leads to a lack of people who have the right expertise, to design and lead the Strategy.

You are then left with third party suppliers, who provide an inferior product, that doesn’t meet User Need, and they get away with it, as there is no-one with the Technical wherewithal to challenge them.

My local pool is the same. Thankfully we don't have to book sessions here - you can just turn up - but the timetable is presented in the most mind boggling way on the website, and it can't be accessed on the mobile version 🙄

It’s depressing how many other systems there are out there like this! Absolutely agree with a few pp that the procurement is shot - having tendered for (very different!) services, they are more interested in whether you have various ISO certifications and whether your staff cycle to work than you actually having the competence to do the job. Means you get some shocking excuses and nobody is able to interrogate what they’ve done and say ‘whoa, we paid you xxxx for something this rubbish?’

Bingo!

Ours don’t have a timetable. You have to click on individual time slots for availability in the list. You can’t have an overview. If you are booking to go with a child you need to do this separately and compare. You are not permitted to see an overview. The slots overlap. For example you may be able to book 10-11 or 10.30-11.30 as an adult, but not the second slot with a child.

BUT the bit I hate most is the booking itself. Why can’t I walk in at a quiet time and just swim??? As opposed to military planning and hanging around after bus times to being kicked out at a set time.

Ours you have to choose the pool too. They are separated by nothing but a metre of tiles. Child A prefers the smaller pool, B the bigger pool. No switching allowed once my child and I were the only person in the small pool, a woman and her toddler were the only person in the big pool. She’d booked accidentally on the website and the toddler was freezing. I suggested we swapped over pools. The lifeguard said no, due to capacity. 2 people in an Olympic sized pool, 2 people ina. Half size pool. Otherwise empty. I pointed out it was both a like for like swap, plus there was no one else in the pool so no capacity issue. Lifeguard said I’d be banned from the centre if I took the 2 steps across into the other pool. Woman left after a few min, wasted payment as it was too cold and they wouldn’t change her booking or allow a switch. It’s just maddening.

I absolutely hate the EA app - crashes constantly, so unintuitive!

It's like they bought one of the original app designs a million years ago and have never thought to update it since!

Yep. Or a crappy template. That cannot be changed without vast expense. So everyone is stuck with a rubbish website and a contract for years that is well past being even a vaguely modern website.

I consider myself reasonably tech literate so it must be a nightmare fir some members of the community, who potentially need it even more (thinking of active retirement type stuff!)

YANBU, and like others we live somewhere where we might need to use facilities in any of three neighbouring LAs so three different crap systems to get to grips with.

The one that has had me almost in tears of frustration though is the LTA website that our council uses for booking tennis courts. Absolutely infuriating!

@modgepodge it’s like you need to borrow a mates child to go!

The site for my local leisure was redesigned and they actually made it harder to use! So difficult to see when courts are available, you need to sign in to two different platforms. When you book something there's no payment confirmation page. It's like they don't actually want people to come