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November 2023 by Dana Siegel
Really disappointed in the staff. Each week there’s been a different instructor for my 2-year old and I have to specifically ask for the instructor she feels comfortable with. Today she was assigned an instructor who spoke about her finals and how much work she has to do this week. Keep in mind I was sitting on the bench and this was her conversation with a TWO-YEAR OLD. She then asked my child old how her week is going and didn’t smile or try to be cheerful at all. My toddler cried the whole time.
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September 2023 by Jillian Starr
I cannot say enough good things about our experience with Goldfish Swim School in Needham. All three of my children LOVE coming each week. While I’m always impressed by the quality of the facility, the organization of classes, and the progress my children have made, it’s much more than that to us. The kindness, warmth, and genuine interest each staff member has offered our family is something I can’t thank them enough for. They go above and beyond in their efforts to make kids feel safe and excited to swim. Thank you Goldfish staff and management!
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September 2023 by Elena G
Facility is cute but I think that’s the only draw. Teachers are very young, and while they do know how to swim they don’t know how to work with small children and all the emotional needs/fears that go along with swimming. Classes were 30 mins but there were at least 3 children to one teacher which meant my child only got like 15 mins of actual “swim time.” Needless to say my child didn’t learn to swim this summer at goldfish swim.
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September 2023 by Steve L
This place used to be 5 stars a few years ago but has slipped a bit. Still is a nice place for your children to learn how to swim. Staff is less diligent ensuring classes begin on time and parents need to bring children to swim lanes themselves when they aren’t paying attention. Front desk support / management help is inconsistent.
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July 2023 by Angel C.
We started with Goldfish in Needham when they first opened, it was great and my eldest graduated from GF. 2nd daughter started at the newly opened brookline location, was great as well! We moved back to Needham and had our 5 year old son start his lessons in Needham. Just not the same anymore. Instructors and service was nothing like when they first opened. Too many instructor changes for my son, there were no updates after each swim lesson and my son has been stuck in the same level for 6 months. I had brought this to Gf and they mentioned they will keep an eye out for my son. Not sure what that means because nothing has changed. I finally decided to cancel our membership and no questions were asked.
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July 2023 by Billy Sofis
Bottom line, there's very little accountability here -- I guess that's the downside to an establishment where there's never anyone over the age of 25 on premises.We wanted to attend a family swim session today so my son could practice treading water before a swim test at summer camp. After the Goldfish team conveyed incomplete information about how we could register for the family swim, they agreed to let us attend given that the mistake was on their end and we'd been good, long-time customers (4+ years, birthday parties, etc.). After we'd been there for 15 minutes, one of the lifeguards informed us that time was up, at which point I asked if we could stay a little longer and they agreed. The manager, Abby, came back almost immediately and asked us to leave, intimating that we were trespassing. When I asked why we had to leave, she accused me of telling the lifeguard moments earlier that I was refusing to leave the pool area, and that my son's presence in the pool was making the lifeguard team uncomfortable, since the pool's occupancy was one person over their internal guidelines. Meanwhile, there were 3-4 lifeguards for about 25 people at the pool, not all of whom were even IN the pool.If our original agreement had been clear upfront that we only had 15 minutes and that that was a hard-stop, the situation would've been more understandable. Instead, Abby originally conveyed that they were flexible around the situation and then turned around and sought to enforce a strict time limit, which obviously created an unpleasant situation that was anything but flexible or customer-friendly. So to my initial point about accountability, if they make a mistake, don't expect them to fix it -- they'll probably respond by throwing you out of the pool.
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December 2022 by Harlan S
I agree with Lois, the instructors are great and management needs to improve. When I had an issue with registration, the employee on the phone just kept repeating the corporate policy. After leaving three messages for the GM asking her to call me back I eventually received an email saying, "I understand you've been trying to reach me.What can I do for you?" I asked her to call me to discuss the issue, but never heard from her again.
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December 2022 by Lois Tsao
I give our teacher 5 star and the management 0.The pool has a problem for the 2nd time in a month and our class is canceled for the 2nd time in a month.They first promised us free family swim when we paid month to month then after a while told us we have to pay for a half-year membership to have free family swim.We paid half-year membership then got rejected for 4 or 5 times for family swim because it is too “popular”. I asked for a refund since half-year membership doesn’t give us anything more than month-to-month but was told no refund.They ask me to send an email on Sunday morning to register for family swim to guarantee spots. I sent my email precisely at 9 am and got the reply “You unfortunately fall beyond the 50 spots.”There’s never a lesson available for the time slot we want. I have put my kid onto two waiting lists but never a spot available.Then they decided that my kid should be transferred to another class. We requested the same teacher who is the only reason that we stay with this school and was told that class is also waitlisted.The above mentioned are simple facts and the responses are always “sorry” without any action to do the work right.I stopped trying after I was told “I was unfortunately falling beyond the 50 spots”. The management team messed things up in every way they could. The last time we came to class the students reduced to half. I’m not surprised.
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December 2022 by Melissa Hamilton
We have thoroughly enjoyed Goldfish. We are anxious to get our daughter in the pool too (wish there were more mini offerings, but we’ll patiently wait on the waitlists ?), but our son is such a fish and loving the lessons!
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December 2022 by Sue Berman
The swim teachers are really well trained, enthusiastic and safety conscious. We’re in the mini class and little one loves the warm water, routine toys and songs and it’s very clean.
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December 2022 by Sandeep Davada
Update:I was contacted by the team and have subsequently registered our little man for classes. We’ve been to a few and he loves it.This feedback is as a prospective customer.It's been over a week since I contacted you folks, via email, phone and your online website form to obtain some more information before signing up? If this the standard level of response time and service your customers receive then I'm glad i haven't signed up yet.If you're going through a busy patch and are understaffed then I understand, but I'd recommend you do a better job of communicating this to your existing and potential customers.
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December 2022 by Cerica Horton
No visible signage that says no pets allowed. We were here for over an hour before staffed approached us saying dogs weren’t allowed in the building. Otherwise great teachers and atmosphere. Would highly recommend.
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December 2022 by Gizem ND
It was a frustrating experience we had with their management. I emailed them, called them, left a note at the front desk for them but it took them longer than a month to return back. And finally when they returned I asked if they could give me a phone call to discuss my concern they never did, until I wrote a review for them.My concern was about having a different instructor almost every time. My child has special needs, and they have a program at Goldfish to support their students with special needs. But with changing teachers every week and them not reading the notes about my child, we were starting from scratch every time so no progress (and I believe this would be the case for a child with no special needs as well).I think same people also own the Burlington location of Goldfish. We had an amazing experience there, so I cannot generalize my experience with Needham location to other locations, their staff at Burlington were amazing, really helpful, and we had more consistency with the teachers.
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March 2022 by C. M. L.
If you're looking for results- this is the place!! My children have been coming here for over a year and their progress and confidence has been amazing!! The supportive, friendly and energetic staff are always there to answer any questions. They are patient and understanding of schedules and always do their best to try to accommodate families with hectic schedules! My children love and look forward to coming to class and learning with the friends they've made ! We love the GoldfishNeedham family!!
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December 2021 by Anne Hunsicker
Staff were very responsive and helpful with all questions. Coaches were very encouraging and great swim teachers to both of my kids. The Jump Start Clinic really helped with swimming this summer.
