Better - Atherton Leisure Centre Reviews 

I am very happy,
Nice Learning Easy Learning
Very good services...

I think a little more care could make this place real amuzing! I felt a bit of care was missing while I been there for my child's first swimming lesson.

The junior gym pass is hours off 4-6 pm. I found this very upsetting and normal gym membership are very expensive £38 per month

Gym (Atherton) is in a poor state of repair. Many machines are not working and the air conditioning is leaking in a few places, so there are buckets placed strategically around the floor. Until this is rectified, I would avoid this gym.

Expensive . £12 for processing fee compare to other gyms.

E.g you pay £35 + 12 and then monthly payment, they don’t have internet access unlike the previous occupant Atherton Lesuire centre . Which by the way cost £26 with any time access.

I don’t see why Better gym is helping people within the locality.

With your own phone internet, it feels horrible as network gets weaker and that makes workout experience excruciatingly difficult and discourages.

One have on choice cause, is just 10 minutes walk from one’s home. And due to one have kids at home to run back to .

No family package, just horrible setting to enrich them.

lol your feedback have no positive effect on people with disability and on benefits.
Pure gym don’t even give such packages yet their price is way lower than yours.

And with full access if you are on £26 monthly plan and no contract.

Those machines no longer have network connection, why should I seek for staff to assist in network connection?

The formal occupant made it possible for members to access without staff help.

It sounds sneaky.

The money is ridiculous

Swimming lessons are great the kids love them

Best gym very clean

Karen understood what I was asking for and clearly answered my question.
She gave a quick response and if there was a delay in replying, she will apologise.
Karen is the prime example in how people should respond in the role of customer service.

What was an average place for a gym has now turned into a soulless company by an “improvement in management” named “better”. To be honest it’s actually “worse”.

What have they done so far to this gym. Nothing. Just confusion and overpaying. No actual work has been done to the gym. Outdated equipment and only 1 pair of weights so it’s hard to share. Silly machines with force features that waste space and are useless. So bad and old equipment. Pair that with their new prices.

The sly “charity” mentioned existing customers will continue to pay their old payment of £33 pounds a month. And now it’s gone up to £47 which is an absolute joke. Don’t let these people steal your money for such a mediocre service.

Things to improve
Seperate gym membership
Fixing broken and old equipment
Stop increasing membership costs for no reason

You cancelled my lesson at the last minute. Terrible experience, it was my first lesson.

I have a monthly subscription and still online website showing charges for offpeak fitness classes. I have been in touch with staff member who still couldn't fix it. Even one staff member advised choose different class if it is showing charges!!! However, some staff member helpfully helped me to book the class over the telephone. This is still the case and yet to be solved. I am calling every week different days to book myself in which is really frustrating.

I have been paying a monthly membership for over a year and for the most have been using the gym 3-5 times a week and the staff knows who I am, I have lost a lot of weight and I'm grateful to have these facilities close by.

However on the last occasion I went to the gym there was a lot of redecorating going on, the entry barriers were open so I walked through, then a member of staff who knows that I'm a member said I had to come back and scan and pointed to a make shift desktop scanner back out in the reception area which I declined because I don't backtrack and redo something that I already have and that you know I already have, this is pointless and futile.

So after a little back and forth the member of staff had the audacity to say "you're just being difficult"

Being noncompliant with foolishness and being difficult are two different things and who is she to tell me this anyway?

Meanwhile in the reception there was a person wearing a shirt and tie who I'm assuming is a company rep speaking to another member of of staff, also there was another staff member sitting at a table talking to a potential customer. At that point the thought of who are you ran through my head but I don't believe in being rude so I held up my old Newham active keyring with barcode and showed the Better app barcode on my phone and said "if you don't like it call the police or revoke my membership". At that point the company rep made a gesture to her and she said its OK you can go on.

At what point does a member of staff feel like they can speak to me as if they're my wife or family member? Who says to a customer that they're being difficult? For the longest I have known it's usually the customer saying this to staff, I work in the hospitality industry and would never be over familiar and say this to a customer.

So now I'm in this awkward position where I work 6-7 days in a row 10-12 hours a day and would like to go to the gym to let of some steam and I have to pay £33 which is a 10% increase for that?

As much as I won't ever be rude to that staff member I have to ask myself shall I go PAYG or simply move on? I will never forget because it leaves a bad taste in the mouth especially when the staff have seen me constantly in and out of the gym over the last 14 months.

The only reason it's not 1 star is because I don't blame Better as they've recently taken over control of the facility and existing staff, also the rest of the staff have been great, however a certain staff member needs retraining especially on how to deal with conflict resolution.

Staff is good n friendly but Swimming Disable showers need to be fixed properly. Water pressure is very low and auto stopped after a min ,its not suitable specially for disable people . Previously when it was with newham they we perfectly ok but now Better management changed but it needs urgent improvement.

Very good service. I’m in love in this centres ❤️

I just had a call with Amy from customer service and my God she was excellent. Incredibly help and just went above and beyond her role to support me. I ended up freezing my account for a few months due to pregnancy however the customer service was so good I’d have to think twice before changing Gyms. So far I’d rate them high as only had positive encounters!

So, I've applied & paid £20 a year for the Better Adult Concession membership and got approved this morning.
However, when I've gone in to book the gym at Atherton Leisure Centre, it says I still have to pay.

So, I'm paying £20 a year for what exactly? Just to go and pay a discounted fee.
Where's the sense in that?

When Atherton was run by Activ Newham, I used to pay as I go and that was that. No yearly fee.

You call yourselves Better, but Better for who? Coz it's definitely not better for me!

Also, why is the time limited to 50 mins in the gym?!

I received no information about the move over from Newham Active to Better, until Better sent me an email a few weeks ago, informing me my membership fees would be going up. They had not taken on board my current reduced fee arrangements. This week I received a formal introductory letter, by post, telling me about Better and advising me to download the Better app which I have only done in part, as my gym location does not show up. When I called customer services a few days ago, I was told my gym wouldn’t appear till the 1st April (takeover day). Yet somehow the gym location does appear for the purposes of leaving this review. I was also told I would only be able to sign up to classes from the 1st April. There is absolutely no information about what classes Better will be offering us. I am no longer able to book any classes on the Newham Active app as of 28th March! And I have no access to the classes under Better. Better has failed in keeping its new customers properly informed. Not a great start!