Better - Woolwich Waves Reviews 

When I was in my previous gym membership, it was £10 cheaper and Sauna was included. Now its £20 pay as you go for sauna why a joke.

Launch of Woolwich Waves was not executed well.

- Lack of signage or explanation on accessing the site and services.
- Much smaller site with fewer work out areas.
- There's a random studio with just treadmills and workout benches, which could've been used better.
- Still lacking varied equipment (eg. sled or more cable machines).
- Only 2 squash courts.
- Instructors being told they can't use their own music playlists.
- And to top it all off, you are now expected to pay for the sauna (£12.50 for 60 mins or £20 for 120 mins) when previously at Waterfront, it was included in your membership, which is just a joke.

Now just waiting for them to hike up membership prices in April, as usual...

I am leaving this review after cancelling my £99 per month full membership, which is advertised as providing access to all Woolwich Waves facilities.

Unfortunately, under the terms of what appears to be a one-sided and poorly structured contract, my membership will not actually end until 1st March. This means I will continue to be charged for over a month despite having already decided to leave due to the issues described below. This only adds to the disappointment.

To give proper context, between 15 January and 24 January, I spent £194.16 in just over half a month:

£25.30 for an introductory walk-around of the facilities
£20.00 for a gym induction session
£145.86 for my first month of membership
£3.00 unfairly applied non-attendance penalty

At no point during either the introductory session or the gym induction was I informed that failing to scan at the entry gates would result in automatic penalty charges or blocked booking access. This is a critical condition, yet it was never mentioned once.

What initially appeared to be a positive experience quickly deteriorated into a deeply frustrating and unacceptable one due to an entry and booking system that is badly designed and, more importantly, operated by staff who are poorly trained, provide incorrect advice, and give assurances that are simply untrue.

The problem began when my phone failed to scan at the entry gate. A member of staff manually allowed me to enter. Despite attending the session, I was later charged a £3 non-attendance penalty. I returned the following day to have this corrected and was told it would be sorted. On that visit, staff again allowed me in without scanning, and I specifically asked whether this was acceptable. I was clearly reassured that it was. That advice was wrong. I was then charged a second £3 penalty.

Those penalties immediately blocked my booking access, leaving all sessions greyed out on the app. As bookings can only be made digitally, I made another journey to the centre to resolve the issue. I was repeatedly told it would take around 20 minutes. I asked several times. I was repeatedly reassured. Nothing was resolved.

I woke up the following morning, Saturday, at 9am, unable to book any sessions, with the penalties still in place. This was after attending, following staff guidance, and after being given multiple false assurances that the issue would be corrected.

I returned again on Saturday and was denied any opportunity to speak to management. I was told at the customer service desk that the penalties could not be cancelled that day. At that point it became clear that staff either do not understand the system they are operating or are giving advice that directly leads to customers being penalised.

While waiting, I observed several other dissatisfied customers experiencing similar frustrations. This is clearly not an isolated incident.

Charging members for sessions they attended, blocking access based on incorrect staff advice, and then refusing to correct those errors demonstrates a complete lack of professionalism. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, services must be delivered with reasonable care and skill. Under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, customers must not suffer financial loss due to misleading information. Both standards have been breached.

This system penalises honest customers and rewards rigidity over common sense. For a publicly funded community leisure centre, this represents poor value for money and unacceptable practice. As someone paying the highest membership fee, I have been treated as a problem rather than a customer.

What could have been a long-term membership has been destroyed by poor training, misinformation, and a refusal to take responsibility. I have cancelled my membership and will not be returning.

A good layout of gym equpment would like to see a smith machine i train on own the smith machine help with assistance weight kind regards david

Why play music in the gym most people have headphones on its not needed

Woolwich Waves is a very new and
wonderful place to spend free time.
Excellent service!
A very professional and friendly
team.

We recently signed up our 4.5 yo twins for swimming lessons and they have great experience so far and love it. The lessons themselves have been excellent.
The only area I wanted to comment on is the drop-off and pick-up arrangements. The corridor is quite narrow, and there are often parents waiting to collect children while the next session’s families are arriving. This can make the area quite congested. It may be helpful to introduce a small barrier or a designated waiting area where parents can stand while waiting , as this would help keep the pathway clear for children arriving for their lesson.

I also wanted to share observation regarding the soft play area. It would be great to have shoe racks and hooks for jackets and bags. Currently, jackets are left on chairs or on the floor, which can be a tripping hazard for children running around.

Keep the good work !

The new centre has something for everyone with softplay, waterslides, swimming pool, a cafe, spa, gym, creche (but was not yet open when I visited and variety of fitness classes. I highly recommend the box fit and the dance fitness. Its a shame that the standard membership does not include access to the steam and sauna.

Bicycle parking is very insecure.

Showers are very weak.

No Watt bikes.

Approached by a beggar in reception area.

Rude security and shift manager doesn’t know the customer service at all . At the end they had another 3 staff coming in just to intimidated us with

Excellent facility and fantastic service from the staff.

the gym is good , The pool is terribly organized. People come to swim, and the staff closes off half the pool. No one exercises in that half, and in the other half, there are five people per lane. And for a leisurely swim, there are nine people per lane. Reservations don't work. The website says 20 spots are available, but when you show up, they're all taken. The pool is very poorly organized.

Nice and clean with a wide range of facilities and good knowledgeable fitness instructors. Greeted by concierge as I was standing in the queue. Only improvement needed is concierge needs to be booking guests in so they don't get charged non attendance fees when they attended their pre booked sessions.