Edinburgh locals have accused a popular health club of 'exploiting' parents after a massive price hike for swimming lessons.
Nuffield Health have come under fire after dozens of disappointed parents were forced to take their children out of lessons after a huge increase.
The charity, which posted a turnover of more than £779 million in its accounts for 2020, told Edinburgh Live they had no choice but to increase their prices due to rising energy and chlorine costs.
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Several parents, who say they rely on the private swimming lessons, say they feel let down by the lack of communication and change to the swimming programme at the centre.
The Corn Exchange branch of Nuffield Health has raised prices from £100 for 10 lessons to £143 for 12.
One to one lessons, which are understandably dearer, have seen a £10 increase- spiking from £25 for 30 minutes to £35 if you book a four lesson block.
Many of the children have spent years learning to swim at the local pool and parents told how much they enjoyed the routine.
Dozens of kids are now devastated after their parents warned they couldn't afford the steep prices and believe the private heath club have spotted a gap in the market and are exploiting parents with sky high prices.
Speaking to Edinburgh Live, one parent who has taken her children to the club for the last four years, explained: "There was a swimming instructor before called David who was really well-liked by everyone and he was flexible with kids schedules and holidays.
"After he left they changed everything and gave us no notice which really p***** everybody off, there has been a massive staff turnover since.
"There is a really high demand for lessons so they have had to close their waiting list, they don't care if you have been there for four years.
"It's a cluster f*** to be honest, everyone I know has left because of how they have been treated.
"I used to sit with the other parents there was six kids in the group lessons before now there are only two kids in it now.
"We have one lesson of our block then we will be leaving like all the other families."
She continued: "It's exploitation, they have just seen a gap in the market and the opportunity to make more money.
"I am sad about leaving after so long but we have no choice.
"Lessons are regularly cancelled at short notice and the price increases, which used to be approx £2 per year suddenly jumped by £3 in December and then a whopping £10.75 further increase six months later in June.
"All during a cost of living crisis? So a £13.75 increase in six months."
Another disappointed mum explained: "This is a well loved Saturday routine and has been for almost six years, it’s my son's highlight of his week as he adores his instructor and loves their chats as well as the swimming!"
"There are no badges or certificates - just take take take.
"So for a child's private 1:1 swim lesson for 30mins, with an adults gym membership which they are now insisting on equates to £46.25 per 30min lesson - £1.54 per MINUTE in essence."
"I doubt that the swimming instructors have received a huge pay increase. I cannot fathom what justifies this sudden and obscene price increase.
"It is sky high compared to any other high end Edinburgh swim schools and came with no warning - I received no email notification as I usually do - the last email was notification of the £3 per lesson increase in December."
"They have now completely priced us out and I’ve had no response to my email and no manager was available to speak to on the day."
The biggest disappointment for the families involved is having to disrupt their children's routines that have been in place for years.
She continued: "It’s such a shame on the children involved who now will need to stop this well loved weekly routine and many who have been attending for many years.
"Nuffield also suddenly want people to pay for more lessons in advance or the lessons will be more expensive - i.e if you pay for 12 all at once it will be slightly cheaper than paying for four all at once.
"So hitting the least wealthy families with higher cost it’s so unfair.
"The new monthly cost they are wanting is more than our electricity and gas per month!"
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A Nuffield Health spokesperson said: “We are sorry if we have caused any confusion to our members. In mid-May we sent a letter and email to all members about our new prices and structure for swimming lessons.
This introduced our new Swim Manager and apologised for inconsistencies in the structure of lessons, which is an area we are urgently prioritising for improvement.
Like many other organisations, rising energy and chlorine costs do impact the operational running of our fitness and wellbeing centres and swimming pools across the UK has meant that we have had to put our prices up.
As a healthcare charity, we reinvest our income into our fitness, health and mental wellbeing services, offering free access to our COVID-19 rehabilitation and Joint Pain programmes to people across the UK.”
