never-ending shenanigans at dulwich baths

[Lee Scoresby]

I have posted on EDF before about Fusion Lifestyle, for example the casual doubling (that's DOUBLING) last year of the cost of a monthly swim ticket. Latest BS from these clowns piled onto long-suffering Dulwich Baths users:

- no hot showers in the mens' swimming changing rooms, I am told for months now

- almost all the seating in the men's changing rooms suddenly ripped out - why? - FL is too arrogant to tell us

- accidentally left something behind? - forget it, the cleaners chuck it - there's no lost property system

- supervision of lane swimming is as 'zzz, whatever' as it ever was

I ask again, how does this truly shoddy outfit keep its contracts with Southwark? And I'd love to know too, what pay and perks is the FL boss taking home? We should know.

Lee Scoresby

[jimmyraj]

Have to admit that I went to the Dulwich Pool for the first time in a few months this week and was disappointed that all the men's showers seemed to be broken. There were no warning posters that I could see but the water just came out scaldingly hot from those that did work, with the valves on two of them just loosely hanging off.

It's a big disappointment that, after a terrific renovation and investment, not enough care is being put into maintaining the facilities. It's also the little things that are noticeable - like tatty signage being put up in the pool area - which add to the impression that those running the pool aren't the right people to maintain what should be a fantastic facility.

[bugsbgone]

Wow, me too... I hate to say this but I suspect that a bandage discarded at the bottom of the pool on Monday was still there today..

That said the general repair of the pool and the helpfulness of the staff make it stand out from any of it's nearest neighbours..

I will say one thing though, why is is that not many people.. and most especially our esteemed lady swimmers never take a shower pre swim?..and before I get bombarded - the showers at the side of the pool are usually on more than they are off!!

[ed_pete]

Perhaps a few emails to Veroncia Ward, Cabinet Member for Culture, Leisure, Sport and the Olympics, CC'ing the East Dulwich Councillors might help.

Also:

Fusion Complaints

Southwark Council Complaints

[Lee Scoresby]

I don't discourage anyone from exercising her or his democratic right but I caution you against any idea that either Fusion or the Southwark officers laughingly supposed to be supervising this contractor will take the slightest notice. Your reply will be either patronising wiffle or bare-faced denial of things you know to be true.

This outfit has form, a great deal of it. A glance at the EDF archive will give a flavour of the shambles that accompanied what should have been the triumphant occasion of the Baths reopening.

One of FL's grubbiest little secrets was throwing all pool-users out of the Pulse after just an hour when it suited them. No signage, nothing in the brochures, because they knew that nobody would accept it. Even this they couldn't pull off - I was flung out of a lane with no-one else using it after just 20 minutes! Nearly a year after I first drew to this to Southwark's attention, absolutely nothing had changed. Will they pull the same stunt this summer? Probably.

Perhaps the new generation of councillors will be prepared to ask just why this bunch keep their stranglehold on ED and Southwark leisure facilities, and wonder whether certain council officers are far too cosy with FL. These are our facilities and we deserve a lot better.

Lee Scoresby

[Twirly]

bugsbgone Wrote:

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> I will say one thing though, why is is that not

> many people.. and most especially our esteemed

> lady swimmers never take a shower pre swim?..and

> before I get bombarded - the showers at the side

> of the pool are usually on more than they are

> off!!

How do you know they're not? I shower in the ladies before I come out. The pool side showers are down the men's end - no way would I traipse all the way up there, I want to get in the water as fast as possible and hide my wobbly bits!

The benches were missing in the ladies this morning too, though they were there end of last week. I asked at the desk on the way out and they are going to be replaced. According to one of the other ladies in the changing rooms, the bench opposite the door had been damaged, though why that meant they had to rip the whole lot out, I don't know - other one seemed to be fine previously.

[MartynAndMiranda]

I would say that its not only the baths, but the gym too - My wife and I have been members for a while now and we simply haven't been able to get use of any of the machines of late. We've gone in every other evening over the past 3 months and I would say that 75% of the time we've had to leave straight away because there are NO machines free and no one is about to leave.

To me, this is ridiculous. when a queue forms behind a machine, you know that the Fusion gym has become greedy with their subscriptions and put it above any form of safety or common sense.

Why Safety you ask? Well they introduced 20 minute time limits on the treadmills recently - I was running on one and the guy next to me was just hitting 27minutes on his machine so I presumed that at the least the machine would cool down before stopping. More fool me! Come 20minutes my machine stopped dead. I was in full sprint and as such have damaged my knee in the jolt finish as I'd just planted my foot - my wife who is pregnant had the same experience and I honestly can say that I've never been to a gym that's so flagrant in its approach to over subscriptions or safety.

We are hoping that the situation changes in the next month but if not we're cancelling out membership and going elsewhere.

[spongebob]

Well done LS, I meant to put the exact same thing on here last night, I will say how lucky you were to be scolded in the shower as the 2 times i've been and used them recently the water was shriveltastically cold!

I did ask about the showers last night and was told they were having problems with the BMS and now thay are resolved they need a new heat exchanger to keep a constant water temp but forgot to ask about the missing benches?

[bugsbgone]

Perhaps you are the exception Twirly, most arrive at the pool bone dry!

[spongebob]

Does anyone know when it'll all be fixed and back to normalish??

[Friernlocal]

As a user of both the East Dulwich baths and the one and Camberwell I can say that things are not much better there. After having no access to a local swimming facility for a year whilst both were shut I was excited by the new ones; but this soon faded as the problems began. The showers at Camberwell now appear to have new mixer controls on them so lets hope these keep going. As for cleanliness at Camberwell & Dulwich, all I can say is YUCK! Although I am not using the Dulwich changing room showers at the moment as I can't face the cold water the floor of this part of the room has been filthy for a couple of weeks with hair and other grime.

At Camberwell last Friday I handed in a complaint form as the bottom of the poll was disgusting with clumps of hair rolling around like tumbleweed. Also the wood around the skylight above the men?s showers in the pool changing is now rotten due to condensation and will need replacing before it falls on someone?s head.

I do hope the Lib Dem councillor James Barber will read and hopefully reply to these comments. I have to ask does the head of leisure facilities at Southwark know about these conditions and if he does then why have they been allowed to continue for so long; does Fusion Leisure not have to meet any key performance indicators?

[JohnL]

The only way forward is to cancel memberships if they won't listen.

I use the tiny work gym Which we keep tidy ourselves (but you can get in at certain times) and a work bench and weights at home now.

I am allowed to run on the treadmill for an hour too. Anything under 45 minutes will do me no good IMHO.

[george74]

If any of you guys want to swim then I suggest you head up to The National Sports Arena in Crystal Palace (15mins drive) People actually go there to swim instead of standing at the end of each lane chatting to each other... that's my experience of the newly improved Dulwich Baths - busy, overcrowded and certainly not worth the newly improved membership price.

[Pickle]

Agree with the poster above. The couple of times I tried to swim at Dulwich I found it crowded, and the pool is quite small. I switched to Crystal Palace, and at times had the whole Olympic sized pool to myself. It's deep and a bit daunting but much better if you're swimming to get decent exercise.

[Dopamine1979]

MartynAndMiranda Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I would say that its not only the baths, but the

> gym too - My wife and I have been members for a

> while now and we simply haven't been able to get

> use of any of the machines of late. We've gone in

> every other evening over the past 3 months and I

> would say that 75% of the time we've had to leave

> straight away because there are NO machines free

> and no one is about to leave.

>

> To me, this is ridiculous. when a queue forms

> behind a machine, you know that the Fusion gym has

> become greedy with their subscriptions and put it

> above any form of safety or common sense.

>

> Why Safety you ask? Well they introduced 20 minute

> time limits on the treadmills recently - I was

> running on one and the guy next to me was just

> hitting 27minutes on his machine so I presumed

> that at the least the machine would cool down

> before stopping. More fool me! Come 20minutes my

> machine stopped dead. I was in full sprint and as

> such have damaged my knee in the jolt finish as

> I'd just planted my foot - my wife who is pregnant

> had the same experience and I honestly can say

> that I've never been to a gym that's so flagrant

> in its approach to over subscriptions or safety.

>

> We are hoping that the situation changes in the

> next month but if not we're cancelling out

> membership and going elsewhere.

I agree. I recently cancelled my membership after 3 years. I stuck with them during the refurbishments and was very hopeful when the new gym opened but things haven't really improved. Not enough machines. Long queues. I just do weights at home and run in the park now.

[eastdulwichhenry]

I don't want to be a naysayer, and I quite believe all the stories above, but I have actually not had any bad experiences at Dulwich Leisure Centre. My son does swimming lessons every week, and we sometimes attend the rafts and rascals on Saturday afternoon and it is always a pleasant experience. We always use the family changing area though, so can't comment on issues with showers and benches in the Mens' / Ladies'. The showers in the family area all work and have variable temperature!

The only negatives I can think of is that the coffee and cakes are quite overpriced, and the water in the pool is rather on the cool side (29 degrees I heard somewhere) for a family fun session, though fine for the lane swimming.

[JohnL]

A 50m pool (especially if theres also a 25m pool) is a real luxury though.

When I visit home I go lane swimming to the Wales National Pool at

Swansea and it is a really beautiful swim - space and time in both the

changing rooms and the pool.

I know Crystal Palace is older - but I'll have a go I think.

Pickle Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Agree with the poster above. The couple of times

> I tried to swim at Dulwich I found it crowded, and

> the pool is quite small. I switched to Crystal

> Palace, and at times had the whole Olympic sized

> pool to myself. It's deep and a bit daunting but

> much better if you're swimming to get decent

> exercise.

[bon3yard]

Yeah, whats with the price increase? I feel I have to go at least 4 times a week to justify the 40 odd quid outlay I'd been using this pool for 4 years until recently but have since started using Peckham Pulse instead, not nearly as busy and lane times to suit. The showers/plumbing at Dulwich have been dicey seemingly from day one, its a shame becasue the refurb was great but now the varnish seems...well, tarnished.

[Lost Yorkshire Man]

Mrs LYM tells me that class times on the website differ from the brochure which in turn differs from reality. She has turned up a number of times to find the class has changed, their is no studio to do the class, or the instructor has not turned up.

[Burbage]

Lee Scoresby Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I ask again, how does this truly shoddy outfit

> keep its contracts with Southwark? And I'd love to

> know too, what pay and perks is the FL boss taking

> home? We should know.

>

1. It's a private company, run as a charity (encouraging health and efficiency among oiks having been a charitable aim since they first built the workhouses), put together by a number of councils.

2. They keep the contracts because it's sort of part of Southwark, just without the accountability or benefits.

3. According to the notes to the accounts (courtesy of the Charity Commissioners website), the boss seems to earn something between ?100k and ?150k.

4. However, given the popularity of schemes whereby senior staff pimp themselves out as service companies, it's possible the boss doesn't hit the wage (or National Insurance) bill, but is hidden away amidst other unspecified costs. This is probably unlikely but, as a rule of thumb, it's best not to believe anything signed by an auditor.

That appears to mean the services are supplied by a monopoly provider which is immune from both private competition and public-sector democracy, but able to take advantage of being both a private company and a registered charity.

That would explain its relentless, if surprising, success. It's clearly a win-win situation for everyone (apart from taxpayers or service user, but that's not unusual). I'd not be surprised if the brighter minds at councils weren't considering similar arrangements for the provision of other services. Such as care homes.

[CrystalWill]

george74 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> If any of you guys want to swim then I suggest you

> head up to The National Sports Arena in Crystal

> Palace (15mins drive) People actually go there to

> swim instead of standing at the end of each lane

> chatting to each other... that's my experience of

> the newly improved Dulwich Baths - busy,

> overcrowded and certainly not worth the newly

> improved membership price.

Hi George - can you post a link for the place in Crystal Palace? I'd like to give that a try instead, but can't find it for some reason.

Cheers.

[lebara]

Fusion Peckam is ok

[Pickle]

Details for the Crystal Palace centre can be found here:

http://www.gll.org/centre/crystal-palace-national-sports-centre.asp

[eastiseast]

I've tried both ED and Camberwell pools since their renovations, and both suffer from being over-heated* - both air and pool temperatures - and clogged up with people hanging around at each end of the pool who DON'T want to swim, just hang around and chat. I have no objection to learners/unsure swimmers, but there should be a better differentiation of the needs of ALL swimmers, and I'd say those who actually want to swim should have some priority - some of the time, at least. I filled in comments forms - no replies - and also spoke to staff. I was told that the high temperatures and all the lights being on a bright, sunny day was necessary for health and safety reasons, but they couldn't explain why. When I asked if a large number of people standing around at the end of the pools while other people were trying to swim,was not a real safety issue, they had no answer. *Btw, I take the point of warmer temperatures for family sessions, but really 29o is excessive, and killing for swimming lengths.

[H]

I gave up my membership this week, got fed up of trying to swim there. I too had filled in forms with my comments and received no response. I just wish they had some nights where lane swimming started earlier than 8. I know they need to balance the needs of everyone but as someone else has pointed out above there doesn't seem to be much priority given to people who want to go there to actually swim rather than float aimlessly. An 8 o'clock swim just isn't compatabile with having dinner at a reasonable time if you work and can't eat before you go. Sad really to give it up, I love swimming and the pool was nice when it reopened. Will have to go elsewhere.