Virgin Active

I’ve been a member for about two years now, recently, they have been having issues with vehicle break ins in their member car park however they are in denial to admit it. 2 weeks ago, my car along with 2 other vehicles were broken into on their property under their care. I and my partner was obviously upset and distressed as a sentimental bag was stolen. Virgin Active couldn’t care less about what happened and were not cooperating with me and the police with the handover of CCTV footage. They also weren’t going to broadcast the number plate of the other vehicle broken into for the owner to come down as their personal belongings were scattered across the road to avoid having a bad look. They made a very stressful and upsetting time even worse by telling me about all of their rubbish policies about why they can’t just handover the footage to the police, even the police said they were being difficult. Virgin Active and their management team do not care or value you and your belongings. They only care about how they look and that’s it. They told me to come back tomorrow as their manager would be in for me to speak to, I came in the next day and surprise surprise, the manager had already left and wasn’t at the club, even though they said he’d be in 7-7 am/pm. I spoke to their duty manager who said Virgin Active aren’t required to provide any form of security to their members, which I am aware of, but when members are paying £200+ a month per person, you’d expect them to at least value and protect their members. I think Virgin Active and this club in particular have forgotten that without their paying customers, they would be absolutely nothing and would cease to exist. They are forgetting that their customers are the backbone of their company. They do not care for us, hence I do not care about their ridiculous policies, procedures and definitely their worsening reputation. Don’t forget that there were locker break ins broadcasted on the news last year at Virgin Active Chiswick Park and Chiswick Riverside, and now there’s non stop vehicle break ins. Don’t make the mistake I did, don’t join! It’s not worth it! It’s a run down overrated club anyway.PS. One of the people who had their car broken into on the same day as me, had their car broken into twice in the same month at Virgin Active Chiswick Riverside.

The gym facilities, equipment and building are lovely but the organisation and communication can be really poor. I had my joining fee taken 4 times (an over payment of over £800) which took weeks (and many phonecalls and emails) to get returned. The gym manager doesn't answer any emails and seems to hide from phone calls. The staff say all the right things - but don't seem to take action. It isn't the type of customer service you would expect from such an expensive gym which is incredibly frustrating.

My second week is over and I am very satisfied. I would recommend it to anyone who is considering it. If you play tennis, I think this is one of the best places in the city (By the way, I'm not playing yet but I'll take lessons). The gym area is very large, spacious and generally not busy. The sauna and steam room, pools and jacuzzi are also very spacious and clean. The employees are very friendly and good people. I can say that I found it better than I expected. I would also like to thank Ms. Inas. (Ali K. OZ)

This club has great swimming pools - if only you could use them. They frequently close the outdoor pool on Saturday and Sunday mornings due to lack of lifeguards, and then you can't swim indoors as it is too crowded.What is odd is that none of the local council pools suffer this problem (yes, I checked with Pools on the Park, Chiswick New Pool and Brentford Fountains Leisure Centre and none of them has ever had to close a pool for even one session due to lack of lifeguards) which means that it is a management problem that Virgin Active is either oblivious to, or refusing to solve.With membership fees of near £3000 a year, it really is a problem that you feel the management could solve if they wanted to.

This club is, on the face of it, lovely and rich with facilities. However, lift the bonnet and it’s a decaying sprawl of land with skeletal staffing. £300 a month plus joining fee for a health club that’s dirty in the changing rooms, shuts early, has awful food and essentially 0 drink options. Awfully run. No care for its members. - who are a lovely set of people. Welcome to the 80’s should be this clubs strap line as that’s the era it represents. The staff that are present are wonderful, pleasant and attentive but are young and mainly short term which just adds to the clubs MO of 'maintain' and not 'improve'. Ball machines out of action for 2 years and the same set of balls in them for the last 3 - such a high priced club should offer more. Oh and the brilliant working lounge which has great views over the courts lacks Wifi....... the work lounge... does not have wifi... £300 a month.. Join the harbour club or Foxhills if you want value and a club trying to impress its members.

This is their flagship gym but we have just cancelled our family membership after 10+ years.Fees are £250+ per adult so you would expect something pretty high end. The location and site are amazing, but it feels like they are in a death spiral, where revenues are down, service is deteriorating, people are leaving as they are unhappy, so even less revenues, causing them to cut services more.Reasons for us cancelling include:- Classes are regularly cancelled last minute- They closed the kitchen for two weeks to change provider. New menus are expensive and pretentious and kids couldn't find anything they liked. Anything deemed unhealthy is now off limits. No diet coke for you - just raw juice shots. No potatoes in any form allowed, even for kids. Healthy options are great, but people should be able to choose- They changed the freeze policy to make it much more inflexible. We were on (paid) freeze a lot but that meant they were getting money each month for nothing, and we would regularly rejoin. Now they get nothing from us each month and we aren't going to pay rejoining fees.- The WiFi has been terrible for weeks with them constantly saying 'someone came last week but couldn't fix it'. At this level and expense that's simply not good enough. I don't get a mobile signal inside so I can't work from there severely reducing the number of visits I make- Teenage life guards are more interested in flirting than guarding lives- Constant billing problems (taking too much money, forgetting to put kids on freeze when adults on freeze etc) and their billing system and invoices are completely incomprehensible. I'm sure we have paid hundreds more than we should despite have many separate calls with the billing department- I was promised guest passes for recent billing mistakes by a manger but they haven't appeared despite repeated chasing- Some electronic readouts on machines in the gym have been broken for weeks- When we cancelled after 10+ years nobody seemed interested at all in understanding whyIf you are paying this amount of money you expect exceptional service, and what you actually get is over-priced pretentious food, rubbish WiFi, constant billing problems, limited flexibility on memberships and disinterested staff.

The website states “pristine pool and spa facilities” - didn’t realise that unclean windows, limescale covered recliners, disgusting rotting grouting, rusted cornicing, filth on doors and shower floors all falls under the category of “pristine” it’s also 31 degree heat today and there is not a single parasol in the entire building (literally not one) let alone pool area. Reason is “being replaced”. Cool, are they replacing the cleaners too becuase that’s serious wanting too. It’s Understaffed everywhere so expect to wait in queues for anything that involves food/drink. And for a family you get to pay over £600 a month for these pleasures. It’s appalling value save your money and go to a better place.

5 reasons why this club is in steep…5 reasons why this club is in steep decline. (Member of the Virgin Riverside Club in Chiswick).1) Broadband is incredibly slow and despite numerous complaints, not improved2) They cancel classes in summer despite it being their premium club in network. I pay almost £400 a month for my wife and I and would expect them to find replacement instructors3) Turn up for a class and there is no instructor present.4) The food has degraded over the last few years. There are no healthy foods despite it being a gym.5) when you make a complaint they either don't reply or palm you off with guest passesFor their premium club, their head office needs to invest and not take customers for granted. I know for a fact that many other customers feel the same!

This place is so far from what you'd expect when paying their membership prices. You want a good example? Go to dukes meadows tennis & golf literally around the corner. They just invested over 200k in 5 fantastic indoor courts. Their outdoor piraglex courts are unreal, it's like playing on a cloud. Even king's tennis centre about 100m away has great out door courts with no cracks or bumps. Virgin Active is happy to take your money and sell you a beautiful picture but make 0 investment into the club or at least their tennis courts which is the main part of the club.Very disappointed in how I was treated after being a member for over 7 years. Now a happy member of David Lloyd's Acton, different level 100%.I could go on & on about this place but it's not even worth my time.

Amazing gym, with plenty of tennis courts both indoor and outdoor, swimming pools indoor and outdoor.Sauna, Hammam, hot tube, spacious and clean changing rooms, big weight and machines area upstairs.At the entrance there is a big coffe and food bar, relax and study areas.