Hands down one of the best swim schools in the San Francisco area! Great, smart, and friendly instructors. Instructors are patient with my kids. Anna and Toni are the best with our kids. Our kids learn so much from them and now excel in the water. Thank you Anna and Toni for teaching our girls. read more

Anderson's Swim School - Bigger and advanced kids pool... - Swimming Pools Near Me - Pacifica, California

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They get two stars because there was a point where my daughter was willing to learn how to swim. However, the front office is rude and extremely unprofessional. My daughter was okay for a while, but she got super scared. She preferred a female instructor. But the guy at the front told us she was not ready and shouldn't be there if she can't work with any teacher. (She actually earned a ribbon that day with a female instructor.) If you know anything about child development, they need to feel safe. Secondly, I simply asked if we could transfer credit. The response was issuing an automatic refund for the credits, deleting my account and canceling the class she was enrolled in. The person answering emails did not even issue a refund for the cancelled class until I realized I couldn't have access. I did NOT approve of any of these things. Their response was "the instructors also noted that she had anxiety." I sent my daughter to swim school because she was anxious in the water, and I wanted her to learn swim safety. When I asked to speak to a manager, the entire staff began ignoring my emails and calls. I will NEVER send or recommend anyone here again. Their service is appalling. read more

We LOVE Anderson's! After disappointing experiences with swim lessons at both Brisbane Community Pool and British Swim School, my 6 year old daughter has been thriving at Anderson's! The reasonably priced private instruction here is excellent. Kayla at the front desk is great as well. I only wish it was easier to get into lessons here - the demand simply exceeds supply! I recommend signing up for whatever weekly time slot you can make work - once you get your foot in the door, you can get access to pre-registration, which makes lessons a little easier to book. read more

My daughter has been attending Anderson's a little over one month and she absolutely loves it. Staff is friendly, instructors are knowledgeable and scheduling classes has been easy! read more

The *BEST* swim school in all of San Francisco and around. Can be hard to find classes (they're popular, what do you expect!), but we signed up for these email alerts - https://tally.so/r/3qXyxO - which made it a breeze. 1-1 classes, great teachers who know how to work with kids. Kids make surprisingly fast progress with the individual attention. Every parent I know is a fan. read more

We got very lucky to sign up for their class last year and we have been with them since then. The 1:1 format works well for my children. Their willingness to teach ASD children is a huge plus for me. We had negative experience with other swim schools for my ASD child but we had a completely different experience here. I like their facility (especially consider the price we pay). In terms of signing up classes, the owner knows the struggle too so they changed it up by having parents of existing students to sign up in-person so that we could continue the lessons. We missed one month when they did online sign up. instructors may not be consistent at all time but it's not an uncommon issue (comparing to our experience in other swim schools). My ASD child who was afraid of water was able get comfortable in water and he even looked forward to his swimming class - it says something about the instructors over there :) read more

I called to try to sign my grandson up. A gentleman answered and I was put on hold until the phone got disconnected!! Bad business!! ‍ don't k ow what else to say about this place. First impression means a lot!! read more

What is the point of this place if you can't actually get any lessons scheduled? Our 4 year old started with a few sparse lessons based on their limited availability, but now it has become worse: it is impossible to find a lesson, we take a look at all times of day, leaving our daughter in limbo without having learned how to swim fully. Why are they onboarding new kids if they can't even properly teach their existing students on a consistent schedule? Don't even bother starting your kid off here. read more

We've been with Anderson for three years because there isn't a lot of one-on-one options in the area at a reasonable price. Obviously, with such high demands of their lessons, their customer service and the experience of the staffs they hire are below par especially this year. Then the high turnover of their staffs create inconsistency of your kids' learning is just not worth my effort to keep logging on their website at 7pm on a specific date to fight for these lessons. Honestly, if anyone here knows a better facility with teaching experience, I'd love to know. read more

My son's first lesson went very well considering he is on the more difficult side. It's strange how he seems to trust the instructor more than his old man. I am determined to teach him how to swim and this is the best start I can wish for even if he's will miss the last hour of school. read more

The lessons are decent. Their website was clearly designed in 1859 by sadists. I've never wasted so much time in my life as I do trying to find lessons. You have to log into a third party website for every single lesson you want to book. About 99 percent of the time it takes you to an account landing page and won't let you view open lessons. Or any lessons. It's been several years like this. I can't understand why they don't have a decent booking system when they rely so heavily on sporadic booking of lessons. read more

This business has accepted too many customers, which makes it hard to sign up for classes because it is usually full. The third party website is not the easiest to work with. The owner is not flexible when it comes to rescheduling or make up classes. Also, the owner canceled my classes without notifying me. read more

Update: after posting below review, we still had another class to attend. And man, be aware if you criticize Anderson's your child's safety will be compromised. First, they didn't call my kid's name (I had to ask front desk). Once in the bigger pool, safety was very questionable. As mentioned, I was told my daughter would be swimming width vs length for her level. However, this teacher was having her swim the length...and instead of actually teaching her strokes or proper technique, she literally allowed my kid to struggle while the teacher swam like 5 ft below the surface. She certainly didn't have an eye on my kid & during the lesson she kept looking over, to what I believe was, to make sure I saw my kid struggle to prove a point. It's one thing to have business ask you to not return b/c of a critical review....but to compromise the safety of your kid to prove a point is unprofessional and disgusting. Perhaps majority of customers are 'submissive', don't speak up and/or don't ask questions, but that will never be me. It was great at the beginning...so much that I recommend to others. As we got older & stronger we signed up specifically for the older group which as usually larger pool for space. But even with that, my daughter was still sent to smaller pool, even tho she has done larger pool before. Smaller pool is 3x smaller than larger pool, but they put 4 kids in smaller one and 6 kids in larger. When I asked as to why they did this, employee said my daughter would be swimming the width vs length in larger pool (which is crazy b/c last time she swam length with zero issue)....so it would get in other swimmers way. As yet I sit here right now, I am literally seeing another kid swim the width...and doesn't seem like a problem at all. Yet, somehow I was told my kid swimming the length is problematic. . read more

Anderson's Swim school is such an amazing facility. They have the nicest staff, the owner Andy is an awesome person who really cares about his customers. They have high quality equipment on stock and perform quality repairs on most equipment (they even refill gas cartridges for other non-swim equipment). They are passionate about their craft, and very knowledgeable about all types of water activities. They have snacks and refreshments for sale as well. The pool is sooo warm, the bathrooms are spotless, just an amazing experience all around. 12/10 would recommend if you are near the area! read more

Anderson's Swim School - This is the deep diving pool, with a beautiful mural in the far wall. - Swimming Pools Near Me - Pacifica, California

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We have been going to Anderson for about 2 years. The lessons and 1:1 instructions are great however we have noticed a progressive decline in the overall program. So yes, their no refund or reschedule policy is strict and unapologetic. I've learned to live with it since it guarantees instructors are getting paid. However, I don't appreciate the school reselling cancelled lessons. If you are able to give at least a weeks noticed of a cancelled lesson than they should refund you if the lesson gets rebooked by someone else. Second, their changing room policy is becoming unreasonable. My daughter sustained a leg cramp during one of the lessons and I needed to help her change. We are no longer allowed to use the bathrooms for changing and a she's above age so she's not allowed in the men's room where I would be able help her change. Because of her injury I thought it would okay to bring her into the changing room with me but of course one of the owners came in and scolded me that she was too old to be in there. This is the same owner that discussed my daughter's swim injury 10 min earlier. Zero empathy. read more

Inconsistent instructors with poor communication skills. This school is ok for basic skills but when it comes to teaching higher level details, instructors do not communicate clear instructions to students. The owner appears to know what he's looking for when testing kids, but unfortunately he doesn't train this staff properly so there's a big disconnect between what the instructors teach and what the outcome should be. Poor leadership, poor teaching, and an overall poor experience. read more

Still an amazing school. Only way any kid will learn how to swim in 12 lessons. They have a high turn around because of this and prob don't care bout the customers. I buy one class at a time. You should too instead of hogging all the slots and then losing your money when you can't show up. read more

Have heard great things about Anderson's... that was the case years ago. I wished i looked at the more current reviews. Wow have they gone down... 1 star reviews. I understand why now after putting my kids through it for 3 months. Inconsistent instructions & instructors. Cost and their policy is not an issue. I know what i was getting into. The quality I expected was just not there. Staffs at the front don't seem to care. I sense a take it or leave it attitude. Go elsewhere... read more

My son has learned so much from Anderson's Swim School and the individual attention is second to none.

I purchased lessons in 2016 and Andy told me that my daughter's swim lessons would never expire. Fast forward to the present, I had 4 lessons left and my daughter couldn't finish it because Anderson changed their policy and the lessons must be used within 1 year. I was never notified and Kathleen would not extend the time so my daughter could not finish up. The system is set up for you to fail. You purchase lessons in advance and when you log into your account, majority of the lesson dates and times are booked up. Terrible. read more

We've been attending Anderson's for years. My kids loved everything about it. I loved it, too, until they changed to a rigid no cancellation policy even due to sickness. This means if you give adequate notice to reschedule several weeks in advance (life happens, plans can change) there is no flexibility. Or, if your child gets Covid or has to quarantine (our family had to quarantine THREE times this summer due to close contact) and you have to keep them home for the safety of others you're then penalized because there's no option to reschedule. Rigid. Thankfully, my kids know how to swim now and we've moved beyond Anderson's. We've been enjoying our lessons elsewhere where everyone is required to wear masks and there's excellent cross ventilation. read more

"They made me afraid of water", in my child's words. Two summers ago we took about 10 private swim lessons at this swim school, in hopes that one to one instruction will be a good start to learn swimming. Unfortunately, it was the opposite. Most important reason is that they do not keep track of children's progress (even if they claim they do), and they pushed my child way beyond her skill level. That of course, made her afraid of water. Every class she would have a new teacher, who seemed to have no idea about what level she was, and ended up pushing her to go swim in the deep end, for example. Many times she said she felt like she was drowning. I do not recommend this school, just for that reason. We found another school and had to start from zero. Did not learn anything from Anderson's. A waste of time and money. read more

We had a great experience pre-COVID times. Ever since COVID started, it became much more difficult to book any lessons. We couldn't find any available lessons at the times which worked for my family. Then our lessons expired. We asked for an extension. Of course, Jia Ma-Huang in the front office said, "We don't send reminders of your lesson expiration." We wasted $270 and got nothing. They collected the money. What is there to lose when we will continue to purchase additional lessons? They lost two customers instantly. Their cancellation policy is rigid and lesson-booking experience is painful. We spent hours looking but available dates were very few. We'll support another small business. read more

I've been coming here to use their pool for over 6 years. Sandy, Andy and all the staffs are so welcoming, I feel comfortable and safe being at the facility. They've been around for a long time and I respect their business and kindness all together. Even though I live in San Francisco, I use their service for the scuba gear check in. I trust them! read more

Anderson's Swim School - Swimming Pools Near Me - Pacifica, California

This is a dishonest business that does not honor prior commitments. Buy the multi lesson plan at your own risk. We joined in 2015 when it had a great reputation at 5 stars. Their rating is currently at 2 stars in feb 2019. This place is totally different from when we joined a couple years ago. We joined in 2015 and we had 3 children. We had a valid concern that if we bought the 21 lesson package and the kids can't use them all, we would lose money. The owner Andy Anderson personally assured us that while we could not transfer the lessons to another family, we could transfer it to our own children. We thought this was very reasonable. Over the years we bought multiple 21 lesson packages as the kids progress. On around 1/29, we wrote to ask for a refund. We had an incorrect understanding on how the refund worked, and on 1/31 we changed our mind to ask the school to transfer unused lessons to our third and youngest child. Kathy from accounting refused citing current policy posted on the website, canceled all our booked lessons, and sent us a refund anyways. Note that we had asked them to not send us a refund while we figure this out, and she went ahead and did it anyways. I wrote back an email asking her to talk to Andy Anderson about prior commitments. I called on 1/31 and 2/1, and I was assured a call from Andy Anderson on 2/3 Sunday. As of now 2/5, I have not heard back from anyone from Anderson swim school. I respect their right to change policy. But you have to honor your prior commitments. Andy Anderson made a reasonable promise of transferring unused lesson among our own kids. With a later change in policy, they refuse to honor their commitment. Look at other recent 1 star reviews, I am not the only one with this problem. Anderson Swim school can keep their lessons. I want to support locally owned family businesses, but this is ridiculous. Fellow yelpers, buy the multi lesson packages at your own risk. You save some money, but you are one policy change away from getting screwed. Apparently you are held to the current policy whatever it may be, not the policy when you paid for your lessons. Which honest business does things this way? read more

Swim lessons are very difficult to find right now and I feel this school is taking advantage. I've been going to this swim school for over 10 years and have recommended it to many others, but I can no longer recommend it. Their cancellation policy is very strict and I feel they are being unreasonable in their strictness. My son is sick, so he cannot make it to his lesson. I asked if his friend who is his same age and just started swimming too can take over his lesson. They both would be swimming out of the pool for small children, so I do not understand why they could not switch instead of just taking my $50. I am sure if they released the lesson and his friend booked it, they would get the same instructor. If they cannot find somebody to take the lesson, then I am fine with forfeiting my money, as they are now losing money by having to pay the instructor. However, if they can find somebody to take over the lesson, then they should give a refund. Not sure if they just want to release the lesson back out so they can get paid twice for it. It really pains me to write this review, as I really want small businesses like this to thrive. However, I feel they are operating unfairly and just taking advantage of the scarcity of swim lessons right now. I also think its very unsafe to both the other children and instructors, as cash strapped parents will bring their sick children so they do not lose the $50 per lesson. read more

Started taking my daughter here for 1:1 lessons and about 7 lessons in and she's much more comfortable in the water. Instructors are very good at what they do and have a lot of patience and understanding. read more

Updating my review, increasing rating from 1 to 3 since we have seen good improvement on the teachers quality. Hopefully they will consider to improve their policy to allow advance cancellation or make up classes. read more

This place is great. I have my daughter enrolled here and she is loving it. She's already been swimming for almost a year now but I wanted her to get stronger and correct her form. But the real story is behind my son. He started last year (2 years and 10 months old) at another swim school that's parent and child. It's been great to get him used to the water but after some time I really wanted to see more progress. Plus, he still wasn't crazy about putting his head in the water, I had to really encourage each time. Things started realllly slow at first, I could hardly even tell what they were doing because honestly it looked like my son was just playing. But after a handful of lessons my son was actually putting his head in the water, and just today I saw him doing mini dive/swims (with assistance) to retrieve a shiny toy. This is HUGE for him. And the entire time he's smiling, happy...a big thanks to Anderson's for this. It's been worth the trek and the scheduling challenges. (Yes, scheduling is a big pain. You've got to constantly monitor and jump on any available class). read more

Anderson, Oh, Anderson's! I wish I found you a long time ago! My son and daughter has learned more in the few lessons we have here and had their mistakes corrected than a La Petite Baleen. La Petite Baleen is for the toddlers and babies. I'm so happy to have found a place like this. read more

Anderson's Swim School - Notice teachers and students are really learning here. - Swimming Pools Near Me - Pacifica, California

Expect to get a different teacher every time. It's fine when they are kind and nice who are good with kids. Not today 7/7/2022 afternoon. The female teacher my daughter got was someone who didn't teach any skills. All she did was touching her face and hanged around. My daughter was doing a back swim and her head completely drown into the water. She won't even helped lifting her head, but let her head drowned while my daughter was coughing and choking. This teacher cont. to touching her face and not helping her out. There you go, $50 wasted and time wasted! read more

I bought a class bundle and their schedule is impossible to book for months. You pretty much have to check everyday for cancellation to fill in the spot, they were not clear about how to sign up, and no help on getting the classes. What makes me mad is that the sales representative spoke with a tone of no(not even a bit) sympathy. I paid the money. read more

To highlight the positive, the 1:1 support and awesome instructors really help kids get acclimated quickly. However, our little one contracted adenovirus which led to a trip to the ER and high fever for 5days, chills/night sweats, and lots of pain, which was absolutely miserable for all of us. This virus is common in pools, but nothing was done to address our concern and we also had another 4 prepaid lessons that she was unable to attend as a result. We understood no refunds but this was a direct result of the environment. When she felt better after 2 weeks, we didn't feel comfortable returning. How many parents bring their children sick to avoid losing their money? Viruses are highly contagious and the swim area is much smaller than most and less chlorine is used. They should reconsider their policy to focus more on health and safety. We're out $200+ but our kiddo is feeling better but also fearful of attending lessons after the worse illness she's ever experienced. It's unfortunate Anderson's prioritizing profit over safety. Otherwise, they would likely have nothing but positive reviews for being a small family oriented business. Just a warning to others if you do opt in because we know demand is high and choices are limited which is why they can take advantage of families, I highly recommend you pay by class and avoid pre purchasing multiple classes at once. read more

I was so impressed with how effective one on one instruction is. And during even half hour we have seen so much progress. With my older one (6 yo), we have swam in lakes, but always in life vests. We never could convince him to try to float without a vest, not to mention to try to swim short distances without a vest. In the first class at Anderson, the instructor was always very reassuring. Never pushing him beyond his comfort level. But got him not just to float, but jump off ledge and swim back to edge (practice self rescue), and do short distance swimming. Was amazing to see that much progress in the first 30 min with the trainer! With our 4 yo, who was even afraid to go into water without a vest and with a stranger, another instructor was also extremely patient. By the end of lesson he could do minor floats. And overall making good progress. Overall am very impressed! And so glad this place is our closest swimming pool. read more

I was really impressed with how well my son's first private lesson went! I thought $45 for 30 min wouldn't be worth it, but the 1:1 ratio makes up for it! My son learned more in 30 min with a private instructor than he would have in a group setting (too many distractions). I'm excited for my son to be a returning student. I can't remember his instructor's name, but he did a fantastic job. It's too bad he had to move back to Germany because my son really connected with him! read more

I thought mine was an isolated incident, but looking at the recent one star reviews, apparently not. I thought they changed their policy recently but I wasn't sure. Now I am sure looking at the reviews from different people. They should honor what they promised before. I was very upset, especially when dealing with Kathy who handled our request. I felt like they took advantage of me. There are many swim schools in the Bay Area. Good riddance. read more

I've sent my daughter here for almost a year - on and off. She's learned to swim beautifully, and she always enjoys her teachers - no matter who instructs her (they keep careful notes about each student, and switch off between instructors). I want to speak directly in response to one lady who said she feels that Anderson's is unwelcoming to minorities. Anderson's is FULL of minority parents and their kids. Regarding one man's comment that somebody yelled at his wife. I only know of one female employee who's a bit loud and uncooth - she's not angry by nature, just... not super polished. She's an excellent teacher to children though. I'd wager she lost her patience with an adult - not great, but parents can sometimes be... challenging. The woman who owns the school is poised, intelligent and very kind. She conducts herself professionally and graciously with her staff, and she expects the same of them. She gives lessons to the children using a "magic wand" in the water to direct them gently - it's adorable to watch. She's a total sweetie. I don't know her well, but she strikes me as a hard-working, ethical businesswoman. The staff we've encountered are always kind and welcoming to all the children and parents - of all colors. I see the conversations in the office, coming and going. "Lori" is my daughter's favorite - but there are many kind people there. They tend to be 20 and 30-something women teachers, some older (and excellent teachers too), and one or two men. I really like the owner. We love the staff. We've never been invited to any private events so I can't speak to whether there is favoritism there - I strongly doubt it. But I'm not there for the private functions. My kid loves her lessons. The lessons are consistent, build logically on each other, and are a FAR better value than at other locations. (As much as I love the Foster City PJCC, their classes are pricey). Word of advice: Learn their policy about cancellations and make-up lessons. They're reasonable policies. If you're straight with them when true emergencies come up, they may cut you some slack. Just be nice about asking. Andersons - 5 STARS! read more

Beware of the on-line scheduler! They will cancel appointments without telling you. Our 5 year old son had been taking lessons there for about 2 years. We would buy packs of 10 lessons in advance. But the scheduler has NO WAY to tell you how many lessons you have left on your account (I guess you have to call them to determine how many you have left?!?). We showed up one Sunday to find out that our lesson had been cancelled without any notice (and despite getting an email confirmation that we had a lesson1); no email, no phone call, not even someone mentioning it when we were there the day before for a lesson. And the front desk's attitude about this issue was what literally stopped us from going. It was clearly the owner who has zero customer service skills. Too bad because my son did like it -- the instructors are good. But, if you decide to go here, be very wary of appointments being cancelled without any warning. read more

I have already spent $1,262 on this place and it seems to be going really slow. I am starting to suspect that they are stalling the teaching so they can juice you up for more lessons, which means more money from you! I see the technique though - they impress you with the first round of lessons so you get excited and buy more sessions, but then they freeze somewhere and won't advance to the next level for a while. Another thing is that, they take up 3-5 minutes out of your lesson each time. For example, if your child's appt. is 12:00, they usually call the name between 12:03 - 12:05. However, they would dismiss your child either one minute earlier or exactly 12:30. It doesn't sound like a big deal until you put a dollar value on it, so if you buy 10 sessions, and they take up 3-5 minutes of each session, that's actually 30-50 minutes, which is approx. $35.90 - $59.83. Sometimes, the instructors would have a talking session in between calling their students, and that's what makes up the 3-5 minutes. I must say, it's just not fair! Also, the shower really really sucks! You can't turn it on and off like a normal shower. You have to push a hard button (your small child won't be able to push hard) then water would be on for about 30 seconds, then it would turn off by itself then you have to push it again and again until you are done. I do like their flexibility and scheduling on the website. Except for the three things I mentioned above, I like Anderson's and most of the instructors. read more

My daughter really likes to come here for class but having very difficult time booking a lesson. I don't see anything available next 6 months, how does my daughter going to learn in regular basis? read more