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    Bear Paddle Swim School

    3.0 (2 reviews)
    Open 3:00 pm - 8:00 PM

    Services - Bear Paddle Swim School

    Group fitness

    Virtual fitness classes

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    Bear Paddle Swim School - Turnersville

    Bear Paddle Swim School - Turnersville

    1.3
    (12 reviews)
    0.0 mi

    Two stars because there are some great teachers here. We have been consistently coming to this…read morefacility since January 2020 and sadly unenrolled both my kids plus my niece today. 1. What was once a very clean facility is no longer. Pool seems to never be vacuumed or skimmed anymore. Last week a dirty bandaid was floating around the teacher put it on the floor outside the pool. This week when we came the same band aid was still there in the same spot along with globs of hair all over and gum still stuck to the floor. Clearly the floors are not being swept or mopped. Globs of hair are all over the drains in the shower area. Again, each week it has gotten worse and worse so these areas have clearly not been cleaned at all. The bathrooms have been disgusting with toilet paper left all over the floor, seats dirty, soap just about empty. The ceiling has been leaking for months now leaving puddles in the hallway to the locker room. The puddles are large and never mopped up and never a sign warning the area is slippery. Hands down the grossest thing has been seeing roaches in the pool area on multiple occasions. They need to hire some cleaning staff and a facility manager to make sure repairs are being made. 2. It's unclear at this point how their program even works. They are suppose to be given patches at the end of the month for the skills they have learned. Our kids just received a patch they already earned last month. How disappointing to a child who has been working very hard to earn those patches wanting to move up to the next level. It was mentioned they are trying to catch up because progress was not tracked the previous month. We have been in the same level now for what seems like a very long time and not seeing much progress made, when we consistently attend lessons. 3. While there are a few great teachers (Justin, Sean, Grace) there are many who seem to have little to no swim experience. They seem to come and go and it causes a lot of inconsistency within the lessons. The front desk staff is not very courteous anymore. You are rarely greeted when you walk in, today when I went to unenroll my oldest due to her starting swim team it was not a pleasant experience. I would of liked to talk to a manager as to why I was pulling her out and would of liked to have been heard out as to why the 30 day notice to unenroll really didn't sit well. But since she was less than helpful in person I will instead share it here on Yelp. She was moved up to a level 6 and her teacher for the last month clearly did not have the experience to be teaching that level. I felt like the last month of lessons was a waste. She was not giving her feedback on how to correct her strokes, she was often distracted and not having her swim the correct distance that was needed to prepare for swim team (even though I mentioned that in the very beginning of the month to the teacher), other classes were using the same lane to do chop chop timber's during her lesson when she was still working on strokes so her lessons were often cut short. She had to stop what she was doing mid lane to not be jumped on by another student. Another time during her lesson the lane was used by staff for training so she could only use half the lane for the entire lesson. She has been given a better teacher with swim experience but at this point it's too late. I once recommended this place to everyone and anyone looking to get their kids into swim lessons. I'm sad that this place went downhill so quickly and is no longer a feasible option for us to use for swim lessons.

    Had a really awful experience at BPSS at the Turnersville NJ location. Donna specifically, at the…read morefront desk. She told me that my daughter had a a ton of makeups and we had well over a month to use them. At our next class she tells me nevermind - I'm now out over $100 because of HER miscommunication. She didn't even try and work anything out. She was just extremely rude. The instructors are also all so young and let my 3 and 5 year old go under multiple times. My poor 3 year old is traumatized of water now. Just overall not a great place. And really terrible customer service. Take your $$ elsewhere.

    NL Aquatic Center

    NL Aquatic Center

    2.3
    (3 reviews)
    6.5 mi

    The instructors were very nice, but the admin side of this operation is HORRIBLE. Get ready to have…read moreno one answer your calls ever (even after leaving a voicemail). They only answer things by email, even "urgent" issues have to be emailed. After calling and leaving voicemails for three weeks, they only called back after an email was sent. Oh also, there's two SJAC facilities within 5 miles of each other, so be sure you choose the correct one. Very upset at this whole experience.

    We arrived at 11:30 sharp and checked in. He told us he didn't know which instructor we were…read moreassigned and which lane we were in so just sit tight and someone will call her name. He admitted he all he did was check people in and knew nothing else. We sat directly next to the front desk at the stools closest to the pool for 15 minutes without hearing her name called. I figured "maybe they are running behind" I asked again and this time the front desk guy states she should have been with Gianna Papa. I thought to myself "Why was this information not provided originally???" He pointed out Gianna and I walked over to ask if she had called the 11:30 appointments yet. By this time it was approximately 11:50/11:55. Gianna said she called my daughter's name "twice" and no one answered so she just moved on to her other 2 students. She blamed us saying " the other girls heard their names called " meaning we weren't paying attention. Gianna then called Alek Combs over who continued to blame us stating "Gianna called her name" and "why did we wait so long to ask about our lessons if we were just sitting here?" Gianna and Alek lacked professionalism and blamed us. They took zero responsibility for running their shifts and their lack of accountability for their students. I have no faith in their abilities as instructors/coaches/ temporary guardians of my daughter while she would be under supervision in the pool. As me and Alek continued back and forth, Gianna stood there and watched. She was NOT watching the two other girls who were under her care. Because of this, their father got upset by the situation as well, which he rightfully should have. But instead of directing his frustration towards Gianna and Alek he decided to direct to me which escalated the situation further. I chose to be the only responsible individual and I removed Alek from Gianna and the pool to speak with him and access the management email address. Alek was tone deaf to the entire situation not realizing he had been blaming me and a 5 year old girl standing there waiting to swim. Alek offered to give her lessons in 30 mins to then make up for everything but as we sat they're waiting for that additional time he realized he had another appointment cancelled on us and wasted our time even further. End summary: We showed up on time, sat around for and hour, got blamed for not speaking up or listening, my daughter cried and I almost had an altercation with another parent. We wouldn't consider returning based on the fact that the instructors feel that they addressed it properly. We don't feel confident their attitude would change. There is no clear document given to a new student stating what is needed and how the classes work. No one told anyone, my wife or mother, that an instructor would be shouting from across a noisy pool at a 5 year old little girl. Wouldn't you think it would be beneficial to make sure all children heard their name by WALKING up to the front desk to make sure.This wasn't a class of 30 kids... it was 3 kids total. Not hard to make sure everyone was there. Ridiculous. The sheer attitude and response from the instructors is deplorable and in front of small children of all things. This isn't how you treat customers. Gianna and Alek were responsible for my daughters sadness and my frustration. We will expect a full refund.

    Photos
    Our Proshop is located on Deck and online!
    Our Proshop is located on Deck and online!
    Coach Chris Plumb works with Olympic swimmer Kelsie Worrell demonstrating stroke drills for coaches & swimmers at the Eastern States Clinic.
    Coach Chris Plumb works with Olympic swimmer Kelsie Worrell demonstrating stroke drills for coaches & swimmers at the Eastern States Clinic.
    NL Aquatic Center

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    Goldfish Swim School - Mount Laurel

    Goldfish Swim School - Mount Laurel

    4.1
    (34 reviews)
    16.1 mi

    My daughter has been taking swim classes at this location since February and the experience has…read morebeen really great. We love AHK's instructor and love the ability to makeup classes when we need to. The facility is clean and they do a great job at communicating if there are any changes to the schedule. Prices are comparable to the other neighboring swim schools, but we liked Goldfish because they are offered times on Sundays, which works best for our schedule. We look forward to many more years here!

    I am writing this review out of pure frustration after bringing several issues to management's…read moreattention multiple times with no resolution. We have decided to pull our child from this facility and look elsewhere. Two major issues remain unaddressed: Freezing Showers: Ever since the renovation in December 2025, the showers are unusable. The water turns ice-cold after just a couple of minutes. Expecting children to rinse off in freezing water--especially during the winter months--is unacceptable. Lack of Instructional Time: Each 30-minute session is crowded with 4 children. By the time the instructor rotates through everyone, each child gets very little actual "learning" or active swimming time. It feels more like expensive supervised splashing than a swim lesson. We joined Goldfish expecting a premium experience, but the lack of maintenance and the poor student-to-instructor value have made it impossible to stay. If you're looking for a school that values feedback and prioritizes student progress, I would suggest looking elsewhere.

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    Goldfish Swim School - Mount Laurel
    Goldfish Swim School - Mount Laurel
    Goldfish Swim School - Mount Laurel

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    Bear Paddle Swim School - swimminglessons - Updated July 2026

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