Bridgewater Swim Academy 161 Country Estates Circle, Reno, NV 89511

"I cannot express how horrible my experience has been with this swim school and program. We purchased 8 private lessons and immediately after the first lesson realized we could not continue in this unsafe environment. We called the school and expressed our concerns. We also sent an email requesting to terminate the remaining lessons and receive a refund for the remaining 7 lessons. We were met with nothing but disrespect and hostility from the contact. And that is if she would respond at all. Some communications took greater than 7 days and multiple calls to receive a reply. She finally told me that they do not do refunds and blocked my phone number. The day of the first lesson the instructors showed up late and we were standing outside the facility with no idea what to do. There is no lobby. The instructor did not introduce himself to me or my wife. This was a private 1 on 1 lesson. During the lesson we did not feel like our child was safe. Safety techniques were not initially taught. Not even poolside safety and getting in and out of the pool. During the initial lesson there was no teaching about holding breath and not swallowing water. The problems went on and on. I attempted to resolve this with the school properly but they have left me no choice but to leave a review to protect other family's from this costly and unsafe experience."

"We had our son enrolled at Bridge Water. We were very happy at first but after a few swim lessons we realized he wasn't learning anything. It is very expensive for what you get. Our son woke up on his last day of swim lessons sick so out of courtesy we let the owner know we wouldn't be making it in. She wouldn't allow us a makeup day or anything to redeem the last lesson, so we threw away $50 and the swim lessons profited $50. We had 8 sessions paid for and had never missed one. I find it absurd that no makeups are allowed with a few hours' notice, this is a child's swim facility and kids get sick all of the time with no warning. We will be moving to Silver Bear where they teach the kids survival in the water. The Scheduling coordinator is absolutely rude and does not seem to care much about her job. We were warned about her in advance by other parents, so it was not much of a surprise."

"When we started our son's lessons, we liked the idea that they would be one on one. However, the instructors were not consistent from lesson to lesson. A few were good, but I found that most spent more time talking amongst themselves and letting the kids play around than spending time teaching them how to swim."

"I had a much different experience with Bridgewater than a lot of other people evidently. My children did learn to swim so that was the important thing, but after a promising start we ran into issues. At first we had the same regular teacher, but then when the summer ended we started getting new instructors regularly. Since my kids were not the most confident swimmers this caused some problems because they had a hard time getting comfortable with the various instructors and their different methods. My experience with Holly was VERY different. We had rescheduled a lesson because of a vacation and when we arrived the day I thought the lesson was supposed to be the place was locked up, even though we had arrived at our usual time. Now I don't know about the rest of you, but I feel if you are conducting a physical activity expecting the facility to be open 10 minutes before the start of the class is not unreasonable, especially since kids need to get changed and ready. We waited around for a few minutes more, and then when nobody was there or even approaching we left since I assumed we had mixed something up. When I confirmed through e-mail we had the dates correct, I reached out to Holly to see if it was possible to get the lesson rescheduled. When I finally got in touch with her she was quick to blame me, saying it was my fault because her instructor was there 10 minutes beforehand, phrasing it as "I'm not SAYING you're lying" (uh, yeah you are). When I told her I had timestamped proof that her instructor wasn't there (a text sent from my phone with 8 minutes before the start telling my husband there was nobody here) she immediately attacked me - "Were you there at 9:30 when the lesson was supposed to start?" I said I didn't think so but since I didn't think it was unreasonable to expect some prep time so my kids don't have to use lesson time to get dressed (kids don't get in to that pool a second before their allotted time and they don't stay in a second longer). Holly disagreed, blamed the whole thing on me and was very rude and antagonistic about the whole thing. Personally I think it is really unprofessional to attack customers and start off the bat telling them they are liars but that is the level of customer service you shouldn't be shocked to encounter."

"We love Holly and her staff. I’ve had a few children go through the lessons. The facility is very clean and enjoyable for a parent to watch their child. My children look forward to visiting and swimming or at least attempting to learn to swim. My son has excelled in a short time from not being able to swim to doing quite well. As I mentioned we are very appreciative of their service to Reno. Would recommend them whole heartedly!"