Bonsor Recreation Complex — Attraction in Burnaby

Hi Carol,

I didn’t know if you were going to respond to the ambiguous and incomplete report I sent you. I hope you find that there is nothing in this report that clearly states, “you failed”, except one must deduce “Please register in: Crab” as “you failed”.

I am writing not about Kenny the instructor, he is just doing what he is told to do - your playbook. The concern I have is with the lack of teaching experience from leadership. If your program cannot at least get perhaps the primary skill of dunking accomplished in 7 days, then the fault lies in the program not the instructor. No sense teaching a toddler to run, if the toddler cannot even walk yet.

I also wonder if you have visited the site in person, especially when the classes end/start. It is a “zoo” according to one of your lifeguards. I am also sure that the Fire Marshall would not be too pleased about that single entry/exit way. No reason, when swimmers are finished that they cannot exit through the changing rooms – seems logical since the swimmers most often than not, are still wet. Rather than push quantity over quality, allow a gap for the instructors to properly convey feedback after each session as opposed to figuring out the next class among the “zoo” of individuals. I am here to express my personal hurt when my daughter is waiting for the instructor that is playing and she is sitting there all by herself.

Your offer was disrespectful and would have been a waste of everyone’s time. I shared this with the preschool headmaster and she concurs. Again, I am not here to ask for $70 which by the way you never even attempted to offer. I know I would have done it if I were in your shoes as that is the politest action to take.

You never truly heard what I was/am saying. You just wanted to defend yourself/your team/your upstairs management that there was nothing wrong with your instructor’s evaluation. Again, all you were concerned with on the call was to defend and not address the broken issues you have with your program and its process and procedures. I do not know if you have teaching in your resume/blood, but I do – been doing it for over 25 years. Each semester, I re-evaluate my materials and delivery after each class, and see if I need to tweak anything before the next class and/or the next semester. I am always looking to make it better. I am always looking to see how I can improve my delivery for them to achieve the objectives they paid to learn. Cardinal rule as an instructor, judge yourself before you defend yourself.

Lastly, I pulled my older daughter after one class today - yes today - because I saw the same things about to happen after her...

Experienced an employee verifiably lying to my face. The situation itself is not a big deal but this indicates a broader problem of staff employing a “just make stuff up” policy when dealing with clients or even being discriminatory as seen in other reviews.

I arrived at 8:32pm on a Saturday and a blonde lady came out to the front door to tell me that they don’t allow admissions after 8:30pm. That’s fine, but I questioned this a bit as the closing time on weekends is 9pm and I’ve been coming for years without having heard of this policy. I definitely recall arriving with 20 mins left until closing a few times in high school. I distinctly remember checking something with my pass with the front desk clerk 15 minutes before closing a few years ago. She confidently told me in an incredibly condescending way, cutting me off before I finished my sentence, that “nope, this has been the policy SINCE WE OPENED IN THE 80s” and continued to be snarky with me.

Well, unfortunately for her I do religiously track my workouts on my garmin/strava so I went back and managed to reference a few times 6-7 years ago (and definitely not prior to the 80s!) where I did arrive and check in with less than 30 minutes until closing! Some of these were after a run so I can confirm that my location was at Bonsor too. Also double checked with several family members who have also been going for years too that this wasn’t always the case.

I don’t even have an issue if this is a new policy (or even implemented in the last few years as I genuinely didn’t know), but there was absolutely zero reason for this lady to not just let me know and instead choose to lie to my face condescendingly. I am not sure why she added that line about the 80s, which was SUCH a weirdly specific thing to mention. I hesitate to say this is the reason definitively as there’s definitely plausible deniability (though based on some other reviews it’s looking more likely), but my family are Chinese immigrants, and though I was born here I still look Chinese… Either way, her awful attitude and blatant lying seriously bothered me.

There have been so many times where policies have been unclear or conflicting information has been given by staff with an awful, arrogant attitude. I would’ve completely understood if this was a new policy I was unaware of and she told me as such, but instead the employee decided to literally make things up for the SOLE REASON of giving me attitude (I would’ve still had to leave if she had been honest, she just wanted to...

Hi there, good morning. I like to go to this facility and enjoy the gym and pool, but I am upset of what happened and sending this review to let you guys know what is going on... I went to Bonsor in Metrotown some weeks ago, and learned there is a volleyball drop-in there on Fridays and this is fantastic! I would love to join it. I was told that I should do the registration online, is not possible to join without previous registration that opens 2 days before for Burnaby residents. Sounds fair, but the problem is... I was checking the website to do my registration, and I was following minute by minute to do it, exactly at 10 AM, once it opens, at 9:59 AM there were more than 80 spots available, but no permission to enroll yet... When it was 10 AM, I just updated the online page and the activity showed as FULL, with no spots for more registration. It seems like there is no chance for you to register online for that, and I start to ask myself, how more than 80 people register themselves individually in less than 2 seconds? So, I don't know what is going on... I really would like please, some clarification on it. It seems impossible for a newcomer to join this activity. Thank...