Sir Owen G. Glenn National Aquatic Centre — Attraction in Upper Harbour

And another disappointing experience. I'm happy to plan my visits around events and other bookings. After all I use this place only about once a week to go for a swim. And I've been going for a swim here many, many times so my experience with this place is not based on a single incident.

To be able to plan around events and other bookings it is important to get the published lane availability in line with the actual availability before paying customers like myself paid for their concession. Changing it during a customers visit is not acceptable. There are no emergencies like in an A&E. Everything is known at least an hour in advance.

Today switching from 50 m lanes to 25 m lanes was planned for 3 pm. The kids in the red shirts started the change at about 2:20. I would have been finished at approximately 02:30. Also, it looks that those kids can't seem to be able to do the lane switch without deafening loud music.

I have contacted management via email a couple of times in the past few months to raise the issues and I was given reassurances that the problems would be addressed with staff. It looks though that things haven't really improved and that there seems to be little adult supervision that some of the kids in the red shirts apparently still need. The substandard level of service and customer orientation is astonishing given this place claims to be the flagship aquatic pool in this country. Very sad to observe. Unfortunately alternatives are either Westwave or the pool on Whangaparaoa both of which are quite a drive from around Albany, Browns Bay, etc.

Bottom line: There is plenty of room for improvement. My recommendation: Do not trust the published lane availability. It's useless. When visiting, talk to the kids in the red shirts inside, not the ones at the reception. That may be your best chance to find out what they really are planning to do on any given day.

"Be the best you can be" is their tag line. It certainly doesn't apply to some of the kids in...

A reminder to everyone to be cautious when parking. Be sure to enter your license plate number. This simple action can save you $65; otherwise, you owe them $65. If you fail to do that, no matter how long you park, even if it's just 10 minutes, it is still illegal.

Thank you for your response. I'm writing this just to remind everyone. I know that managing externally and having a bad parking experience can also affect how I feel about your place, right?

In fact, I contacted the parking management company immediately, and their reply was that there was no room for negotiation and no waiving would be given. I visit your place frequently, almost every week, and this was just an occasional mistake of forgetting to enter my plate number this one time.

The fine ticket clearly states the entry and exit times, showing that I parked for a total of 63 minutes, along with a photo of my license plate. Since they have access to all these details, why do they still need us to manually enter our plate numbers?

The system is supposedly designed to prevent overstaying, but in reality, it only ends up punishing those who simply forgot to enter their...

Very tidy, clean, and modern facility. However was told today I’m not allowed to help my kids learn to swim. Pool rules state parents must provide 'active supervision' to under 10s. The lifeguard came over and said “no coaching”, stood over us as intimidation to not even talk to the kids, suggested "sit at the side and not talk to them". It was not an exclusive lane, nor am I being paid to be there, just a parent providing active supervision of my kids which I thought a sports center would encourage. Instead kids leave awkward and never wanting to go back. I just think they are missing the point of a sports center if they arent encouraging families to bring and encourage children. Followed up with an email, where they confirmed 'no parents instructing...