Stubbers Adventure Centre — Attraction in London

3 stars for some of the instructors!

My child's year 7 class went recently. They enjoyed most of the activities however on the paddle board activity she fell in the water! That all fair and good but the stubbers instructor was horrid. My child and another child in her group were barked at by this female instructor. All the kids complained to their teacher. That was a confidence building activity! Not one to diminish it! She shouted get on the board multiple times without listening to the my child saying she's trying can't. My daughter had a cramp in her leg whilst fallen in the water but all this instructor did was use the phrases shouting "get on your board!",..."yes you can I saw you earlier"...."pack it in!" Another child that had fallen in was petrified she couldn't get back on her board and held on the the instructors board. She just stood shouting "get off my board coz I can't help you, you can't stay holding on my boad" On the coach back this girl said she was so scared she was going to drown and panicked by the barking from this instructor!

Similar thing happened last year with my other child, one of the male instructor also loved barking. He tightened the harness of a safety gear that my child came home with bruises on her stomach. She said she found it so tight she found it hard to breath but the instructor told her and her team "stop being babies!" The school teacher also saw how some of the instructors were interactiing with the children. And a complaint was made so I thought it would be different this time.

These are fun activities but some of the instructors ruin the experience because of their own lack of experience working with young kids, and parents don't want to pay the high priced trip to have their child bullied & shouted at!

Something...

Visited for a school trip with a yr 6 class. The activities were good, we enjoyed the wall climbing, archery and laser tag. We also did kayaking although it wasn’t very enjoyable and my groups least favourite activity. The instructor for this was Martin and he was not helpful at all, he kept going on about how this time tomorrow he would be on a beach…that’s good for you but today your with my children who would of appreciated some assistance. He spent less than a minute (literally) showing them how to use their paddles, bearing in mind they have never done this before…as a result several of the children’s kayaks capsized and they struggled to get back in, he literally lay back in his kayak and watched instead of helping, one of the children even ended up with a head injury. He didn’t have a good rapport with the children and I found the way he spoke to them quite rude. The changing facilities after we’re also abysmal! Alex at the wall climbing was fantastic, really attentive, informative and patient with the children and they really enjoyed it. Emily at Laser tag was also great and the kids had a blast here with many saying that was their favourite activity of the day. Archery was ok, although the paper targets were already torn to shreds and looked like they should have been replaced weeks ago! The toilets could benefit from regular checks/ cleans! Overall good fun, it’s just a shame some of the staff are rude and unhelpful, they should perhaps reconsider if a career working with children is...

Disappointing Experience – Let Down by Staff Attitude

My wife, our 5-year-old son, and I recently visited Stubbers in Upminster and booked a canoe session, something we were really looking forward to. Unfortunately, the experience was let down by poor staff attitude and a lack of basic customer service.

When we arrived at the watersports area, all the staff appeared busy and there was no clear direction or explanation of the process. After waiting around and asking for help, we were sent to a teenage staff member who was incredibly rude and unprofessional. She spoke to us with zero people skills and acted as though we had personally inconvenienced her just by being there.

The canoe tipped when she pushed us off into the water, which we didn’t mind – that kind of thing can happen and we were ready for a bit of fun. But her reaction was unnecessarily harsh. She said in all her years she’d "never seen that happen" and walked off without checking if we were okay – particularly concerning given our 5-year-old was involved and visibly climbing back up after the tip.

There was no basic courtesy, no check-in, no care shown at all. For a family-friendly location that we’ve genuinely enjoyed in the past during summers, this experience has really put us off. It’s a shame, because Stubbers itself has a lot of potential – but customer-facing staff really make or break the day, especially when children are involved.

We hope this is addressed...