Melbourne City Baths — Local services in Melbourne

I will be cancelling my membership of over ten years. This place is a shadow of its former self. You will not get what you pay for, whether you are a member or a guest.

First: the pool itself. The management know they are dealing with limited space in this venue, but they want to reduce that space as much as possible.The pool is now apparently an aquatic education facility before anything else. You will get no notice of classes being held. Two lanes will be taken up, and when you arrive to swim, you'll have to swim in narrowed lanes, crashing into fellow swimmers. It seems that management enjoys having people rub up against each other in swimsuits. You pay your money to swim, and then you are made to feel like you shouldn't have bothered in the first place.

Second: the staff, and the lack of communication. Just tonight, we were all thrown out at 8pm, when there was a published closing time of 9pm. We suddenly had just 10 minutes to get out of the pool, get showered, get dressed, and get out. No notice was given to people arriving at the pool. There might be an obscure Facebook or Twitter message somewhere, but that would be it. That is utterly unacceptable for paying customers.

The staff themselves are either unhelpful or just aggressively officious. You most probably won't find any helpful, smiling or caring people to assist you if you need them.

Third: the showers and change rooms. In treating their customers with typical contempt, the showers were barely functioning for over a year (and a whole wall of lockers remains out of order, cramming people together with the limited available lockers). As said, the management know they are dealing with limited space. Now there has been an "upgrade", where the management, in their immense wisdom, have reduced the number of available public showers from eight to six. They have now "upgraded" the showers by installing cheap, claustrophobic cubicles, which serve no apparent purpose, and are an accident waiting to happen. Good luck trying to get a shower in peak times after you've just struggled your way through a stressful swim with three strangers crashing into you in your narrowed lane, all because the management wants an aquatic education class across two lanes.

This facility is being mismanaged, and the management should be replaced as soon as possible. I have spent a lot of my money supporting this place in the past, but it is not worth...

If you could leave 0 stars I would. I had the most appalling experience tonight. My partners a member and has been trying to convince me to join. I asked reception if I could pay for the pool but to do a walk through of the gym before deciding on membership which they were happy with. The gym was mostly body builders and quite intimidating which isn’t something I usually struggle with. The gym space is all over the place and instantly I decided I wouldnt use the gym space. Went for a swim then with my partner. There were two out of 4 lanes for children either playing or doing lessons in a small section of one. Leaving the swimming aisles busy and people bumping into eachother. The pool was cold so after some laps I went into the sauna. A staff member came running in after me asking if I paid. I said yes. She asked where my wrist band was. I told her I wasn’t a member but had paid. She told me to leave or to go back through the changing rooms to get my phone and then out to reception to pay $15.20 instead of $7.20 (ridiculous). I asked if I could stay in for a few minutes before leaving and pay on the way out and she very abruptly said “you need to leave”. I left feeling very embarrassed. I will not be returning and definitely will not be recommending them. The membership prices are also crazy expensive for the facilities offered. The prices have gone up twice since my partner joined a few months back. Floors in the pool area, sauna and changing rooms are filthy and covered in hairs. I’ve never seen them being cleaned in the few times I’ve been there. Such an appalling experience. Staff should be ashamed making people feel this way. I had a read through the reviews before posting this thinking it might have been a once off but read lots of reviews the same as mine....

I turned up to Carlton Baths (the sister company) and was told about “license to move” - no joining fee and two weeks free trial, was shown the information on a pamphlet and was told it would include there, Bourke Street, Swanston Street and Kensington. I advised how important it was for me to practice swimming, and was told about all the swimming facilities. I was told to ring back end of the week to see if it had been finalised and I was given a free session for that one Sunday.

I turned up to the Swanston Street branch at the end of the week as directed, where I live, and the man behind the counter wearing a baseball cap was very dismissive. I asked him about “licence to move” and he interrupted me to tell me I was after the “30 days for $30”. I said no I’m after the “license to move”, and tried to tell him what that was - he dismissively said “same thing”. He wasn’t interested in listening, he wasn’t interested in problem-solving, they just want your money. It wasn’t the same thing. When I finally told him what I have been told, he practically turned this back on me and said you have to go ask them - different company, and didn’t seem at all interested in engaging me or picking up the phone and speaking to them to help me. I was just a number for money. He was trying to move me on and I said No. I want to discuss what I was told last week at the...