Max Aquatics — Local services in Lyons Township

Been taking my daughter to swim classes here for a couple of years. We were excited to graduate from the baby classes, which is 30 minutes of just getting the kids used to being in water and most of the instructors we had did not seem too engaged in the class. Once we got to the 3-5 classes, the instructors were great and my kids loved it. However, we had 2 weeks in a row where, first, my 3-year-old fell in the water and was picked up by another instructor who was walking around the pool. Then the next week, during the last 5 minutes of "play time," my 4-year-old slipped off the wall and was fully submerged and flailing in the water. The teacher (who is great) was with another child. I don't know how long my daughter was under water (it felt like forever), but it was long enough for all five parents watching to bang repeatedly on the class and yell for someone's attention, since the door to the pool is locked and we couldn't get in. Finally, an instructor walking around the pool noticed and grabbed my daughter. During both incidents, the "lifeguard" did not notice either girl and made no move to help either time. After the second incident, we removed my daughter's from the class. I spoke with the manager, Jackie, who was great, discussed how there is no way that should be happening, and offered a full refund. Then she had the supervisor, Marty, call me. He made the situation much worse by repeatedly discussing how young children don't listen by the pool and it causes unsafe situations. I agreed with him, acknowledging that my 3-year-old fell in due to not listening. But my 4-year-old is very nervous by the water and tends to be a very good listener. Despite mentioning this, Marty again discussed how children don't listen and cause an unsafe situation by continually jumping in the pool on the own. Even if my daughter was not listening, there should be no reason a child is fully submerged under the water with no one (especially the lifeguard) noticing until parents finally get their attention by banging on windows and yelling. Marty made the whole experience worse by his attempts to explain why the situation occurred and helped me feel more confident in my decision to transfer the girls to the new Foss swim school (which is also much bigger...

Very nice and clean facility. The swimming coaches are polite and outgoing. I like that it is very family oriented. They have a large glass window for you to watch your little swimmer, a separate room for kids to play and a huge dry erase board that the kids love to doodle on. However, there are a couple things that couple use some improvements. The locker rooms are too small to accommodate the amount of swimmers. this is a huge inconvenience. It gets very hectic while swimmers are changing after their class just ended and then there are the swimmers whose class is about to start. Literally bumping elbows if not reaching over one another to get into your locker. The front staff could be a little friendlier. They never welcome you with a smile and seem to always be on their phones. I've had to personally ask them to brew some more coffee... I would understand if they were busy but they are never...

When coming in the facility, I stood in front of the person at the front desk waiting to get her attention. Friendly but not greeting or engaged in her job. I signed up a 3 year old and 10 year old for beginner swim. Both children were told what to do and left mostly independently to do it. There is a glass room dividing parents and swimmers. The one employee opening the door to let swimmers in kept leaving her spot to eat pizza and kept saying it was okay while my 3 year old swallowed water in two occasions (I took her out the second time-banging the glass). My 10 year old was in the 6 foot side and said the instructor saw her drowning and didn’t help her-felt like she swallowed a gallon of water. I asked for a refund and they kept 5 percent. There was no interest on why I cancelled the classes and was only told they would make an “exception...