YMCAfit Reviews 

I am writing to complain about YMCA Fit/YMCA Training's abysmal management of and conduct around the November/December 2023 Online Level 2 Exercise To Music course.

Firstly I must say that our two online trainers for this course were brilliant, they were knowledgeable and engaging instructors who did very well delivering an exercise course in the challenging online environment.

However they were very much the only positive experience that I have had with YMCA Fit/YMCA Training, any dealings with your administrative or support staff have been, at best, inconsistent, and at worse either ignored or, perversely, invasive pressure sales tactics.

My issues are as follow; as a learner with Combined ADHD (statement and diagnosis was sent to YMCA Fit and uploaded to APTEM 25/10/23) I requested the additional support that I'm entitled to under the Equality Act of 2010. There was no attempt by YMCA to engage with this until after the course had started. This meant I had to conduct all the pre-course learning with only the digital learning materials, something I really struggle to do, rather than the paper copies of the books, as later promised in the additional learning needs document. Regarding the paper copies of the books, they were promised in the additional needs document on the 16th of November 2023, they were again promised, in an email, on the 28th of November 2023. This would have allowed me to conduct at least some of the course with usable reference material. Yet, as of the 14th of March 2024, I am yet to receive any books, or any update on their arrival from the Student Support Team!

With the lack of suitable learning materials in mind, and no date for their arrival scheduled, I elected to take the theory exam on the 14th of November 2023. I was agreed that this would be a a trial exam, given that I'd not been able to engage with the material, and that any resit required, would be provided, free of charge.

Unfortunately I only achieved 56%. To receive notification of these results I had to send a chasing email on the 16th of January 2024 and did not receive the confirmation email until 12th of February 2024! I fail to comprehend why a globally established fitness training provider is taking 8 weeks to turn round electronically hosted exam results!

Since my exam results have been released no one from the Student Support Team has been in contact to discuss how to move forward and recover from this. This has meant that I have been unable to engage with writing and delivering the practical assessment because my ADHD won't let me work on that until the exam has been passed.

Having been in regular contact with the other students on my course it would appear that my experiences are, unfortunately, very much the norm rather than the exception, with emails being unanswered, phone calls being promised and not returned, tutors being unavailable via email or Aptem. Not one single person on our course has had a positive experience with YMCA Fit or YMCA Training.

This has all been made worse by the fact that once I had made initial contact with your sales team in the spring of 2023 I received a near constant stream of emails and phone calls pestering me to sign up for the course, this happened again when I made the mistake of inquiring about expanding my training to include Indoor Cycling!

I have been left with zero confidence in the YMCA as a training provider and I no longer believe that you are competent and able to provide me with the qualifications that I have paid for you to deliver. You are selling your global reputation cheaply and dragging yourself through the mud as a consequence.

The behaviors detailed above hold you in breach of, not only, my Additional Learning Needs document, that was generated on the 16th of November 2023, and your very own Student Engagement and Progression Agreement, as supplied, by you, in our pre-course material.

Like so many others, I had a dreadful experience with YMCAFit. I’ve worked in education for over 15 years and studied with at least 5 organisations and never had such a bad experience. Everything about the course was bad. I won’t list everything that happened but it’s very much like the other reviewers. What’s frustrating is that YMCA reply to the negative reviews gaslighting them! They don’t sort things out and there is no where to turn.
Very much recommend doing your research there are lots of bad organisations out there and some that offer training which isn’t accredited. Make sure you find a properly accredited course. Having now done several CPD courses, I know there are good supportive places you can study with.

Avoid this course.

It is not as advertised and you can get much better training with correct information and proper support from other organisations. -FOR LESS MONEY!
Ofstead is doing an inspection- I recommend waiting to bookt this course until the report comes out and you can see the issues that will be highlighted.

My list of problems is vast but starts with the most awful student support and a legacy of referrals which cost a fortune.

A very well organised course with the best ever tutor, Charlotte. Thank you, it’s been amazing.

AVOID

I will be seeking a refund for this course. Every step has been absolutely terrible!!

Firstly I haven’t been doing it for a year. I attended but had to withdraw due to Covid, my level 2 paper was failed on my neatness which is ridiculous, I was then booked onto the next course which was cancelled but I wasn’t notified so turned up to the course anyway. So then had to re re book on to the latest course, where on completion of my case study (which was checked multiple times by my tutor) I was informed it had to be completely re done as the template used was old. On top of all this exam dates have been moved multiple times however correspondence is shocking so it simply gets confusing which resulted in missing online exams, all of which I was told originally would be classroom based! As have dead lines etc. frankly after the shambles with my case study I just gave up.

I have a full group of character witnesses and testimony’s of how bad this course and services have been.

I will be contacting the higher learning office who provided the loan to lodge this complaint with them also! £3k for this level of unprofessionalism is absolutely ridiculous. I actually know of multiple people from my course who have just given up with them and gone to another training provider and passed the whole 2 courses in the time it’s taken YMCAfit from the end of level 3 to marking stage. I will be doing the same!!

My experience at this gym on the whole is great. If you want a quiet time to just get on with your workout. This is the place for you. It's small , some equipment older , and only one shower. Of course youngsters hang around outside , but regardless, the experience is still good. Everybody is friendly, and all are welcome. The YMCA GYM , gets the thumbs up from me.

Awful company, absolutely no 'support' from Student Support. I'd like to add that Holly in student support genuinely feels like she cares about the success of the students and my trainer on the course was absolutely brilliant. The actual course days were great fun, thoroughly enjoyed.

I tested positive for covid during the pandemic so couldn't attend in October 2021 when the course started and they threw me off the course and said I'd need to pay in full anyway. They then offered me a 'lifeline' by saying it's either that or they can take my deposit and transfer me to a later date so I had no choice, £250 down the drain because of a positive covid test. They said they lost a lot of money due to covid and needed to recoup it, clearly taking it from their students in shady means is the best method.

I passed everything, just needed a resit on L2 Anatomy (because I suck at sat down written tests), paid the £40 but earlier that day I couldn't make it due to a family friend being taken to hospital and that was the last time I saw them. Student support said I should give 4 weeks notice to cancel a resit which was done from my own home and ignored me when I said that family emergencies don't tend to plan 4 weeks in advance, they then kept trying to charge me to rebook, a further £40.... I reached out on multiple emails, called many times and left a few voicemails and they've completely ignored me. Sent me an email in June 2023 saying I needed to complete that last L2 exam, I reached out again a few times and they ignored me every time.

Got an email September 2023 (having still ignored everything from me) saying they've thrown me off the course because I didn't complete it....4 emails, 2 voicemails and a few calls since and they're still ignoring me.

I have a learner loan for this course now over me with nothing to show for it because they can't be bothered to reply to any contact.

Save your money, find another company

I was full of enthusiasm at the start of the Level 2 fitness instructor course and anticipated an interesting learning experience.
Software package was a nightmare insufficient instruction and no user support, every student had problems with it. Manuals could only be viewed on line there was no ability to download and print which would have been very helpful specially the Anatomy and physiology. In person learning sessions were inconsistent between different tutors. Week 2 it was announced that the decision had already been made who would pass or fail not only demoralising for the student but rather unprofessional. Student support barely existed sometimes a full voicemail box “don’t leave a message” or just fobbed off answer.
For an institution as old as the YMCA is very sad to witness the total uncaring and unprofessional standards they seem to practice.

Terrible customer service, YMCA fit has been ignoring me. I’ve gave them a medical sick note and they have caused me so much stressed, they have took all my money and refused a refund.

I attended the Mat-work Pilates TT in December 2022. I have done Pilates for years and was extremely excited to take part in the course. Unfortunately From the beginning the experience was awful. The pre reading materials we were given were confusing and incorrect - my partner who works as a lecturer in sports science for over ten years confirmed they made absolutely no sense and information given was not correct.
The course itself was rushed and extremely hard to follow. People were made to feel idiotic for asking questions when the information provided was not clear. The aftercare - well there was none. I tried to contact many times and was ignored repeatedly. despite the promise of full tutor support.
After completion of the course 6 of us who attended felt underprepared to take exam, We were told we must complete within 6 month or pay a further £500 to attend an online advanced mat-work.
The advanced online course was the biggest joke of all. Two hours late, The instructor rushed through and gave zero feedback (Think watching a bad online youtube yet being made to pay £500 for it)
I have written many complaints (as have 7 others on my course) to YMCA Fit directly and we have had zero replies from anyone. They seemed very happy to chase and take the thousands of £'s from everyone yet unable to respond to a complaint?

Some of us have now had to pay another course provider to redo the entire thing.

I am still in utter shock and the lack of care and total disrespect.

Please do yourself a favour and look elsewhere.

I have not done a course with them, nor will I be.
When getting a call back from
my enquiry, the call was quite flat and unenthusiastic. I gave my date of birth and was asked to repeat, may be because I am a more mature student to what they are used to.
I was going to book a CPD course, so asked if they needed to see my level 2/3 certification. I was told this was unnecessary, which I find unprofessional, as anyone can jump onto the course. I got a call back the following day to make payment and booking, which I postponed. It gave me to think, and I then decided I would email them and cancel the call. They confirmed the cancellation, and that was that. Being in the fitness industry and having dealt with other training providers, I did expect a level of enthusiasm, customer care, and may be a phone call to discuss my cancellation and the reasons. To be honest, with a little bit of further guidance and encouragement I would have gone ahead with the booking. As training providers, I hope my experience does not reflect on the delivery of the courses.

The staff are wonderful, my deepest regards to Dan, Hannah and Roger for their conduct in class and the support they gave me. Despite the very dense course material everything was taught efficiently while also maintaining a healthy classroom atmosphere that kept me going.

Nick and James were great tutors and was the highlight of the course.

Consistency and communication needs to be better between tutors and also with what the course content says as they have been a lot of contradictions that has cost people money and refers. Course content needs to be updated with current research as well.

Exam times needs to be more flexible - you should able to book your slot in a 2 week period as with the part time course, people are working or got plans so it should be more flexible for them.

This is by far, the worst course I have ever attended, and I attended many in the industry.
- Money making scheme.
- Student support is unheard of in this organisation
- Lack of professionalism
- Serious discrimination issues
I have many terrible and terrifying examples for each point.

Do NOT give this company any money! They take your money and lie to you. Use another better company that doesn't lie to their customers.

The course was very good ,very intense but you learn a lot and make you feel competence to become PT

Excellent course, everything was really professional and well run.

I completed the intensive mat pilates course and it went beyond my expectations. Our tutor Rob was so though-rough, he had a great energy about him, giving us the right amount of humour alongside all the knowledge. The course itself is so comprehensive and detailed, I would say it was even more detailed than my PT course! I would really recommend for anyone looking to get their Pilates qualifications. Reformer Intensive next!!

It gives us amazing knowledge through home study (Anatomy and Physiology and other studies).
Instructors are very knowledgeable and wonderful instructors. I think it is the best institute to go to to have a well respected and super qualification. The best!

Trainers were passionate, attentive, and knowledgeable. Wouldn’t change them.

The website, however was evidently made in the dark ages and hasn’t been updated since (navigates at a snail’s pace).

Also, course attendees are often trying to build careers - that put food on the table and keep the lights on - around this organisation’s certifications.

Making them wait 3 months to get said certifications - key to getting one’s foot in the door anywhere - is unfair.

Great course content, lousy back of house.