Puddle Ducks Reviews 

A while ago, we booked a lesson with Puddle Ducks Merseyside. When we called, we were told that we needed to purchase a full block of lessons, but if we did not wish to continue after the first one, the remaining balance would be refunded. We agreed and paid.

On the day, our 3-month-old baby was unwell and unable to attend. We tried calling several times with no response. We then sent an email apologising, explaining the situation, and asking if it would be possible to receive a refund.

We never received a reply. My wife and I decided to log into their website and mark the class as “not attending,” which, according to Puddle Ducks, is labelled as “holidays.” We did this as a courtesy, simply to let them know we would not be attending, as we understood the instructor would plan based on the number of babies present.

Still, no response. Three days later, we sent another email asking for an update. Again, nothing.

Nevertheless, I later checked my bank account and saw that another £66 had been deducted without explanation. I called them with no answer and requested a call back.

A day or two later, I finally received a call. They refunded the £66 but claimed they had never received my earlier emails, only noting that “holidays” had been booked. I explained the situation and asked if they wanted me to forward the original emails. They agreed, so I did, also requesting a call back.

It then took almost five more days before I received another call. This time, they repeated that there was no way to issue a refund because I had booked “holidays,” and again claimed the first two emails were never received. I pointed out how unbelievable it was that they somehow missed two emails but received the third.

I explained that I had tried to call, had sent several emails, and that the only reason I marked “holidays” was out of courtesy to notify them we could not attend.

Puddle Ducks showed no interest in what I said and offered no consideration. They kept repeating the same line about “holidays” and refusing a refund. It is perfectly possible to manually override a system and issue a refund, but they refused.

Worse still, during our conversation, they repeatedly put themselves on mute. I could clearly hear when they weren’t listening, and after long pauses of silence, they would give the same robotic answer. It felt like speaking to a chatbot, not a person.

At no point was I rude — yet what I received in return was dismissive, unprofessional, and deeply disrespectful.
Puddle Ducks refused to consider our situation, showed no empathy, and tries to hid behind their "half" policy instead of providing genuine customer service and be truthful to their word. This is not the service you expect from a company working with babies and young children. Very disappointing.

Edit:

After reading the reply receiving, I have to say that no one contacted me directly nor offered to refund the money I paid for.

Absolutely life changing!

Having never been taught to swim myself it is something I felt was really important for my little one. We first attended the younger group where I went in the pool with him at Seven Springs. The class was well run and gave him a huge amount of confidence in the two sessions he had. The teachers were so friendly and he loved them and it’s very clever how the basics are made into games so they don’t even realise they are learning! I was nervous about him moving to swim academy as he is very shy and I worried he wouldn’t go in the pool on his own. He did and within a few weeks my child who would scream if water touched his face became completely confident with his head completely under water and his favourite thing is now demonstrating the mushroom float!! What I would say is don’t attend these sessions if you are looking for a few lessons and then your kid will swim. They are a commitment and they are taught super slow to make sure that the skills they need are almost second nature. Yes, the classes are expensive but you 100 percent get what you pay for and I would pay anything for my child to have such an important skill. Special shout out to Louisa, Janet and Sam at Bowles who have made Harri so confident. He looks forward to his lessons so much and beams the whole time he is there. The ONlY thing that lets them down a little is the admin who are a bit slow to respond sometimes and often don’t answer the phone. Always helpful when you do speak to them though.
Another thing, obviously not within puddle ducks control but you do sometimes get a naughty kid in the class who attention seeks and can be quite dangerous not listening which can then take away from the kids who do want to learn. Luckily they don’t usually last long and Louisa deals with it like an absolute super star!!

We’ve been with Puddle Ducks for about a year now and can’t be happier. The Ham pool coach is fantastic - inspiring, supporting and skillful and thorough at the same time; he develops a special bond with kids which is so important when they gain confidence in the water. Admin team makes the experience smooth, with bookings and rescheduling accommodated. Great pool too. Every lesson is a delight.

We’ve tried a few different swimming lessons and Puddleducks is by far the best. It’s engaging for the kids and gets results. My daughter loves her lessons.

Fantastic lessons for babies and toddlers. Fun lessons with songs and repetition, with clear messaging and instruction about pool and water safety. The staff are lovely and it’s really flexible to rebook if you are away one week.

Puddle Ducks went above and beyond to ensure my little boy had an excellent start to his swimming life. Sadly we had to swap groups due to my return to work last year, but I'll never forget how precious those first few lessons were and how attentive and thorough the teachers made each lesson. A 5 star experience and would highly recommend to anyone thinking of starting lessons with their little one.

We’ve been with PuddleDucks for nearly 20months (my son started at 4months and we continued to 2years).

Overall we have really enjoyed swimming at the Northwich pool. The tuition has been good from Kirsty and Melanie. At the baby/toddler stage the experience is much more about giving adults and children the skills to be in the water together and build confidence to say go on holiday or the local pool for example. This is not a swimming lesson as such!

We chose PDs on a friends recommendation and have had a good experience. However, I do have a couple of gripes.

1. It’s sooo expensive £20.50 for 30mins is too much (£84 per month). Other classes swim/football for similar ages are c. £36pcm. Other baby classes are more like £8 per session for longer class. Ultimately the cost is the reason we are stopping. It’s impossible for us to continue whilst I’m on Stat Mat Pay with my 2nd child. Maybe it would be good to offer ‘place holidays’ so that you can stop for a while and rejoin when you can afford it again?

2. Payment chasing system is odd, on a number of occasions we have had abrupt emails from their booking system saying that we hadn’t paid and we were on our last lesson even though there was money in the account and payment details hadn’t changed. Again this has been what has prompted us to not return, funnily they have saved me admin!

3. Generally the instructors are brilliant! Can’t fault them, however, we have had a number of trainees (with no notice, explanation or discount) who have been extremely poor for weeks on end and even though supervised they have not been that well supported in sessions. They have been too quiet and you can’t hear them and they don’t know the songs/curriculum and we have had to help them through.

4. The group sizes are hit and miss, I’ve been during the week and had a private lesson, but on our regular weekend slot it’s full with 10 families in there. It feels a lot and often means the instructor can’t feedback or give advice on how to improve.

5. Changing rooms really need a swimwear spinner to dry of costumes and trunks.

We have enjoyed it but we can’t throw money at this experience anymore.

I don't think Puddleducks is suitable at all for beginner school-age swimmers who haven't already been attending swimming lessons since they were babies/toddlers. My son started aged 4 and despite being constantly reassured by Puddleducks that his class was suitable for total beginners who couldn't already swim, the class assumed eveyone understood the basics of swimming already. Everyone else in the class had clearly been swimming for some time, the difficulty level wasn't appropriate for beginners and unfortunately it wasn't a safe environment. Instead of building my child's confidence we had to stop classes after an incident that has severely impacted his confidence and my trust in swimming lessons.

We’ve been so impressed with Puddle Ducks and the progress both of my grandchildren have made. From the very first lesson, the instructors have been incredibly supportive, encouraging and knowledgeable. It’s a lovely balance of fun and structured learning, and it's been wonderful to watch their confidence grow in the water each week.

One of them started out quite nervous, but thanks to the gentle, consistent approach of the teachers, they now look forward to every session and are swimming so much more independently. The facilities are clean and child-friendly, and the staff are always welcoming and professional.

It’s been a real joy to be part of their swimming journey, and we can’t recommend Puddle Ducks highly enough!

Puddle ducks is so supportive. Rachel in particular is amazing and she has been so supportive of our daughter

My son has been swimming with puddle ducks since he was 9 weeks old, he is now nearly 16 months. Laura has been amazing with him from the very beginning. My son loves the water and is always eager to get in the pool. It is great for teaching pool safety and water play is his favourite thing, because of his introduction at such an early age. It is also a great bonding experience where you aren't worried about whether you have done the washing up or not just enjoying the time with your little one!

Great, structured swimming lessons from a very young age. Pam is especially wonderful and makes every class enjoyable for the little ones!

Signing my baby at 8 weeks old up to puddle ducks is one of the best decisions we made as parents. Our little one is now almost 16 months old and is confident and happiest when in the water. It was so important to us as avid travelers that he learns to swim and enjoys the water. And I could not be happier with his progress and the classes. His teacher Rachel is amazing. She is attentive, caring and ensures all of the children are enjoying themselves and safe. I recommend puddle ducks to all my mum friends and will continue to do so. Thank you for helping my boys confidence grow week in week out.

Wouldn't recommend Puddle Ducks.
The information beforehand wasn't clear as to whether submersions would be done during lessons, question was asked but a blanket answer provided.
The booking system was strange when trying to start from a later date, kept telling me the lesson was that weekend yet we weren't starting for another 4 weeks.
First lesson we attended with babies a bit older than ours, which isn't a problem, but it showed that progression is slow as they were doing things we learnt in the first week elsewhere, that they had never even touched on.
The second lesson was then with babies of a different age and has just moved up from Floaties. Again we found we were doing things that we had done in week one with the other provider.
The pool used was quite small, & the teacher was doing lots of individual 'skills' which meant all the others could do in the small space was blow bubbles. Again not much progression being done here.
The teacher had to constantly check the lesson plan after each 'skill' which takes up precious time of the 30min lesson.
After one lesson our previous provider had new availability so we gave notice to leave puddleducks. After the second lesson we decided that our baby wasn't learning anything new & the lessons were a waste of time & unfortunately our money too.
If there were advertisements of the free taster lesson prior to us booking for 6 weeks, we would have opted for this, however this wasn't an option & has only been advertised in the last week or so.

I go to Woodlawn school lessons with my son who is 16 month. Lisa is a fab teacher and Zachary has came on so much with love of water and just been promoted to kickers! She giving him confidence and he trust her now he warmed to her. He loves swimming and I do too.

Really lovely for babies and first time young 'swimmers' confidence levels grow in the water which is great but then they get to a point where they do the same thing week in week out and get bored and change their mind about enjoying 'swimming' the classes become mixed with ages and the older ones who need more of a challenge lose out (but it still costs £15 a lesson)

Paula is a great teacher and my daughter loves the lessons. She has really come in and developed lots of new skills in the water

I have paid for 10 lessons for my grandchild and so far my g/child has had 7 lessons, the staff are friendly but the gripe i have is the size of the class , 8 babies/toddlers in a class is too big for 1 instructor , yes there is another instructor in the pool but she doesn't get involved with the teaching , (not that ive seen) i think she may be there for H&S. Also the lessons have been the same every week, swim in a circle, pour water on their heads with little saucers,launch the child gently to the mum and then sit on the floating platform and sort of catch the child in the mothers arms, I know the routine from heart now and with 7/8 kids in the small pool the child doesnt get a whole lot of attention. I know of other swim companies that cap the amount on kids to 6 . I think we will be changing soon to one of them companies , such as total gym , they cap lessons at 6 kids and their pool is huge. The changing rooms are tiny so their is chaos to race to the nappy changing table/ledge for those babies who are still not sitting up on their own yet,,the classes are every half hour so as one class has finished there is another class trying to get changed and get ready and if your a mum on your own with a very small baby it can be difficult trying to get dried /dressed etc in a small changing area! I personally think the staff are lovely no issues there , just the class size - too big and there are other companies who are much cheaper with smaller sizes.

Swim academy class is excellent and the teacher, Liv is extremely patient and always cheerful! Would recommend 😊

We love Puddleducks swimming lessons the teachers are so personalable and so lovely to around. I would highly recommend from any age! I started at 4 months with my daughter but with my next baby I will start earlier!