Virgin Active UK Reviews 6,024

So Virgin Active Riverside which charges a hefty club fee of £275 per month has decided to ration towels, which now need to be picked up at reception. This is utterly appalling. This is all due to cutting costs without thinking about members' experience. They simply do not care. The only reason they can get away with it is because they do not have any competition in the area. We have been complaining since the new policy has been enforced and we will complain until they reverse it, unless they lower the gym membership to really reflect the level of service they are (not) providing.

After moving house I wanted to cancel my membership (I assume as per the contract that virgin never showed me). They never cancelled my membership and instead continued to demand payment to the point where they tried to instruct bay-lifts. The bay-lift company, after hearing my side, decided they wouldn’t pursue the claim.

I’ve had no apology for the 5 months of stress virgin active have caused and they’re still demanding payment.

Your new towel policy is ridiculous. I rarely use your sauna but when I want to, I should be able to bring an extra towel with me. The fact that your masquerading this as some sustainability effort when it's probably about saving a few quid is a laugh. You should lower your prices in that case.

I just wanted to share that I’m officially on week one of my journey with Virgin Active Gym! I actually ended up going to the Islington location because the class I really wanted wasn't available at my home gym. It was a bit of an adventure since I wasn’t quite sure where to go or what to expect! But thankfully, Damla Ozden was there when I arrived, and she was fantastic! She helped me feel right at home in just a minute. Looking forward to my fitness journey!

Absolutely disappointing experience! Virgin active will never inform you that actually PT sessions has minimum 3 month commitment , while asking to book only 4 sessions, ending up being changed for 3 month , trying to cancel with no luck, trying to reach Club Manager via email - no respond.
Pretending to be a premium health club - always lack of shampoo and conditioners , paying expensive price - still need to bring your own staff , seems ridiculous. Attending classes - they will send you message that you was no -show ! which you actually attended .
Very poor customer service

CUSTOMER SERVICE IS SO BAD
bug on their application ep financial keeps bothering me even thoughh i paid!

Member for years.

Strongly disagree with the new 1-towel policy. It may seem petty, but Virgin Active is charging me membership for clubs with both pool and gym but shave begun enforcing a 1-towel policy. It’s absurd. It seems simply a way of them saving money at members expense and getting some kind of superficial but untrue “green” credentials.

It’s not a publicly funded community pool and gym but it’s behaving like one.

I’m reconsidering my membership and would recommend others to look at alternatives.

It's a great gym, always clean and well maintained. Very friendly staff also.

They have given too many people memberships. A 30 min workout will take at least 1 hour bare this in mind

I wish I could give this 0 stars. Highly Dissapointing experience from such a large brand - take your money and never ever reply back to any of your emails or calls! Signed up with my partner to just take part in the classes. Since joining, we could never get a space in a class, as soon as they went live they went straight away. We asked the receptionist when the classes went live on the app and she said she had no idea, after a few days of no luck booking we asked to go to monthly rolling as this was clearly going to be an issue but we didn’t want to give up the membership and hoped it was just a busy week (a complete faff to move our contract over) After a few more days of only being able to book ONE class we asked to cancel it and get a refund as it was clear the club was over packed with no enough spaces - they should NOT be taking on any more clients to this gym! The customer service has also been appalling, I have sent head office ( info(@)virginactive.co.uk ) 6 emails in total about this issue - and not one has been replied too. All they want is your money and have absolutely no customer care in the slightest. Absolute rip off - used the gym once in 2 months and paid £250! No luck getting a class in advance or last minute the whole system is appalling. Also went for 2 saunas, everyone is completely naked and squashed up against each other - Im not a prude in the slightest but do I want to relax squashed up to 15 naked sweaty women - No. This also goes against the rules they have which is for swimwear to be worn, no one checks on this. The DECENT thing to do is give us both a refund as we have requested. DO NOT SIGN UP to Crouch End, London (N8) - ABSOLUTELY SHAMBLES WITH NO CUSTOMER CARE!
MEMBERSHIP NUMBER: 39p136840

Have overseas membership. Membership sold as "UK access" - pop into club and they will sort out access for you". Want to use Mill Hill Virgin whilst visiting UK. Manager at Mill Hill Virgin tells me "contact UK customer service, they will create your UK profile and liaise with SA if required". As advised by Mill Hill Virgin Manager, sent an email to info @ virginactive.co.uk on 12th Feb. Get a reply saying 1-3 day response time. 18th Feb, still no answer so called 020 7717 9000 - wait time 37 minutes to get through. Customer Service Associate Chineme takes the call. Tells me "process advised by Mill Hill Virgin is incorrect - SA need to initiate the request". I had copied the SA contact on my email so I ask Chineme why he could not look up the email and take ownership of the request. He says he is unable to do this. He does look for the email and finds it. I ask why I have no email reply in 6 days. Chineme says "we have a large email backlog". Chineme goes on to say SA need to now email info @ virginactive.co.uk with the request. We know the email inbox is >6 days response time, by which time I will have left the UK. How can nobody own a customer query and resolve it. Extremely frustrated that I have paid for a service that I am unable to use. This is straightforward customer service request that remains unresolved. Enough to send blood pressure through the roof - advise to avoid Virgin Active at all costs as here in the UK there is zero customer service.

I have been working with Katalin for about 18 months as my personal trainer at Virgin Active Riverside. The programme with her focuses on flexibility and core strength which is precisely what I need. She is able to mix up the exercises and is able to draw from not only a deep well of different exercises but suggests new ones to make the sessions challenging and fun. If I have difficulty performing a new exercise, she always is able to suggest an alternative and slightly easier route to arrive at the same objective. I always leave my sessions with Katalin feeling I have achieved something. Katalin is also fun to work with.

Absolutely Not! This place falls way below expectations. The customer profile is shockingly poor—many people seem to have no clue how to behave in a gym or spa setting.

No exaggeration—I just saw a couple taking photos and videos inside the sauna while, at the same time, a man well over 50 was loudly flirting with a girl who couldn't have been older than 18. Of course its non of no one's business but unfortunately after a while, it became impossible to ignore it. I was expecting a quiet, relaxing atmosphere, but instead, it’s complete chaos.

Swimming pool is just another joke. People literally walk and block lines while you trying to doing your regular swimming session.

Im not even mentioning showers and changing room.

Canary Wharf Virgin Active:
I’ll be canceling my membership the moment my (unfortunate) one-year contract ends. I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone. Extremely disappointed and full of regret for joining. Perhaps other branches are better, but this one is absolutely not it.

Mostly great but there’s a few maintenance issues in the ladies changing rooms, some of which haven’t been sorted and were like it when I joined in January….hard to turn off taps in the changing room toilets and so many people don’t take a moment to see whether it has been turned off. Now a lightbulb has gone (same area) over the sinks.
Sometimes the spray and or paper towel to clean down the equipment after a workout hasn’t been replenished and this is around 7.00 am. TBF, I myself haven’t brought this to the attention of anyone on duty at the time but as you’re asking for reviews here I thought I’d give an honest one. Would still recommend anyone who was thinking of joining though.

I've joined Virgin on 9/6/24 on 12months contract.

There was this promo "join now and only pay in the end of July".

In the meantime, my wife joined the club upon the another promo of "Referal promotion, bring one friend and get 1 month on us", which should be applied into my account after the second payment of my wife's membership.

Everything was made at the front desk.

It's February, I've spoken with everyone at Virgin, from phone, to desk, to email to managers, etc. and I still didn't received the referral promotion.

I'm not even talking about other problems in the gym, but the lack of attention to the members is huge.

And they don't even care.

I had to explain the same thing to several people, and everyone says the reason is X or the reason is Y.

For example, the first answer I got was that I already had a free month, which I replied that my wife had the same promotion as it was a general promotion on that period of June and it wasn't the referral promotion.

Then, they said ok but I needed a QR code when my wife joined the club with my referral, which I replied that everything was made at the front desk.

Then, they said ok, but the problem was that Virgin changed the terms DURING THAT SPECIFIC WEEK THAT IVE JOINED and because of this, not all clubs had that information that was needed a QR code, so there are more people with the same problem as me and the situation still needs the approval from the head office.

And I am still waiting for this situation and last time I exchanged emails was in January.

Apart from this, I went today to the club to cancel my membership.

I am aware that is 12months contract, so I asked to be cancelled on 9/6/25.

Again, the first thing they asked was if I had frezed the membership - which I never did.

Next thing they said is that because I didn't join on 1st of June, I had to pay one more month.

And the next and final thing is that it will only be cancelled on 31/7/25 because I had the initial promo "join now and only pay in the end of July".

So my membership is only valid from 1 august.

I have on my contract that the first day of the membership was on 9/6/24

So basically all Virgin Active promotions are a scam.

Be aware before joining.

This particular club is in a state of decline. The Jacuzzi has been out of order for a week, and the sauna is turned off in the morning when members are inside without being informed. If there’s no lifeguard, the sauna is closed, and members aren’t notified via SMS or the app. Management is rarely available to address issues, unlike Kensington. Sasha is dishonest about the class setup, claiming it’s the standard at all other gyms in the group, which is clearly not the case. It’s easy to visit another gym to verify her dishonesty.

The new layout is probably the worst in the Virgin Active group (I’ve been a VA member for over 20 years). The new towel policy needs serious rethinking; it’s not streamlined at all!

The app hardly works when trying to claim a reward at Kauai for a voucher that was just issued. In contrast, Kensington immediately resolves these issues through management, and you receive your free drink. Mayfair makes promises, but months later, you’re still thirsty, waiting for your free smoothie.

This customer service is appalling. I call up a couple days ago because I’m over charged on my partner membership without any warning. I call to discuss this and get hung up on with no follow up that day. I try calling back but left on hold for over 30 minutes. I get 1 missed call with a voicemail yesterday as they have now figured out what has happened and to discuss the payment I must call them back and AGAIN wait on hold for however long! This is ridiculous - wouldn’t it make sense to give me an email address with a reference number to actually resolve the issue?! You have lost a valuable customer and we will not be returning. Like many other reviews, I have been going to this gym since 2017 and they only just renewed their machines last year and the showers are disgusting. Not to mention their hot tub usually has bits of dead skin floating around. Such a shame this club has been let down by neglect and shitty customer service.

Great job! FANTASTIC ATMOSPHERE AND PLEASANT REWARDING SYSTEM.

The changing rooms are dirty. On my last visit the cleaner was pushing around a mop with hair stuck to it that was leaving hair on every part that she pretended to mop. Out of 4 showers only 1 had shampoo or conditioner. It took two attempts to get a shower with working hot water.
The class booking system doesn’t work. It opens up a week in advance and limits the amount that can be on a waitlist, the classes though that still have wait lists are half full. Reduce the days in advance that you can book and delete the limit on the waitlist.

I signed up for a pay monthly membership to see if i liked it, I wasn’t told i needed to give 30 days notice, so I went to cancel before the end of my subscription and that day the money came out of my account, so if you are only looking to do 1 month to see how you get on, you need to cancel straight away, I reached out and felt that it was a little bit like tough luck, and no intention to keep me on as a member, no one asked me why I wanted to leave.