Boys & Girls Clubs and YMCA of Greater Waterville at the Alfond Youth & Community Center

1) My Child is different, and I understand that it takes a trained and willing person to care for him.what has been upsetting with my experience is the inconsideration for my time. Let me put it this way: if I sit at a person’s office and they tell me that they won’t accept my child to the program anymore unless he has a one on one. What’s the point to schedule another meeting to tell me that same thing if not just frustrate me as a parent who’s already going through a lot. What human being wouldn’t be frustrated if while communicating with your organisation via email the staff expresses that they want to meet to see how they can offer support, and while the parent gets to the meeting, you don’t provide anything pertaining to support, but you just tell them ,what you had already told them : you cannot provide care for the child!! Isn’t that a waste of my precious time??? That’s not fair🤷🏾‍♀️.

2) ALSO, another thing that needs improvement is one of the ladies at the reception. One thing I’ve learned while working as a customer service agent is that. You cannot hold that position if you’re going to carry the wrong energy.All of the times I’ve been there that one particular lady was terribly unwelcoming , almost as if she doesn’t like people like me, and not only that’s not nice, but also that doesn’t look good on your venue!!!

I have been to the Y a few times recently and although have had some positive experiences, yesterday was unfortunately not the case. I am still disheartened at the interactions I witnessed and was directly impacted by from the life guards on duty at the municipal pool. Their abrasive verbal communication toward our community members, specifically our youth utilizing the pool, was over the top. Minor incidences were over exaggerated, life guards acting more like prison guards with their tone and attitudes. I was dismayed. The manager couldn't be bothered and acted like she was being put out with every interaction. And as I am leaving I see and hear a camp counselor acting the same toward a young man as folks are walking back toward the Y. People pay a substantial amount to participate in Y activities, there should be more appropriate interpersonal communications. Maybe there should be some more training. I unfortunately have been impacted so much that I won't let my kids participate any longer.

Beautiful facility, friendly staff.

Not fun. My kids hate this place and so do I.

I just reinstated my membership yesterday. I noticed that the lap pool was closed because of instruction for the life guides... So, today I called Before going in, and talked with the Welcome Desk. I asked the girl on duty if the lap pool is open. She puts me on hold and goes to check... After several minutes she is back telling me that it's Open. I go in get changed and the guide tells me that it's Closed!!! I go talk with the girl on duty and ask her if she was there when I called. She said that she was the one that spoke to me. So, I asked her why she told me it's Open!? She said she when to the paper stand to check the schedule and it stated that it's open from 11AM to 1 PM. I told her that I had a schedule on my Refrigerator at home if I needed to look at the schedule, what I needed was Someone to Open the pool door and ask the guide personally!!!
I'm so glad to see Charlie back at the desk today!!!
Hip, Hip, Hooray!!!!

When you call, you can’t even get a hold of anybody.. do better please

We have had our membership for three years, my husband was sitting on chairs in the gym , watching our kids stuff, due to things being stolen. A worker came in was very rude, my husband tried talking to another lady who was also very rude. Another guy came down who would not listen to us, saying how unfair it was that people pay for memberships and can't use the pool or basketball courts. The weight rooms are never wiped down and people sit there on phones while you are waiting for machines. Workers at the upstairs desk or there phones , what if there was something they missed due to them being on phones. Told we would be reimbursed for our payment for the month, nothing. I see why alot of the amazing workers they had there left. There's alot there that noone takes in consideration and have rude staff members not all hut a good majority of them. I will never go back there again, after the way we were treated.

I have a few different things to say about the ymca of waterville. I've found it to be a place of healing for me. Through the Unified program offered here I've been able to connect with individuals who have similar experiences that I myself have gone through. It's a program that helps me get out of my comfort zone and have a more positive outlook on life. I've always seen myself as this little thing. Unified gives me hope for the future and a chance to contribute to help shape the community for the better. I love having the opportunity to connect with others, to become physically active, and to have a way of contributing to something important where otherwise I would not be able to. I love being able to go to the board meetings and help contribute to how we can expand and improve this program. Unified to me isn't just a program: it's a community of people who connect with one another on one thing: to end the stigma. Whether it's being an athlete, a partner, or a parent: all of these people care about one another in some way, shape, or form. That's what makes Unified important and great for all of us, and the community at large. Thank you for offering this program. This program makes a significant difference for all of us.

So I ordered a smoothie from the snack stand, this girl was completely rude and had such a horrible attitude towards me. And is yelling at me and my friends to calm down and giver her a second. Not a pleasant experience.

Jill, a yoga instructor, taught the best yoga class that I've attended in ages. It was absolutely F--U-N, and she kept us safe through her instruction and watchful eye.
GREAT CLASS! I think she was actually notified at the last minute that she was substituting for someone else.

The work out space is nice, the swimming instructors are friendly and helpful. However, there isn't a lot of programing for anyone under 8ish. The removed the only space that allowed new, young movers to explore and play. I understand that making money is important for a businesses but taking away the last acceptable toddler friendly space away from the community seems like it was a waste of resources and member's increased fees. If I didn't believe in swimming being a life skill for my kids, I would move myself to a new gym.

The lack of availability of the basketball gyms and not being able to tell when open gym actually is on their App is frustrating. Their App lists every other possible thing at the Y except open gym. Also, open gym is pretty infrequent when you consider it’s a BASKETBALL COURT. there are at least 9 hoops and the ability to drop down dividers to separate different areas of the gym. I’m a member and rarely am ever able to use open gym. I have to call every time, and sometimes no one answers or someone does answer and they don’t know if there’s open gym. I just got off the phone with a lady that said it would be too much work to update their App daily for the open gym hours. ? Pickle Ball every day, reliably, why can’t the pickle ballers take a day off and let some people shoot hoops?

After paying and setting up, we went straight for the slides and we were told that due to staffing issues--slides were closed. HA! That's why we were there. A refund....a ticket to come again--would've gone a long way.

Not to mention the over staffing of a puddle pool that no toddlers were using.

Geeze.

The ninja course would probably be great if I had kids old enough to use the equipment. A friend and I went to take our kids to see it, at $15 per kid if you aren't a member. I have a 6 year old and 2 year old. The 6 year old at least got to try a few things but was still a bit small for the majority of the stuff (and shes a very tall 6 year old). The 2 year old only played with the tiny little toddler play thing they already had. There should be a reduced rate for toddlers or free entry since there is hardly anything for them to do, and nothing new, in fact they took away things from the toddler age group and increased the rate on them. All 5 kids I came with that day (range from 1 to 9, only the 9 year old could use everything, the 6 year old some things, 5 and lower used absolutely nothing new) were disappointed the bounce houses were gone and kept asking if they'd bring them back.

A mass majority of the staff here is so unpleasant, they act like they hate their job. It’s a wonderful space to workout and the equipment is nice but the staff make it feel like a hostile environment.