It would have been nice to get at least an apology during the months it took me to chase Mr Hill in order to get my money back. Or even better, some help. Instead, when I called, the line would get cut off, emails didn't get unswered...until I mentioned the small claims court. So, all is well when it ends well, Mr Hill, but making my complaint look insignificant and a little exaggerated was not nice! Glad your Wandsworth facility is going strong, and yes, thank you for returning my money in the end, after all the hours and effort I had to put into it, at a pretty difficult time for me as a new mother. Sadly, not a lot of restored faith accompanying it, then or now...

Hi Everyone
This is Vern!

Thanks firstly for the recommendation and also for the comments below.

We did close our Battersea branch and sadly whilst we were led to believe someone was coming in to take over this proved not to be the case, the handling of refunds was also slow and in a couple of cases they were delayed however most were done very swiftly. For those delayed again this is unacceptable and we can only apologise.

Our Wandsworth Common facility has been running with a strong and stable client base for almost 6 years and i'm sure you would find a very different experience here...sadly it was not something we were able to recreate at Battersea.

If you were affected by this please do contact me directly on vern@vern-hill.com - i would love to offer all of nappyvalleynet 2 FREE classes to come and try out Wandsworth and see what we have to offer.

Kind regards

Vern

I saw the notice on the door too so was sure I will not get my money back! However, it felt too much like theft and I wasn't prepared to give in easily. I'm glad it paid off in the end and hope nobody else received a similar treatment from Vern Hill. It would be good to know they choose a more professional and honest approach at present! It would be hard for me to trust them again though. Thank you both for posting. I had not thought about writing here but I am grateful I had a chance to do it as I would have liked to be warned before joining if it had happened to someone else as well. I can only hope I was the only one.

When the battersea branch was closed, I saw the landlord's notice on the door saying that they owed a lot of rent to the landlord.

Hi, I'm glad you feel that way. Unfortunately, I had exactly the opposite type of experience with Vern Hill fitness at their gym in Battersea. I signed up for postnatal classes and paid in advance as it was cheaper that way. The classes kept being cancelled for lack of instructor and when I asked about the safety of doing certain exercises soon after a C section I got told (rather abruptly during one class) that it's my problem whether I actually want to exercise or not. The instructor who said that is probably gone now as the place closed unexpectedly a while ago and they kept most of a rather large sum of money I had paid in advance for 20 classes. It took me a little over 6 months to recover my money. After endless attempts to get through and having lost hope to ever get my money back, a friend advised me to say I will go to the small claims court ( although I did find that difficult to even think about). However I said it as a last resort and guess what? The money was transferred back into account in a matter of days. It was very sad and disappointing. I hope not many people experienced that kind of treatment there! I felt I had to share as it was a truly unpleasant and disheartening experience.

Hi All

I've recently discovered Vern Hill by Wandsworth Common Train Station and i just wanted to say how brilliant it is. The classes are fantastic and it's the most friendly relaxed "gym" i've found for a long time (and i hate gyms!!) Anyway they've updated their schedule so there are lots of classes that start at different times. I've got no vested interest other to say how fab i think they are!

x