Mike C

Review of Waltham YMCA

Update: young Y worker just shouted through the Y...

Update: young Y worker just shouted through the Y that a 5-year old [and yelled her entire name] was left by her grandmother at the Y. If I wanted to kidnap [insert kids name], I could walk to the counter right now and say, "I'm here to pickup [kid]. She's five." and these juvenile reps would probably let her go. NOT COOL. End Update 06/07/18 I love the YMCA OVERALL, but this Y is subpar, especially related to neighboring Y's. The only reason I'm not cancelling my membership during the 30 day trial is because of the other Ys. I've been to Salem, Greater Boston, West suburban, and they've all been impressive, even without extra amenities like hot tubs. This Y has a hot tub, but it can be randomly and inexplicably closed after you've battled traffic for 45 minutes thinking about the tub. No one here seems to know what customer service is. They can't replace the machine wipe-down towels without a maintenance person. They don't enforce any rules (cameras and phones used in the bathroom; people with rashes all over their body using the hot tub and doing veritable yoga in it; music with offensive lyrics on the building's system. etc.). Hot tub water is SUPER chlorinated (should be brominated) and burns eyes from just being in it. They have HUGE speed bumps that will destroy your car if you're not SUPER careful, and HUGE crowds in a hurry that ride your butt all the way out to the road. The daycare looks good. The showers and men's locker looks like it goes all day without a cleaning. Walls are stained. Tissues, dust, and discarded things in lockers. Where this Y is good, they do well, but on everything else requiring a modicum of attention, effort, or enforcement, they fall down, I suspect because the staff is so young and inexperienced. I even submitted an application to volunteer and never heard from them (and don't really trust that my private information isn't sitting on a desk somewhere in the open). The Away at the Y program makes membership worth it, though.