Virgin Active

Reviews

• NB

  Natalie Roop Bonnett

  May 9, 2026
  1.0
  I wrote my original review 2+ years ago with TLDR of "great local management, awful customer service from the VA HQ". Well, sadly VA managed to drag the local team down to the level of customer service that the HQ provides. They replaced senior management with people who are so incredible unskilled/inept, it is almost comical. Not only is the new manager, Sophie, bad at actually running the club, she (and her righthand man Spike) are also incapable (or unwilling) to provide even a semblance of customer service when they mess things up. Sharing feedback with Sophie was like talking to a wall and actually left me even more angry than before. Her response to each of the issues I brought up was "well, we have 2800 happy members", "this is how it is in T&Cs" and "don't think about what we did wrong, think of all the times you were happy before". She also lied about what actually happened - rather than taking responsibility and fixing problems. I have zero confidence that she can resolve any kind of issue - or maybe she doesn't want to and she's counting that not all of her 2800 members will leave. So it used to be that club management was professional, friendly and skilled problem-solvers. Now both the club management is incapable AND there is no way to escalate anything - Sophie made it very clear that she is the ultimate instance and there is no one else who would want to hear about members' experiences. Such a shame. ORIGINAL REVIEW: While everyone who works at the club is absolutely fantastic (the manager Elsa is brilliant and highly effective, the trainers are knowledgeable and friendly), the customer service of VA HQ is atrocious. They keep taking away whatever little autonomy the management has at the gym - not only does the HQ decide the class schedule, but now it's actually impossible to call the gym directly, all calls go to the central VA number where you are invited to wait on hold for 30 minutes. The gym would be a much better place if the location manager was given more power to decide how to run it, what classes to offer on what schedule, etc. I had 3 concerns over the past year that were beyond the scope of the physical club - 2 of them had to do with the botched rollout of the new app and the bugs associated with it - and the customer service just kept ignoring my emails or telling me that I'm lying. The gym should be a positive for mental health, not a negative. The awful customer service from the HQ is almost hard to believe. They prefer to see four members in one household cancel rather than solve a problem with their app/system. Virgin Active, when your customers tell you something, do believe them!
• OZ

  Oleh Zavorotnykov

  May 9, 2026
  1.0
  terrible customer service, avoid
• VR

  Valentina De La Rossa

  Apr 29, 2026
  1.0
  Only 1 star given for the friendliness of the staff and the PT knowledge. However, from a Senior/Management perspective Virgin Active are extremely poor and have mishandled several of my personal situations. Be careful with what you are sold in-branch vs. what is offered in contract - it will likely be wildly different. Communications, as they admit, have been incorrect (and different to spoken to what is in writing). There are wider education issues from senior team mean that mean staff misguide prospective members/existing members about offers. Their contracts are not in line with UK consumer legislation so I would proceed with caution.
• MH

  Mia Hill

  Apr 25, 2026
  1.0
  I’m pretty appalled with the customer service at Virgin Active. It doesn’t reflect the level you’d expect given the cost of membership. It feels like the focus is on getting people signed up, and then defaulting to terms and conditions when issues come up, rather than actually resolving them. On top of that, the club itself doesn’t match the price point. Cleanliness around the gym floor and machines needs attention, and a number of the machines feel outdated. The manager, Sophie Twist, was also less than helpful when trying to resolve what should have been a straightforward issue. Looking at other reviews, it’s clear this isn’t a one-off experience, which makes it even more frustrating
• SF

  Savannah F

  Apr 24, 2026
  1.0
  The customer service experience has been disappointing and needs significant improvement. I won’t go into the full detail here, but I would advise others to be cautious when signing up with Virgin Active, as additional charges can arise, and in my experience, there has been little flexibility when issues occur — even where the fault does not appear to sit with the customer. I have been in contact with the General Manager and am still waiting on a response to what is, in essence, a straightforward issue. As a paying customer, I would expect a timely reply, and I’m struggling to understand why it has taken over three weeks without resolution.

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