Aaron

Apr 13, 2026

Be very careful before joining on a fixed-term membership.

This is the first review I have ever left, which is not something I thought I would do, but the overall experience was poor enough that I felt it was worth warning other people. I am leaving this review mainly as a warning to anyone thinking of joining Hale Country Club on a fixed-term membership. I received communication about a membership price increase and wanted to clarify how it applied to my existing fixed-term agreement. My position was simple from the start: I understood that I had signed a fixed-term contract, and if the club honoured the original agreed rate of £175 per month until the end of that contract, then I was prepared to continue on that basis and let the membership end at the correct time. What I did not agree to was being asked to enter into a new 12-month commitment just to keep the original rate during my existing contract period. What should have been a straightforward query turned into a long, frustrating chain of inconsistent emails. At different points, I was told: • that my agreement remained unchanged; • that the £175 monthly rate would be honoured for the remainder of my contract; • then that I would only keep that rate if I signed a new 12-month commitment; • and then later that no new 12-month contract was actually required after all. I was also told that their system would otherwise default my membership to £200 per month, and that they would need to manually adjust it to £175 each month. That may be their internal system issue, but it should have been dealt with properly and explained clearly from the start instead of being passed back and forth in contradictory emails. In the end, the matter was only resolved after repeated back-and-forth, with the club finally confirming in writing that my original rate would be honoured until the end of my contract, that I did not need to sign any new 12-month commitment, and that my membership would then end with no continuation beyond that point. To be fair, I did sign up to a fixed-term contract, so I accept that part. My issue is not simply that I was held to the contract. My issue is how difficult and unnecessarily confusing the membership process became when I tried to get a clear answer and arrange for the membership to end properly. What made it more frustrating is that the price increase was presented in the context of improvements to the club, yet in my own experience basic maintenance issues were still not being dealt with consistently. For example, the bubble massage chairs were rarely both working properly at the same time. The herbal sauna / herbal room was often difficult to tell whether it was even on. I also found the steam room door regularly did not shut properly unless it was slammed, which I was not comfortable doing given that it is glass, and I even saw people using a wet towel to try to keep it closed. As for the club itself, in my opinion the spa is nice enough, but it is nothing particularly special beyond being in a more premium area. For me personally, the overall experience no longer justified continuing to use it, and I reached the point where I did not even want to go anymore. My advice to anyone considering joining is to read the membership terms very carefully and be aware that if you join on a fixed-term membership, you may find the administration, communication, and exit process far more difficult than it should be. The club needs to improve its membership administration, communication, and handling of straightforward member queries, because that side of the experience reflects badly on the business.