Correspondence Started 21.5.04 Continued

From:  Christine Coppack    cc: Rez Cameron 
Sent: Tuesday, May 25, 2004 4:24 PM
To: paul.burns@btinternet.com
Cc:  Rez Cameron 
Subject: Vale Farm Sports Centre 21/05/04  Ref :Service request  SP77144

Dear Mr Burns,

Thank you for your e-mail of the 21st May highlighting service issues.  In response :-

1.  As per my e-mail of the 18th May; the pool is being vacuumed every night, but all pool vacs will only collect debris from the bottom of the pool.  Staff are continuing to spot check & scoop all other areas on a continual basis throughout opening hours.  Plasters can unfortunately be hard to locate from poolside, but we will endeavour to clear them as & when they are deposited by swimmers from early users & throughout the day.

2. Site opening 2 minutes late   -  I apologise if you ever experience a delay in opening the site at 6.30am.  Whilst we try our utmost to open exactly on time, there may be occasions when we actually unlock the doors a couple of minutes either way due to variances that can occur
with different staff member's watches. On checking the cctv coverage from the morning in question the first customer passed through the barriers at 6:29:53am

3. Site opening without a Duty Manager  -   The scheduled DM contacted staff members stating that he had contracted chickenpox. The site was fully covered by Paul O'Brian, who was at site from 5.30am & a highly respected member of the management team, he is trained and ready to step in as Duty Manager if and when the need arises.

Paul holds all the relevent qualifications :  Pool Plant Operator Certificate,
First Aid At Work, Competent Person. Site Health & Safety training plus years of experience in operations at Vale Farm.

On being notified, Lee the Operations Manager arrived at site at 7am to enable Paul to get on with his planned work for the day.

4. Staffing the gym  -  We have not at present changed out policy on the operation of Harpers, but we are in the process of reviewing our operation to run a combined service of employed & self-employed gym instructors offering a higher level of service via qualified fitness consultants, personal training and weight management programmes following feedback from our customers, Brent have been consulted with regard to our review.

I do hope this response answers your queries to your satisfaction. If I can be of any further assistance, or you would like to meet to discuss the above or any other issue, please contact me.

Regards  Christine Coppack,   Regional Operations Manager, London. (LC)

From: Paul Burns   Sent: Tuesday, May 25, 2004 8:50 PM
To: Christine Coppack    cc: Rez Cameron
Subject: RE: Vale Farm Sports Centre

 Dear Christine, thank you for your response to my email of May 21.

1) In relation to plasters, you mention "all pool vacs will only collect debris from the bottom of the pool. My experience of sticking plasters in swimming pools, while largely limited to Vale Farm, is still very extensive. I often have encountered rubbish floating between the surface and the floor at Vale Farm but plasters I have seen only on the bottom. Thus my original question remains - Does your pool vacuum cleaner have some difficulty picking up these items?

2) You say that a review of the security video tapes on May 21 showed the first customer entered before 6.30. Strange then that as I drove into the car park the 6.30 news on Radio 4 had already started. And even after parking I waited outside with others and our chatter included the fact that the centre was late opening. I think it more reasonable that Leisure Connection provide a reliable clock for the reception area rather than the BBC adapt to Vale Farm Mean Time. Argos sell a radio controlled wall clock for £8.45. Surely this is preferable to the variable watches of staff or the previously unreliable video tape time codes?

Two minutes late opening is nothing as a one off event. Your customers are sensitive to the issue because of the frequency with which opening has been delayed and the occasions when they have been forced to leave without getting the exercise they came for.

3) At 6.32 the receptionist apologised to the queue for the shortage of staff and said that there was no Duty Manager. As well as Paul O'Brien being qualified to provide cover the few staff who were present needed to know that Paul was acting as Duty Manager.

 I hope this won't be held against the Receptionist who I think is fairly new and was under pressure having to explain to one customer after another that she could not sell tickets without a computer and float and that there was no staff to cover the gym. Like most of the receptionists I have dealt with at Vale Farm she tries very hard to help us customers.

4) Let me rephrase my question about staffing the gym? Is it acceptable to Leisure Connection that people use the gym without a member of staff being present? If so, does your insurer accept this?

Any organisation can have a spate of absences that are unavoidable.  Again, Vale Farm customers are sensitive to this issue due to the frequency with which there are staff missing, leading to either the pool not being opened or the centre not being run as it should.

I would like to hear from Brent Council as to whether they have agreed to Vale Farm customers using the gym without a qualified member of staff being present.