Planet Ice Reviews 

I recently attended the Gillingham ice rink. I paid for about five hours. About an hour in, I left and came back half an hour later. I didn't buy another ticket as this was inside the five hours that I already paid for.

A few days later I got a fine. I explained the situation and submitted my ticket. They said I still had to pay.

This is really bad. It a shame because the experience was actually okay. But this is totally unacceptable.

It is a very good place for people who know how to skate but not extremely well. The ice is solid and doesn't have many dents. Would come again with friends.

It was nice and quiet on the ice and there was plenty of room to practice skating and learn new things I highly recommend for both new and experienced skaters.

We have just been to the ultimate strongman competition and it was awful we were in block 9 and couldn’t understand a word the MC was saying the sound was so bad the lighting was awful we could only see the 2 events that were at our end of the arena because the lighting was so poor not helped by the build up of smoke from the pyrotechnics such a shame I would have enjoyed it so much if I could of actually seen and heard anything this was a problem expressed by everyone in block 9 also the parking is shocking

Booked a toddler set of skate sessions for my 3 year old grandaughter. On advert it says they get to use a penguin. First lesson of six was cancelled by them due to melted ice. Session 2 we attended absolutely no direction for first timers what was needwd . I.e gloves that came free with the sessions that were never offerwd at the desk. Got to the ive ,grandaughter very scared ,was asked is she penguin or level 1, i said penguin and was told we dont give out penguins as we want them to get confident themselves. Grandaighter offered strangers hand to hold to take her out to ice . Ahe refused became upset. No one bothered or trying to assist. In the end after 10 mins i left amd spoke to a girl on the desk, explained tge situation and was told its our policy not to refund, cant one of the other grandchildrwn do it. Eventually given an email address to complain, email sent same day ,no response. Messaged on Facebook and they just said no refund ,not even of the session cancelled by them. Emailed head office 4 weeks ago ,no reply. Avoid at all costs

Terrible experience with gillingham branch, take money, cancel session and cant supply a time for refind and need to chase them for it,
Also lessons have far too many people per lesson

They take your money, don't provide the service you have paid for and refuse to give you you're money back because of 'company policy'. Staff very unhelpful and at times down right rude with no complaints procedures. Shambles of a company.

Planet Ice great venues but be sure to book their excellent lessons if your a beginner.

Planet Ice Bristol is a money hungry, poor value for money experience which is clearly being run by managers who don’t care about customers. For the money you pay, you get less than expected in return and the management leave a bad taste in our mouths consistently. We spend around £100 a week between two of us and we’ll be looking for any way possible to reduce this as their lack of care to customers and customer experience isn’t worth the money we spend on them. Disappointing the management is ruining Bristols limited ice skating opportunity, we might as well not have a rink here.

Overcharged by Planet ice Hemel Hempstead , clearly asked for a family ticket to go skating with our youngster at the till and got charged individually for each person the full price, didn’t notice till I got the receipt, bizarrely operates a no refund policy slapped straight in your face at the till, so we didn’t even bother asking for the difference back! We’re regulars here also which makes it much worse, calculated behaviour definitely as it was the manager who served us and definitely knows the prices/policies, unbelievable outrageous deviant behaviour!!!

I would give this place zero stars if I could. The experience was a disaster from the moment we pulled into the car park.
​The Parking:
Good luck trying to actually pay for your stay. The Parkonomy app they use is a total joke—it’s glitchy, counter-intuitive, and feels like it was designed to fail just so they can hit you with a fine. On top of that, the prices are extortionate for what is essentially a pothole-filled lot. It’s a blatant cash grab before you’ve even stepped through the door.
​The Staff:
I have never encountered a more miserable, unhelpful group of people. The staff acted like me being there was a personal insult to their day. No one wants to help, no one knows what’s going on, and if you ask a simple question, you’re met with eye-rolls and attitude. It’s clear they don’t want to be there, and frankly, after five minutes, neither did I.
​The Equipment:
If you don't have your own skates, don't bother. The rental skates are in a disgusting state—they’re worn out, offer zero support, and smell like they haven’t been cleaned since the rink opened. They were so uncomfortable I had to cut my session short because my feet were in agony.
​The whole place feels run-down, dirty, and poorly managed. Save your money and go literally anywhere else. This place is a disgrace to Milton Keynes.

Planet ice Basingstoke. Charged £50 then charged £7 for the penguin aid and then asked to swap to a different aid and told we would have to pay again even after only having of for less than 2 minutes basically forcing us to pay again knowing that our child could not skate without it

I booked birthday skating for my daughter however came down with the high risk flu strain confirmed by my GP. I rang 3 times and emailed to attempt to re-arrange however I had not brought the additional transfer package [was well when booked]. Feedback from the manager would not allow me to transfer the date despite the public health risk to children attending. I informed them I have active flu and they were willing to put the public at risk with this knowledge despite the high risk to paediatric hospital admissions. As a public health nurse I have lost the money for my daughters birthday treat and the company prioritised money over public health. I warned them of the risk of exposure to families attending and they were happy to ignore this and put others at risk.

The kids had fun but was overpriced. And there was no where got hem to get something to eat as no cash only card. Which they didn't have, not everyone has!
You can hire skater support to help stand but only for a hour. We won't be returning

Awful place £40 for two children. Give them both £10 each for food and drink which they returned with as cashless. Kids won’t be returning. They enjoyed but it’s expensive and cash only they don’t want money they won’t get it. Not a problem

Absolutely shocking!!!!!! customer service.
I accidentally booked the wrong location (Basingstoke instead of Altrincham) due to my advanced dyslexia, and even after explaining the situation in detail, they refused to help in any way.

This was supposed to be my birthday celebration, planned for weeks. All my friends rearranged their schedules, one even cancelled a trip just to be there for me — and now I will be spending my birthday at home because they refused a simple location change.

I wasn’t asking for a refund, just to move the booking to the correct rink. The policy is clearly more important to them than basic human decency or compassion.

I will never book with them again and I strongly advise others to be extremely careful — if you make even the smallest mistake, they will take your money and refuse to correct anything. Zero empathy, zero flexibility, zero customer care.

My children have been taking skating lessons at Planet Ice Altrincham for over a year. The coaches are fantastic, but unfortunately, the admin and communication are terrible.

They once changed our class time with no notice. We only found out after waiting by the rink for 30 minutes, with no mention at reception. On two other occasions, I was told I hadn’t paid even though I’m on Direct Debit — instead of checking their own records, they asked me to prove it.

The reception staff even the general manager are unhelpful, which makes it even more frustrating. It’s a real shame because this is the only rink in the area offering skating lessons, so families have little choice.

The coaches truly do their best, but poor management and disorganised systems completely let them down.

We took two granddaughters to planet ice,
Altrinchan,
Not a great experience, the whole building needs a lot of money spending on a major refurbishment,
I would as far to say it is grotty and not clean ,
The gentleman’s toilets are a disgrace,
No check or signatures on the sheet pined on the door.
Did not expect high quality food , but very little that was on the menu was not available,
Cafe area not clean and not tidied at any time we were there ,( 3 hours).
We have been to ice rinks in the past, realising it can be cold, but never as cold as it was on this day
No heating in any shape or form for spectators
Our experience was not a pleasant one
Will not be returning

Basingstoke ice rink opened up last night for the first game of the Bison ice hockey team. If this is a refurbishment, I think it looked better before they did the so-called upgrade. Paint peeling, atrocious toilet facilities, that were outside basically nothing look like it had changed apart from maybe a coat of paint here in there. If they want to get people back to watch ice hockey this is not gonna do it.

I took seven kids and two adults skating in October for a birthday party. We took two separate cars and parked at the front of the main doors. Skating alone was over £160 and we were there for about 90 minutes.

A week later I received TWO parking charge letters for £100 each. I had assumed - wrongly - that customer parking would be free and the enforcement was only there to stop people who were going to Elland Road for the football. When we walked into the reception it was quiet and no signs anywhere to warn customers about the charges. A simple sign saying 'Have you paid?' costs nothing.

I called Planet Ice to see if they could assist. I have done this before with other retailers where you can prove you were a genuine customer (via a receipt) and it was a simple mistake. The retailer who owns the car park can - and usually will - cancel the parking charge.

The lady on the phone was unhelpful to the point of being rude. 'It's not our car park' is a ridiculous response when it is quite clear the car park only exists to servce the rink. They coulldn't have cared less. For them to distance themselves from the parking enforcement people who manage their own car park is absolutely shameful.

I will 100% never go again and will also make a point of telling others about these rip off merchants.