The Wave Reviews 

Muddy car park bring you wellies, when it rains it’s a mud bath not good experience when arriving, the facility management not interested in sorting it out. Had recent advanced surf there the wave was sloppy and small waste of money, after the first few warm up sets felt like the settings were not turned up mentioned to wave maker but were not interested to busy chatting to colleagues when session was on?.

Waves have become smaller since they went all eco. Few years back the advanced plus was chest to head high in places, now it’s just over waist high. Normal advanced is no different to intermediate level, very slow and about knee to waist high. Okay if you’re bored in the summer and need something to do but you’d probably have more fun surfing Bournemouth pier for free when it’s onshore.

Shame they are supporting immigrant getting over their fears of the sea rather than supporting British people who can’t afford to get help or the cost of The Wave lessons

We had our company meeting at The Wave, yesterday with a beginners surf lesson for our group at the end of the day.
Our coach, Sam, was excellent and gave everyone confidence to make the most of our time in the water. Nick was also in the water giving us help and tips as we needed it.
A really enjoyable day. Thank you.

Within the prescribed hours (09h00 - 17h00), I've tried to call The Wave on at least 8 occasions in the last 4 days. Either the phone line closes early or my calls just weren't answered.
I love the Wave but Customer Service levels like this, especially when they advertise their number for calls, are woeful......

Amazing day at the wave in Bristol. My mum got me a voucher last Christmas and I used it today for myself and my son to have lessons. Really enjoyed it! Instructors were great and whole process was great. Was a glitch when trying to book but I phoned and they sorted it out.

A great facility but the tent lodges allow the easy transmission of noise . This must surely reduce repeat bookings . We were kept awake untill 2am by noisy neighbours despite two visits by security. Why not have quite areas of the camp or ask the ages when booking ? PS waited 15 minutes at breakfast only to recieve a cold coffee which was meant to be hot .

I am writing to express my profound disappointment with your handling of our recent request to reschedule our stay.

My husband was involved in an accident, and we were willing to provide a doctor's note as evidence. Despite this, your team rigidly enforced the seven-day notice policy and refused to accommodate our request. We did not ask for a refund, merely to reschedule our stay due to this unexpected emergency.

It is unacceptable that your policy does not consider emergencies that can occur within the seven-day window. This lack of flexibility and understanding is extremely frustrating and reflects poorly on your commitment to customer care.

Additionally, after reading through the Trustpilot reviews, it is clear that many customers have faced similar issues and have expressed their dissatisfaction. It is time for you to take this feedback seriously and address the shortcomings in your policy.

Your unwillingness to accommodate us in an emergency situation is disappointing and has left a negative impression. We will not recommend you or come back.

We stayed overnight and although the campsite and glamping set up was cool, nicely set out etc. we were disappointed in the overall customer service and the overinflated price of staying onsite.
We were drawn to the eco friendly outlook of the wave yet paying approx £130 a night seemed pricey for the lack of services provided. We arrived and the toilets/showers for guests (though signposted for campers only were being used by all surfers) and were filthy, the next morning I couldn’t shower my toddler or use the toilets as they hadn’t been cleaned/no toilet paper etc. quite shocking to not have basic cleaning provided for £130 a night!
Our tent was fine, not the cleanest (we found other people’s toiletries under the bed and dust all over the floor), we also had to remove all our own rubbish which you had to walk back out the campsite to dispose off. Seemed a lot of staff walking around but not actually providing the basic facilities usually provided? No discount on surfing for staying at the site so a pretty pricey stay. Won’t be staying again.

Everyone is friendly and it's a great place to spend the day.

Downsides: It's expensive and a hassle to walk from the car park to the site.

We were bought a voucher but were never in the area so not able to use within the 12 month limit.
NO flexibility when we tried to extend.
What a shame they cannot put customers before their bottom line, obviously not the community focused company that they try to portray, just happy to take your money and use the small print to avoid giving you what you've paid for.

Crooks. Their website will not accept the voucher code purchased just 7 months ago. I have phoned 3 times, each time listening to musak for 30 minutes with no one picking up. No replies to emails.

My friends and I visited The Wave for the first time this week. Joe was our instructor and he was absolutely brilliant! I have been dabbling with surfing for over 20 years and have always struggled with 'popping up'. Joe gave excellent coaching around technique for this which made it so much easier. As a woman being in the surf can be a little intimidating as we are often still in the minority. It was inspiring to see other women of all abilities enjoing sessions at The Wave. Love that their are loads of women on the staff team and also in images across the website. Thanks for a great day. We'll definitely go again :)

I surfed for 12 sessions during 4 consecutive days: intermediate and advanced. The wave is OK - very nice take-off - fun start section but then messy middle one to pass and then a short one - in all a bit short and disappointing. I enjoyed the constant paddling back in contrast to Snowdonia, where you stop and wait between waves.

It is a very good opportunity to test gear or an alternative to the ocean - one not to miss.

Staff are overall nice - and restaurant and shop good.

However, who in their right mind would place the parking 10-15 min. walk away from the very place?
I learned a long boring story about the permission of land bla bla bla etc. - fair enough.
But why not put in a shuttle to and from? Or let customers with lot of luggage unload their cars and then park outside?
If you go there for one day and are renting all your gear - then all good, no worries.
But if you have travelled to UK by plane and then end up here with your board(-s or longboard) and wetsuit(s) etc luggage in order to do 12 sessions - and you have to do the “walk of shame” to and from every day during 4 days (stayed at nearby hotel as the in-house tents are for 6-8 people), then you get time to think about the arrogance of the signs along the walking path saying:” this is your warm up” !!!
I dont mind carrying load or making an effort for getting to a surf spot - but here you are paying a considerable price per session.

I had a talk with the manager about the situation, which he seemed to understand and made an exception to let my board stay overnight - however next day I found it lying around and was told by a staff member that the arrangement was off and the manager not present.

No morals.
Finally got round to leaving this review this goes back to lockdowns In 2020/21 Couldnt make it to the wave as they were shut and would not honour the voucher I was gifted as a present.
Basically they stole £50 from a vulnerable person.

No help from staff/instructors, overcrowded sessions, 1 hour Waikiki session will only get you 6 waves. Only worthwhile if you are doing expert session or an under-booked session.

I had a beginners lesson and it was awesome. It was a safe and friendly atmosphere. All the staff were approachable. The coaches were excellent and attentive. I will definitely go back and recommend it to anyone.

I feel that the 7 day cancellation period is excessive. Things happen in life and I couldn't go to a session due to injury. The Wave is so popular and theu could easily fill my spot. It's just a way to rinse people and so I don't rate their customer service at all.

Absolutely rubbish!!! Dont waste your money if you can actually surf. Full of kooks with no abilities, falling on most waves, making other people wait because they cant surf at the level needed to be in an expert session. The staff are so useless, some kooks stand on the top and do absolutely nothing. No point having people who have no idea how to surf trying to control a session. I was dropped in on after a person missed his wave and the Staff said nothing. Clearly, this company is a bunch of useless people who have no idea about surfing trying to regulate a surfing session without experience. This facility is set up for beginners if you can actually surf then you're better off spending £65 going to the coast. I can not wait for more to open up as this one is such a pathetic excuse.

I was gifted a £50 surf voucher shortly before the first COVID lockdown in March 2020. Due to this and a subsequent shoulder injury last year, I wasn't able to book my beginner surf session until now (April 2022).
 
However, The Wave have refused to honour my voucher because they only extended COVID affected gift certificates to December 2021.
 
I wasn't given any means to try to rectify the situation, such as the option to pay a maintenance fee in order to redeem it. They just apologised that I had lost my £50, and they 'hoped to see me at The Wave soon'. A reputable company would generally offer some sort of resolution in order to appease it’s custom. Especially a company so young, trying to establish it’s reputation. Especially when they already have our money. Especially when we’ve just endured 2 years of unprecedented uncertainty and difficulty nationwide.
 
It's a real shame, and a bit short sighted I think.
 
I had intended to visit The Wave several times this year in order to learn the basics of surfing. I'd also hoped to take my little nephew there. All of which is now lost revenue to them, since on principle I wont be visiting now.
 
I don't really understand why gift certificates expire, or why The Wave cannot exercise a little discretion, given the extenuating circumstances of the past 2 years. This just leaves a sour taste and a negative review, something I would have thought a fairly infant business like this would strive to avoid.
 
Really disappointed :( I hope The Wave puts my £50 to good use given it won’t be used to give me a dabble in the surf.
 
I can't comment on any other aspects of The Wave as I haven't been able to go, but it looks like an amazing facility. Reviews on here are mixed and on balance it’s rated ‘average’. I guess that speaks for itself. I’ve also noticed I’m not the only one to loose out because of surf vouchers. Easy money I guess.