Credit: SeaWorld San DiegoA Southern California theme park was put in the spotlight after an angered guest exposed an alleged years-long scam. Who is at fault in this unfortunate incident?
The Golden State is home to some of America’s best and most popular theme parks, from Knott’s Berry Farm to Six Flags Magic Mountain, SeaWorld San Diego, California’s Great America, Universal Studios Hollywood, and, of course, Disneyland Resort — Walt Disney’s original theme park in Anaheim, California.
With so many theme parks and experiences to choose from, it’s not hard to see why millions of families venture into California’s theme parks every year.
Unfortunately, one California theme park was recently put in hot water after an angry guest took to Reddit to expose an alleged years-long scam they had been victim of.
Redditor u/ChevChance posted about the alleged scam, commenting: “A few months ago I was gonna buy some seaworld passes for my kids, but didn’t care for autorenew, which seems like a total scam. Turns out SeaWorld has been autorenewing my wife’s pass for like 3 years without her realizing it, without any seaworld communications that she’d noticed. She’s tried phoning them, she was waiting on the phone for ages, presses the callback option but doesn’t get called back. I tried calling today with two different phones, same thing, no one actually calls back.”
The angered guest added, “How does Seaworld get away with this in California of all places? There must be a class action going on against SeaWorld for this kind of business practise, surely?”
Fellow Redditor u/Mojo141 commented that this alleged scam is not exclusive to California, as they know the same situation happens at SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida. “Complete and total scam and needs to stop,” added the angered Redditor.
While some Redditors sided with the original poster, commenting about their own experiences in trying to solve different problems by contacting SeaWorld customer service, others pointed out that this incident did not represent a scam and that the unpleasant situation was the result of the poster and their family’s carelessness.
Redditor u/thedeezul commented: “Its not a scam and its not their fault you or your wife don’t check your finances. The way the pass works is clearly stated when you buy it. If you do the monthly payments, it becomes more of a membership that you have to keep for a minimum of 12 months. To be honest I personally appreciate that I don’t have to deal with renewing my pass every year and can just keep it active without having to do anything with the option to cancel it at any time. Take responsibility for your mistake and cancel the pass and be done with it.”
Similarly, u/Tha-D commented: “wait, so lets say you have a netflix account you didnt know you were still paying for three years later, would you still call it a scam? you think netflix would refund you the money whether you used it or not? no! right? you’d do anything you can to get it to stop but you wouldnt actually think about getting any sort of compensation back, right?”
The original poster did not share additional details on their unpleasant experience, and it is unclear if a resolution for the incident has been reached.
Earlier this year, Disney was forced to pay millions in reparations after The Walt Disney Company was accused of deceptive business practices at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time SeaWorld San Diego has been in hot water. Inside the Magic has reported on the Southern California theme park avoiding over $12 million in debt and facing legal action from the City of San Diego.
What do you think about this incident? Share your opinion with Inside the Magic in the comments below!
Please note that the story outlined in this article is based on a personal SeaWorld theme park guest experience. No two guest experiences are alike, and this article does not necessarily align with Inside the Magic’s personal views on SeaWorld theme park operations.