SAN DIEGO — Some SeaWorld annual pass holders said they were unknowingly charged for their renewal membership by the theme park.
A viewer contacted the CBS 8 team and asked us to investigate complaints made against SeaWorld about their auto renewal membership policy.
“I felt like SeaWorld is stealing my money,” said John McCough, Chula Vista father.
CBS 8 contacted John McGough after he recently posted a scathing review on Yelp about unknowingly being charged $650 for 4 annual passes.
He bought the passes on Black Friday in 2021 and last week his bank statement showed he was charged again.
McGough and many others posted their grievances on Yelp and the Better Business Bureau about being charged to renew their passes.
“I never received any emails about any type of or consent to them, deducting my account for the auto renewals,” said McGough.
Another woman named Wendy posted on Yelp about being charged nearly $300. She Zoomed with CBS 8 from Los Angeles.
“I called them, this is super bad, they said it we cannot refund you. We can cancel your [membership] next year. I told them I have never seen anything that shows I'm going to renew,” said Wendy.
CBS 8 went through the online process of buying an annual membership and found in small print “more details” and in more fine print it says that members are opted into an auto renewal and embeds a link to Terms and Conditions.
“They should be very clear transparency, when they're when they're signing up, it should say, 'hey, this is going to auto renew', they should get that acknowledgement,” said Miro Copic.
The marketing professor at San Diego State University says the California's auto renewal law was recently amended.
In July 2022, it went into effect that annual members must be notified within 15-45 days prior to being charged for a renewal membership.
“I checked all my emails, there's no emails, there's no phone calls, there's no letters,” said McGough.
In many of the BBB complaints involving auto renewal practices, SeaWorld responded that they refunded the customer.
CBS8 e-mailed SeaWorld who did not answer questions about its auto renewal terms and practices.
However, after putting them on alert, the theme park is now helping McGough.
“We apologize for any inconvenience the customer may have experienced, we are working with the guest to promptly address this situation as quickly as possible.”
Customers hope SeaWorld will change its practices.
“I think SeaWorld needs to be more transparent,” said McGough.
You can file a complaint with the BBB by clicking here.
The office for Attorney General Rob Bonta did not comment about the state’s auto renewal laws or SeaWorld’s practices but sent a link to the state’s law.
At CBS 8, we are always Working for You and our San Diego community. If there is something you would like us to investigate, please share your idea here or email us at workingforyou@cbs8.com.
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