Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  06/30/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  June 30th 2023 Two adults and one child go to the aquarium and Ferris wheel for a birthday experience. They purchased the combined tickets and were never told that the Ferris wheel may close due to heat even though the temperature was at 97 degrees. The Ferris wheel was non operational due to heat. When they attempted to get a refund for the ferris wheel they were told it’s not refundable. They said that they could not wait for the Ferris wheel to “cool off” and open back up because of the outside temperature and no time was given as to when it would re open. They were told they could come back another day. They knowingly took the money $95, when the wheel wasn’t working. This is theft. Complained to the supervisor, ******, who proceeded to claim there is a statement that the purchase is non refundable. That is not true. No where does it say the purchase is non refundable. Not on the ticket and not on the website. Attachments Receipt- only one receipt for one adult is attached. The other receipt was discarded prior to incident. Ticket-

  Business response

  07/19/2023

  The wheel was open at the time the ticket was purchased, but had closed later in the afternoon due to extreme heat.  When ****** ******* daughter returned and informed us that the wheel was closed we refunded the value of the ticket at that time with a gift card. 

  Customer response

  07/19/2023

  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  
  On June 30, 2023, we were forced to accept a gift card because we were told that the tickets were non- refundable.  We did not want a gift card.  We were sold a ticket for something that we could not use and wanted our money back.  The supervisor at the aquarium was incredibly rude and dishonest. He claimed there was a disclosure on the ticket that it was non-refundable.    There were no disclosures any where that the tickets were non-refundable.  No sign, no explanation, no nothing.  Had a disclosure on the ticket actually existed, that would be useless because a patron would have no opportunity to read that disclosure prior to purchasing said ticket.  In addition, the WHEEL was closed.  It wasn’t as if we just decided not to go on it.  It was closed.  So why would the ticket br sold to an attraction that wasn’t open 
  

  Subsequently, the manager at the WHEEL contacted us and said they would give us a refund. Apparently there is a different management team at the AQUARIUM vs the WHEEL.  We appreciate the follow up of that manager to help us find a reasonable resolution.  The management team for the aquarium is subpar and I would urge consumers to  avoid the aquarium ticket counter for that reason. Dishonest and no service.  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ****** ******

• Initial Complaint

  07/26/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  A purchase of $129 with order ************** was made unauthorized on 7-25-22. I contacted St. Louis aquarium at Union Station regarding a refund. The tickets are for 8-1-22. They have refused to refund my money and want to swap dates. I don’t plan on going to St. Louis! If I can’t get this settled with a refund I will consider taking it to small claims!

  Business response

  08/05/2022

  Thank you for informing us of Mr. *******’s concerns with their purchased tickets. Mr. ******* reached out to us via email on 7/25/22 to inform us that he was unable to make it for his reservation on 8/1 and requested a refund. We responded and offered Mr. ******* the opportunity to exchange his tickets and rebook his reservation for another day, as our tickets are non-refundable. We also offered to place the purchase amount on a gift card, which would not expire and be able to be used at any point in the future. We did not receive a response to our reply.

   

  We were able to locate the order in question in our ticketing system and found that the contact information used to purchase the tickets is the same as the information used to file this claim. We feel that in no way was the purchase unauthorized. We would be happy to honor our offer to issue a gift card, but unfortunately are unable to refund the purchase.

   

  Thank you for the opportunity to respond.

  ******** ****** ********** *******

  *** ***** ******** ** ***** ******* *** ** **** ****** ***** ****** ** ***** ***************************

  Customer response

  08/05/2022

  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because: I did not approve the order! I really doubt we will visit this aquarium at any time due to the response we have received! I will make it clear to my family and friends not to visit this aquarium and to visit elsewhere! Hopefully this business won’t last too long or hopefully get ran under new leadership! 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***** *******

• Initial Complaint

  03/17/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  My family was gifted an annual pass 12/20. The order# is **************; was purchased on 12/21/20. The purchaser was told that one benefit to gifting a pass was that it didn't activate until the 1st visit. My family wasn't able to visit until 01/15/22. Upon my intial visit, I tried to activate our pass. I was told that it expired 12/21. I said that I didn't understand how when it wasn't supposed to be activated until my 1st visit. They apologized&said that something happened&it was accidentally activated upon purchase, but they could see what could be done. A manager came over. She went into a back room, came back out&said that all she could do was extend the pass by 3 months. They took our pictures&printed our passes. Afterwards I sent an email with my complaint to **** *****. I was told "An annual pass is considered activated when you set the pass up with photos and printed cards. Our records do show that you activated the pass in December 2020 so it would have expired December 31, 2021.* I said what happened coincides with the statement she just gave me, as we did not set the pass up with photos & printed cards until our first visit in 01/2022. She then replied saying, "I apologize for misstating but you do not need photos to activate, just pass cards.* She did include the confirmation email that was sent to me. I will admit that I didn't not read the email in it's entirety, as the subject was "Order #XX* & began with confirming the order & order number, so I just assumed it was a confirmation email & you show that upon your first visit. I saved it in a folder&showed this email upon my first visit. I'm frustrated as they can see that I did not visit at all until 01/2022. I was under the impression&it was even reiterated to me that the pass didn't become activated until you set it up with pictures&the physical pass; then she backtracked on that statement. It shows in their system I didn't visit prior&feel that my pass should honored as I had never visited prior.

  Business response

  03/28/2022

  Thank you for letting us know that Ms. ****** is disappointed regarding the annual pass. When Ms. ****** received the confirmation email for the passes on 12/21/20, the first line of the email states “You can use these pass numbers starting today to reserve your visit date and time!” indicating that the passes are active. All of our annual passes expire one year later at the end of the month the pass was purchased, which gave Ms. ****** an additional 10 days to use the passes.

   

  When Ms. ****** arrived at the Aquarium in January 2022, she was informed that the passes had expired. Since we could see she had never visited during the year her pass was active, and since Ms. ****** was obviously upset, we did extend the pass by three months.

   

  We are sorry that Ms. ****** did not take advantage of the annual pass, but the Aquarium has been open every day from December 21, 2020 through today, which covers the original year plus her three month extension.

   

  As I said in my original email to Ms. ******, if she can show us where we mistakenly posted that passes do not start until the guest’s first visit, we would honor the full year and we would correct our mistake. However, we have not heard from Ms. ****** with this information.

   

  Thank you again for the opportunity to respond.

   

  **** *****

  Executive Director

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩