Tourist Attractions
SeaWorld San DiegoThis business is NOT BBB Accredited.
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Complaints
Customer Complaints Summary
- 259 total complaints in the last 3 years.
- 67 complaints closed in the last 12 months.
If you've experienced an issue
Submit a ComplaintThe complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. 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.
Initial Complaint
Date:07/07/2025
Type:Billing IssuesStatus:UnansweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
Have had problems with my SeaWorld annual pass account for 2 years now charging my credit card on file for old, 2022 outdated passes that are still listed as "ON HOLD FOR PAYMENT" on my account. ********************** tries to charge me full price every year and... I have called each year to request SeaWorld remove these from my account then they charge me full price anyway. My credit card notifies me of this fraudulent charge, which then makes my credit card unusable because I say no, I didn't authorize these charges. 2nd year in a row this has happened! I was also charged for my new passes I bought using the 4th of July Buy 1 get 1 free sale, but they are not in my account. I called and spoke with someone today who was no help.I then asked for a manager - (Manager Name-**** V-**************** Manager-*******) who said "Sorry can't seem to remove those old passes and SeaWorld won't honor the July 4th sale that I clearly bought and have pending charges for. He said I would have to pay $120.00 more for the same passes because the website was not working and sending error messages. He then told me he would make a note to refund my credit card for the cheaper passes so that he could charge me ******* recap...after not honoring my multiple attempts to buy my passes during the July 4th sale for $120.00 less money, he also still did not remove the old ************************************ my account which will probably produce fraudulent full price charges to my credit card again next year. And the final insult after talking to the Supervisor today, I now have (6) annual gold passes instead of (3) on my account with HOLDS on them to be fraudulently charged full price on the next renewal date!! I really assumed SeaWorld would apologize for my inconvenience, remove the OLD...NO LONGER USED, ON HOLD PASSES and honor the July 4th sale price. Boy was I wrong! Customer BEWARE!! Worst **************** of any company I have ever dealt with. And that's saying a lot!!Initial Complaint
Date:07/07/2025
Type:Product IssuesStatus:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
Complaint:SeaWorld San Diego charged my credit card for an annual membership renewal through their EZ Pay program without sending me any advance notice, email reminder, or proactive communication. I did not authorize this charge, nor was I aware that my card would be charged again.When I contacted SeaWorld immediately after noticing the charge, I explained that I had no intention of renewing and had not been given an opportunity to cancel. Their customer service team responded by referencing terms and conditions on their website, but they did not acknowledge the lack of advance notice or the poor user experience that made it extremely difficult to cancel ********* my view, this charge constitutes an unauthorized auto-renewal and is inconsistent with fair consumer billing practices. Many reputable companies send a reminder email prior to renewal to ensure customers are informed and have the option to cancel. SeaWorld failed to do so.I am requesting a full refund of the auto-renewal charge and written confirmation that my membership has been canceled and will not renew again in the future.Supporting documentation, including my communication with SeaWorld and their refusal to issue a refund, is attached.Business Response
Date: 07/07/2025
Refund was processed and passes were cancelled. please allow 21 business days for this to be effectiveInitial Complaint
Date:06/24/2025
Type:Product IssuesStatus:ResolvedMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
On Friday June 20, 2025 I purchased two gift cards from the Sea World web site totaling $900.00 for a coworker to use toward annual passes for his family. When my coworker went to the park on Sunday with his family to purchase the passes and enter the park he was told he could not use the gift cards for park admission. I requested a refund from Sea World for the gift cards and they referred me to their 3rd party vendor. This Vendor has rejected my request for a refund. When i asked Sea World to assist with the refund they said there is nothing they can do as I purchased from a third party vendor. I did not, I purchased from Sea World and if they want to use a third party vendor for the transaction that is on them, not me, I bought from their website. I bought the gift cards from Sea World for use at Sea World and for them to refuse to accept the cards has to be false advertising since the card was advertised on the Sea World website.Business Response
Date: 07/06/2025
Hello, apologies for the confusion. You are able to use the gift cards to purchase tickets. We have also tried to contact you via phone and email but have fail to hear back.Initial Complaint
Date:06/19/2025
Type:Product IssuesStatus:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
Yes your agent got confused on my order I kept telling my one day handicap parking ticket so he said you want to park up front and I said yes so I guess only 65 dollar parking ticket when I get to the park I find out that there was plenty of hand to get parking it I got paid for which I feel I should get a refund on it being handicapped after all he just got confused or that was the only option I get for I didn't understand correctlyBusiness Response
Date: 06/26/2025
We would process the refund for the parking, please allow 21 to 30 business days for the refund to be effective.Initial Complaint
Date:06/12/2025
Type:Service or Repair IssuesStatus:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
Hello,I was charged for an automatic renewal of Seaworld annual pass for *********. I did not intend it to be renewed. I had called Seaworld at the time and I was told that I was being refunded for the amount and my passes were made immediately disabled. But I was never credited the refund. I had called Seaworld a few times last year regarding refund and I was always told that it will be credited back, but it was never completed. Nowadays when ever I try to call Seaworld help line the wait time is over 45mins. I request you to look at this as a serious concern and provide my refund immediately.Order number is *************** and Pass barcodes are A517 ***** ***** ***** and A767 ***** ***** *****.Business Response
Date: 06/26/2025
Passes have been refunded and are currently not active. Please allow 21 to 30 business days for the refund to be effective.Initial Complaint
Date:05/28/2025
Type:Product IssuesStatus:UnansweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
I cancelled the auto-renewal of a membership pass in August of 2024, and they charged me $15.75 nine times since then. They only now just allowed me to cancel the payments online (I had to do it on the phone previously, so I have no record of that), even though I was out of my contracted time to pay them in August of 2023, and called to cancel in August of 2024. I have requested my money to be refunded in full (all $141.75 of it) and have yet to get a response from them, and every time I call I get put on hold until it hangs up on its own. My contract with them was paid in full on August 18, 2023, so according to the terms and conditions, I should have been allowed to cancel it online, but it wouldnt let me, so I had to call. My pass number with them is listed below.Initial Complaint
Date:05/27/2025
Type:Order IssuesStatus:UnansweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
I booked seaworld tickets for three people in march 2024. I travelled to ************************** but it was raining and flooding that day in sandiego and could not visit the park and stayed in hotel.The seaworld order number : *************** I was able to reach the park number. After a few attempts, they reissued any day tickets with the following numbers in jun 2024 with one year extension . I called them in may 2025 just to verify before planning a long weekend trip. The long weekend is over now but I still could not get help from them.However when I called them in early may 2025 at their customer service number **************. They said they could not find them in their new database and asked to send email to ******************************************** After multiple emails sent starting from may 16th, I got a response with a request to send the tickets again. I attached them in first mail as well. However I resent tickets . After mutiple queries, they verified and aksed me which dates to rebook the tickets. I replied with multiple days and also requested to issue new any day tickets if it is an option. I still did not get reply even after multiple replies to that mail.I am not sure what is going on, and whether I can visit the partk directly with those any day tickets with bar codes, or they need to reissue tickets with new the barcoces, or what is going on.Initial Complaint
Date:05/24/2025
Type:Service or Repair IssuesStatus:ResolvedMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
Better Business Bureau:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me. I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.
Regards,
***** N
Business Response
Date: 05/30/2025
Apologies for the inconvenience. The extended hour that day was for the pass member preview. I have sent an email to provide further help.Initial Complaint
Date:05/19/2025
Type:Product IssuesStatus:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
Unsure of the exact date credit card statement said may 16 2025 no receipt or notice. seaworld has predatory charging practices without notice, no customer service only people you can get ahold of is to purchase tickets and then they hang up on you. Someone needs to refund my money.Business Response
Date: 05/22/2025
Refund was submitted, please allow 21 to 30 business days. Passes have been cancelled.Initial Complaint
Date:05/15/2025
Type:Product IssuesStatus:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
I wanted to cancel the renewal of my subscription. I was not provided with any advance information about renewal nor given any other opportunity to cancel the renewal. The renewal happened on 2nd May (I was out of country from 1 May to 10th May) and I filed my complaint on 14th May 2025. I have not used the services of this program between the renewal period and today. The tickers are ****** ************** (A958848184793292531) (*******) and ********* ****** (A572180262397372420) (*******). I was charged $648.90 on May 2nd 2025. Please help escalate the issue and order a refund. Thank you. ****** KBusiness Response
Date: 05/22/2025
Refund has been submitted, please allow 21 to 30 business days for the refund. The passes have been cancelled.
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