Complaints

The 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:09/13/2024

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  UnresolvedMore 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.

  Weve been attending swim lessons at Seahorse Academy with our 4- and 3-year-old for a few months. During this time, our two kids have either had lessons at the same time or back-to-back, which worked well with our schedulemy wife would only need to be at the school for about ***** minutes. The school year schedule was supposed to be sent out last week. However, the day before it was released, the owners requested a ***** payment. We paid, but when the schedule came out, we were surprised to see our kids lessons were scheduled at different timessomething that doesnt work for us.We requested a schedule adjustment, but they responded with a patronizing email suggesting it shouldnt be difficult for my wife (who has an 8-month-old and works full-time) to have to sit at the school for an hour and a half. Below is their response after we asked for the adjustment."Thanks for reaching out! We always do our best to put siblings as close as possible. Unlike all other sports where you could go on different days or hours apart, we put your kiddos in spots that have you in our kid friendly building for a total of an hour. That's pretty great coming from someone who has sat at baseball fields for 5+ hours with my nephews on multiple teams and schedules!! It seems like you'll have the perfect amount of time..."After they refused to adjust the schedule, they also declined to refund our deposit. It was clearly a bait-and-switch tacticasking for payment before releasing the schedule and then refusing a refund if the schedule didn't work for us. A quick look at their ****** reviews reveals this seems to be a standard practice for the business. Its obvious theyre running a questionable operation, and something needs to be done to stop them. Additionally, Im requesting a refund of the $270 deposit that we wont be able to use. Ive attached screenshots from ****** reviews and a local moms *************** which highlight a recurring pattern of customer frustrations.

  Business Response

  Date: 09/15/2024

  Hello *****,
  Lets break down this incredibly entitled message so hopefully it makes more sense to why the entire swim school cannot revolve around your one family and why this complaint feels like such a joke, grownups dont actually act like this right?? The majority of our families have multiple kids, so why you feel like your families case is unique or special just because you chose to have 3 children is truly something I cant wrap my head around. The spots you were given are just about back to back! Your sons ****** would have started at 3:45pm and ended at 4pm. And then your daughters ****** would have started at 4:25 and ending at 4:55. When we were making the schedule, I looked at that and thought actually thats kind of nicer than back to back as they will have time to get their son showered and changed after his ****** and then get the daughter ready for her ******. All while being in an indoor play space designed for kids with books to read, a coloring table, climbing equipment, a 90ft chalkboard wall, a basketball hoop, magnatiles, puzzles, and other miscellaneous toys. As well as a fenced off baby area and baby seats and bouncers to keep them entertained and contained!
  I responded to an email from your wife and let her know that there was help available to her since she seemed to say that she could not manage her 3 children on her own for an hour in our indoor play space. Which was interesting as there have been multiple occasions where they have arrived very early for ******s and played and stayed for well over an hour in our space! So I pointed out that our employee who is out of the pool also works full time, and brings her 2 children (a 5 year old and an 11 month old) to work with her full time, would be more than happy to help your wife out with whatever she needed while she was in our building. Your complaint says that you found the email patronizing because your wife works full time and has an 8-month-old as well as the two that are in ******sagain, we were just offering help as your wife had said that it was hard for her to manage her children for an hour, so I wanted to let her know that help was available.
  Your complaint says After they refused to adjust the schedule, they also declined to refund our deposit. So it appears you really thought we would move multiple other children and families schedules just to make you happy? Hopefully seeing it written out like that helps you realize how ridiculous that is. Its not that we have an instructor taking a break between your kids ******s and thats why they arent next to each other. We have 400 kids in the program and always do our best to give each family the closest to their preference as we can! When you filled out the schedule form for the school year you were given the information that giving us time frames like 10-12:30 will help us guarantee we get you spots you would like instead of just one specific time that may already be taken by the time we get to your form since we put people on the schedule almost completely on a first come first serve basis. You chose to put the following on your form after reading that: Thursday 3:30, Wednesday 3:30,Tuesday 3:30 You were the 93rd family to fill out the form. The fact that we were able to still give you the 3:45 and 4:25 spots on Thursday (your top day) was kind of impressive on its own! So we didnt think twice about having 25 minutes between your kids as given the circumstances that was a great outcome! The kiddo your daughter was paired with also has a younger brother,and she responded with how excited she was to have those Thursday spots as she initially misread it and thought your sons spot was her sons spot! Then when I reminded her that her son was on Tuesday evening and her daughter was the only one on Thursday, she responded saying oh my mistake! and moved on with her life with one child on Tuesday and one on Thursday. That mom also works full time,yet didnt throw a fit about it. We also have a family that has 3 sweet boys swimming with us, on the school year schedule they have the youngest on Tuesdays at 10:30am, the middle child swims the same day (Tuesday) but from 4:10-4:55, and then their oldest  swims Tuesdays 6pm-6:45pm AND Friday 6:15pm-7pm. Guaranteed that mom and all 3 of her kids will stay in our building from 4-6:45 on Tuesdays with all 3 boys. She and her husband own multiple small businesses that they run as a family. And yet the only thing I have heard from them is yay! The boys cant wait to get back in the pool! In addition, we had a note on our schedule about moving your kids closer together if the schedule changed and allowed that.
  As for the refund we can do a quick timeline run down to help you better understand that. On April *******, before beginning ******s at Seahorse, you signed a policy form that required you to initial each policy and then sign the entire policy at the end of the form. You initialed and signed the policy stating: Seahorse Academy is dedicated to getting all children safe and confident in the water. Therefore, no refunds will be given to those who choose to pull their child out of the program before they are ready to graduate. In addition, no refunds will be given to families kicked out of the program due to poor behavior on the students or parents part. Refunds will ONLY be given to those who have been graduated by a Seahorse Academy instructor. You then sent an email on September 13th with a copy and pasted section from said policy form about your cancellation notice. You also re signed the policy form on that same day, meaning you have now read and signed the policy form twice stating you understand that we dont give refunds. But yet you believe this policy should not apply to you because it doesnt benefit you at this time!Unfortunately, thats not how policy forms work, you dont get to pick and choose which policies you would like to apply! We have a very clear and direct policy form that you signed (twice!) due to the post covid world of entitlement that you have demonstrated quite well here. There was no bait and switch. Your payment was due on Tuesday 8/27, and actually it was due the ****** before that but hadnt been paid, and thus why it had a past due amount on it. Payment is always due on the 4th ****** in order to pay for the next 4, not only is that stated in the welcome email you received on April 23rd, 2024,but it is also a policy on the form that you signed twice, as well as a permanent sign on the front desk. So to try and act like you didnt know anything about payment or refunds is just a bold faced lie. As stated previously, you had great spots despite the info you gave us and how far down in submissions yours were. We arent miracle workers but we did what we could to get you the best spots possible!
  Ive been teaching in ************** for 10 years now, and as you showed with your screenshots you sent in, we have dealt with quite a few entitled families like yours since COVID, never before that did we see adults act like this and its truly been sad to watch the world change in this manner. But on the flip side, we have thousands of happy families who have had children swim with us! They just dont scream about it as loud as entitled people who dont get their way when they kick and scream!
  We hope you find a swim school that better fits your needs!  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 09/19/2024

   
  Complaint: 22282093
  
  

  Thank you for your response, although I am disappointed by the combative tone and unprofessional language used throughout your message. I had hoped for a more constructive dialogue regarding the scheduling and refund issue.

  Our concern remains that the payment was requested before the schedule was released, leaving us with no flexibility to make an informed decision once the schedule no longer suited our needs. This practice feels misleading and unfair, especially given the fact that other families have expressed similar frustrations.

  While I understand you are running a business, the dismissive tone and comparison to other families situations is unnecessary and irrelevant to our specific concerns. As paying customers, we are entitled to raise concerns without being insulted or labeled entitled.

  
  I reiterate my request for a refund of our deposit.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***** *******