Recently, I bought two season passes to Six Flags for me and my friend. Seems innocent enough, right? Well, somehow in the process of purchasing the season passes, I got transferred from the Six Flags Great America website to the Six Flags America website. Not a big deal, right? WRONG. The Great America park is in Illinois, and the America park is in... Maryland. That's right, I accidentally bought season passes to a park 12 hours away from my home.
I had hoped I could get the error sorted out. Unfortunately, Six Flags is not known for its customer service. Here are the six ways Six Flags screwed me over all in one day.
1. They don't have a single human being to answer phone calls.
Once I realized the mistake, I tried calling the theme park to get things sorted out. I called both, the park in Illinois and the park in Maryland. I actually made multiple calls to both parks because I wanted to try all of the options on their phone menus. The whole time, I was unable to talk to an actual person. It was all robotic, pre-recorded answers that provided absolutely no help whatsoever. I knew there was only one way to speak to a fellow human - I had to go to the park.
2. The passes work at every Six Flags park... under one condition.
When I got to Six Flags Great America with my friends, we decided to try something a little risky - we tried to use our season passes instead of going straight to customer service. To be fair, the passes do say on them that they are valid at any Six Flags park - the catch is that you first have to use the passes at your "home park," aka the park they were originally bought for. Needless to say, we did not make it through the gates. But oh-ho! Not to worry! The woman operating the ticket scanner assured me that I could just head on over to customer service and get this whole mess resolved.
3. Customer Service said I had to buy new passes or go to Maryland.
When we finally got through the line at customer service, I asked if there was any way to get the passes I bought transferred to the correct park. The man working said no, but I could either go to the home park (IN MARYLAND) to activate the ones I had, or I could get my passes refunded and buy new ones. You can probably guess which option sounded better to me.
4. They wouldn't match the price I originally bought my passes for.
I bought my passes during a sale, so I got two for $100 (a steal since a single pass is usually worth $90). When I asked if I could pay that amount again, I was told that the deal was no longer in effect, so buying new season passes would be nearly $200 - double the amount I originally paid. Um, no thanks???
5. They wouldn't give me a refund unless I bought new season passes.
Discouraged I would have to pay so much money for passes I had already technically bought, I decided to call it a day. I asked if I could just get my refund and leave. Here's where it gets really messed up - they told me they could only refund me if I bought new season passes. If I wanted just a refund, I would need to go to my "home park" - I couldn't even do it online. So essentially, I couldn't use my passes unless I went to Maryland, and I couldn't get a refund unless I went to Maryland. Pretty effed up, right? Well, I thought I had a good solution. I suggested that I buy one season pass, so I would basically pay the same amount I had originally paid and could therefore get my refund. Nope! In order to refund me, the employee informed me that the new order had to match the original one.
6. I ended up re-buying my season passes and I still haven't gotten a refund for the originals.
Eventually, I caved and coughed up the extra cash (with the help of my mother - love you Mom!), and the employee had me fill out a form to get my refund. He assured me that I would be refunded in ten days, but I would receive a confirmation email right away. Well, it's been a week and I still haven't gotten my confirmation email, so I really doubt I'm getting my money back. And the only way to contact Six Flags about this mistake is - you guessed it - to go back to the park. Six Flags has literally stolen my money.
Honestly, Six Flags has the WORST customer service that I have ever experienced in my entire life. Too bad I'm a roller coaster addict, otherwise I wouldn't have to put up with it. Oh, well. I guess I'll just demand my refund the next time I decide I need an adrenaline rush.
