Gymboree Play and Music

I purchased a yearly membership to Gymboree-Redmond in Feb. of 2009 for my daughter (6 mos. old at the time) on a Mastercard. (see attached "contract)."

In Feb. of 2010 I renewed for a year at a 20% discount for the 2nd year for $746.25 from my bank debit card.



I had no intention of renewing in 2011, so I figured after Feb. 10th, my membership would just expire. I checked my Visa online 2/24/11 to find that they had automatically charged $746.25 on 2/11/11 for another year membership. I never signed another contract or authorized this charge on my Visa. The only reason they had this card on file is because I purchased a $5.00 bottle of bubbles last month with this Visa.



I emailed and called to reverse the charges, but was told that they auto-renewed if I did not initial the cancellation on the original membership document that I signed in 2009! Nowhere on this piece of paper does it state they will auto-renew or that they have authorization to charge my Visa on auto payments. They imply auto-renewal, but do not state they will auto-withdraw money from any account, etc. In fact, they have a Mastercard listed on this contract.



They have refused to give a refund stating I signed the contract. Their so-called contract would not hold up in court. I believe my Chase Visa is going to dispute the charge and I have closed this account. I just feel consumers should know about their poor business practices. This happened to a friend of mine, but she didn't have the energy to fight it because she had just given birth to her second child. They have an F rating at BBB and similar complaints on Yelp.



To top it off, in November of 2009, my daughter put her hand in the hinge side of the bathroom door as I was coming out which is located right off the play floor. I didn't realize she had put her hand there, so when the door closed, her index and thumb tips on her left hand almost were severed. She was rushed to Harborview and had to have reattachment surgery, which cost us approx. $3000 out of pocket expenses. We did not pursue legal action at the time because we considered it an accident. I suggested the put hinge guards on their door so it wouldn't happen to another child and the manager said they were considering doing this. To this date, no hinge guard is on their bathroom door. Just a sore spot with me because I see how their business practices are.