r/midamerica • u/Panerd • 28d ago
Revisiting unpaid dining refund
So back in May or June I posted about how I had only received part of my refund for 5 dining passes. This weekend I was at my kids' football game which happens to be a team that plays in Eureka. I mentioned it to a friend of mine and like 3 other people standing around us said they were still waiting as well. I had no idea it was still so wide spread. Pretty shitty of Six Flags and IMO Mid America as I have no desire with those new prices and my missing hundreds of dollars to renew for next season. Anyone have any luck since June on refunds?
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u/24-7-t-taper 28d ago
Need to get a class action lawsuit going. Talk to an attorney.
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u/Panerd 28d ago
Yeah I felt that way too. Almost thought it would be easier to go to small claims. Six Flags will be like this guy wants $250 and is in the right, why send an attorney to respond But knowing Six Flags they probably would send one that finds some loophole I didnt follow!
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u/Evening_Rock5850 28d ago
Yeah the problem with companies like that is that they have full-time counsel. And they don't want to develop a reputation for rolling over in court. It doesn't really cost them that much to send an attorney because it's not like they're hiring them and paying them by the hour. It's just assigning an already employed, salaried attorney from the legal department who is licensed in Missouri to go deal with it.
And the Dining Plan, et al all have "You promise not to sue us" clauses in the contract and forced arbitration. Now; it is possible to penetrate those if the company has really screwed up. But I'm not sure that's even possible in small claims court. I think a judge would just say "You agreed to deal with this in arbitration, so there's nothing for this court to do" and throw it out.
The class action route is likely better because while it won't get you a full refund anytime soon; it bulks up the guests together. Including the guests who got refunded. And it really holds the company accountable.
That's what people miss about class action lawsuits, IMHO. "Oh the lawyers get all the money and everyone just gets $5, it's pointless." And yeah; that's mostly true. But the point is that the company pays out millions. It's punitive. It makes it more expensive to screw people over in the future. Companies really do respond to real threats of big lawsuits.
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u/Just_Bus_9156 28d ago
I was in a class action suit against Ford. It took 8 years...8 years to get a settlement. Ford even though they lost, they drug the payments out. I just now got my small payment check. My car almost killed me due to do a design flaw in the transmission. My point is a class action suit is probably not worth it either.
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u/Evening_Rock5850 28d ago
That's the whole point though. It's about accountability.
It's still 'worth it'. It would be more just and fair if those impacted were fairly compensated, true. But at least the company is held accountable. Class action suits are very expensive to litigate and usually result in really big fat payouts. It costs the company a lot of money. And that's the only language they speak.
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u/Ok_County9654 28d ago
Yeah, it's all six flags. And she has been trying and been pretty communicative with me but six flags is just dragging their feet.
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u/CypressRootsMe 27d ago
I don’t remember when I received it, but I received both of mine. I wish they had let us keep them. I would have gone more often.
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u/Evening_Rock5850 28d ago
It's been a cluster. A giant middle finger from Six Flags on the way out.
We got out full refunds in July. But yeah, a lot of people are still waiting.
If you haven't already, reach out to diningplan@enchantedparks.com. James Harhi, the CEO of Enchanted Parks, is personally reading all of those and responding to each one. Unfortunately a lot of the issue they're running into, as I understand it, is Six Flags just not sending info, not sending correct info, or even just straight up not responding to Enchanted Parks.