Business ProfileforUrban Air Trampoline and Adventure Park

BBB sent correspondence to Urban Air Trampoline Park on February 27, March 4, and April 1, 2024 requesting information and possible modification to the business website, https://www.urbanair.com/new-york-buffalo/, that appear to violate BBB's Code of Advertising. 

The business did respond initially stating, "You may want to reach out to our corporate office. Memberships are not managed or executed at the franchisee (local) level. It is a national program and as a franchisee I do not have the ability to impact any aspect of how the program is executed or marketed."  BBB then requested the contact information of the corporate office and has not received a response.

BBB has received complaints from consumers regarding the company advertising and the purchasing of online tickets, the lack of clear and conspicuous disclosure of the 12 month memberships, and the automatic renewal that they state they are unknowingly signing up for. There are also concerns with ease of cancellation of the membership.

BBB requested a copy of all contracts/documents/scripts and any other information that are provided when consumers purchase tickets in person at the Urban Air location.

BBB requested a copy of what information is provided and/or appears online after a consumer enters their billing information.
BBB attempted to purchase tickets from the website and was then offered the option to:
“DO YOU WANT TO SAVE $18.50 TODAY?”
“Click ‘Yes’ to convert your tickets to Memberships and save $18.50 on your purchase PLUS come the rest of month for FREE!
You will be charged $17.99 monthly for unlimited visits to the Park. Want to be a Member?*
*Does not include applicable fees and taxes.”
A pre high-lited pink YES box appears with a NO box next to it.
*See Terms & Conditions at Checkout” Terms & Conditions appears in pink text.

The concern with the advertising is that nowhere within this box does it state that the selection would lead to a 12 month membership if they choose to save $18.50 today and become a member. It only advises that the consumer will be billed monthly, not that the consumer will be billed monthly for 12 months. The consumer should be aware while in this box what they are stating “yes”/agreeing to without having to go to a different page on the website.

If a consumer does happen to choose *See Terms & Conditions in the pink text, they are taken to the following link https://www.urbanair.com/membership-agreement/, which only states Membership Agreement along the top. BBB asked if this should this actually state "12 Month Membership Agreement"?

The concern with this page of the website/membership agreement is that the consumer is still not informed that they are signing up for a 12 month membership agreement, that will automatically renew, until the 4th paragraph of the agreement, which a consumer would have to page down for and search for within the paragraph.

If a consumer does not select the Terms & Conditions shown in pink and select YES, the consumer is immediately brougt to the billing information screen and asked to enter their payment information with no disclosure that the consumer is entering a 12 month automatically renewing membership.

BBB has also noted that there is not any clear and conspicuously disclosed way to cancel the membership.

Urban Air Socks are also required to use the adventure park and that is also not clearly disclosed.

The following BBB Codes of Advertising pertain to these concerns mentioned above:

1. Basic Principles of the Code
1.1 The primary responsibility for truthful and non-deceptive advertising rests with the advertiser. Advertisers should be prepared to substantiate any objective claims or offers made before publication or broadcast. Upon request, they should present such substantiation promptly to the advertising medium or BBB.
1.2 Advertisements which are untrue, misleading, deceptive, fraudulent, falsely disparaging of competitors, or insincere offers to sell, shall not be used.
1.3 An advertisement as a whole may be misleading by implication, although every sentence separately considered may be literally true.
1.4 Misrepresentation may result not only from direct statements, but by omitting or obscuring a material fact.

8.  Negative Option Plans, Continuity Plans and Automatic Shipments
18.1 Any advertisement for a product or service that includes an offer to sell or provide consumers with additional goods or services under a negative option feature must include a clear and conspicuous disclosure of all material terms of the negative option feature.
18.2 Such material terms include:
18.2.1 The existence of the negative option feature;
18.2.2 The cost of the additional goods or services;
18.2.3 How consumers can cancel and avoid future shipments and charges; and
18.2.4 How consumers can return items that they do not want.
18.3 Advertisers must avoid making disclosures that are vague, unnecessarily long or which contain contradictory language.
18.4 Advertisers must not interpret the consumer’s silence, failure to take an affirmative action to reject goods or services, or failure to cancel the agreement, as consent to enroll the consumer in the negative option feature. Instead, they must ensure that the consumer affirmatively consents (either online, over the phone, or in person) to the negative option feature before enrolling the consumer in the plan.