Gymboree Play & Music, Aliso Viejo in Aliso Viejo, California

The teachers here are amazing - enough to keep us here for 5 years in spite of a steady stream of billing issues with the owner. We saw multiple instances where the price increased $10 without any kind of notice on an automatic credit card billing. If we weren't paying attention, apparently the owner (Mitch) planned to simply pocket the overcharges. Most recent occurrence started May 2012 and continued despite repeated requests to refund that were acknowledged by Mitch, only nothing ever happened. Finally did a charge-back through credit card company, only to have Mitch yell at my wife about how this cost him an extra $25 from his processing company. As if it was our fault he was overcharging us and we were having to go through the hassle of getting a refund. Last straw was Mitch deciding to hassle my wife every time she attended class about how we're not paying enough because he has raised prices on new clients. Always seemed to do this when I wasn't around, so apparently he's into bullying women but doesn't like talking with men. Now I understand if a business owner decides to raise prices on new or even existing customers, but as with everything in life, mom taught us there's a right way and a wrong way. Pretty sure the wrong way is to yell at customers (especially a man yelling at a mom with her kids - no class!) and raise automatic billing amounts without any heads up/discussion/notification. Come talk to me in a calm fashion and explain your new pricing to give me a chance to decide whether we want to continue with a different price. Short of that, it's one star and a lot of bad word of mouth for you sir.

We love Gymboree. We have two girls, and it's so nice to have a place where they can climb slide and explore while also being safe. They always look forward to the classes and open play. I look forward to them getting some wiggles out.