Parents left in the lurch after play centre closes

By Amanda Ferguson

A shuttered children’s indoor playground in Vaughn is promising to refund parents after it closed suddenly, leaving at least one mom with a lack of answers about her deposit.

LuminaLand, a popular rental facility in Woodbridge, closed in mid-April, according to a notice posted on the facility’s door.

The note, posted by a Toronto bailiff, indicates the landlord terminated the lease due to the tenant’s failure to pay the rent.

Tina Nguyen, a North York mom to a two-year-old boy, is now wondering if the $430 in deposit money she paid to rent the space for her son’s third birthday will ever be returned.

“I get an email saying it was cancelled and pretty much I lost my entire deposit and I thought, ‘Great. There’s nothing I can do about this,'” Nguyen said.

Nguyen said in emails, the company informed her she is eligible for a $100 voucher at an unaffiliated indoor playground facility in Aurora.

However, when reached by CityNews, the company said it never agreed to a voucher or discount to affected customers of Luminaland.

“At first, I was extremely mad,” Nguyen said, adding she’s left scrambling to book a new facility for her son’s July birthday with a severely paired down budget.

Since the company’s closure, the email listed on the Luminaland site has been discontinued. The phone number also goes to a full voicemail.

CityNews reached out to a woman who listed online that she worked as a photographer for LuminaLand. While claiming she’s not affiliated with the company, she sent along a statement alleging the owners are working to repay parents.

“LuminaLand Playground does not exist anymore and the location was shot (sic) down,” it reads. “All of the social media accounts were closed until everything been settled, that’s why we didn’t see any of these shocking comments sooner. As this was a business that shot (sic) down, an accountant has been hired to take care of all the payments and deposits that needed to be paid.”

The owners of LuminaLand did not return CityNews’ multiple attempts for comment.

The statement goes on to encourage any parents who haven’t been refunded yet to email them at a newly-created email address.

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