SCAM ALERT! Foam Glow Event for San Diego, CA on March 29, 2025 - Buyer Beware! I'm posting this review as a serious warning to anyone who purchased tickets for the Foam Glow event on March 29th, 2025. I bought my tickets back in January. Here's why I'm convinced this is a scam: * Zero Communication: I've emailed, messaged on instagram, submitted customer service requests EVERY DAY for a week, asking about packet pick-up details. Absolutely no response. * Venue: I called the venue directly. They confirmed they're hosting the Bubble Run during the day, but they have NO RECORD of a Foam Glow event happening that night. * History of Problems: Digging into online reviews, it seems this isn't a one-time issue. Others have experienced the same lack of communication and potentially fraudulent behavior from Foam Glow in previous years. **March 29th has come and passed with no response or event. *** read more

SCAM!!! Paid $36 and emailed them twice about the packet pickup and no responses. Now I got an email saying the event is canceled and all my stuff will be transferred to muddy dash run. read more

NO Photographers as they advertised. My iPhone started at the beginning and ended at 1.9 miles (NOT 5K or 3.1 miles). There was no color, and the race started late. No activity booth. And no Photo Booth. read more

It is scam, they have cancelled the event and then we asked to get refund but no refund, no email back. I've searched this current situation on Google and reddit and found a lot of people going through hard time to get refund!! I'm going to report this to my bank to find out this company is legit. BE CAUTIOUS of this event company read more

This company is a scam and should be avoided. "free registation" advertised $15.62 in fees up front $20 parking $5 pickup your t-shirt the day of, fee (the only other option was middle of the day Friday) Had everyone stand outside during a thunderstorm directly overhead because they were waiting for "authorities to say it was unsafe". read more

Save your money for the next time the color run comes into town! Or the Jersey run!! My toddler, who you think would be enamored with the bubbles also claimed that the color run was more fun. The event was poorly staffed/organized. The production company out of AZ was not representing the 602 well! Regardless of pre-ordered the race packet, you still waited in long lines and paid a penalty fee of $5 per packet for picking up the day of the race. The foam machines were working sporadically or producing foam at intervals so when arriving at a foam station you may or may not experience the foam glow. BTW... the foam didn't glow! If you didn't purchase glow paint the only "glowing" effect was from your white shirt in the black light. After party was okay but the foam burned the eyes. Kinda like an old school rave or foam party minus the hedonistic pleasures! read more

Foam Glow 5K -Blacklight Run - After party! - Races & Competitions Near Me

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Extremely disappointed in your company and believe it is a big scam. My husband is disabled vet and we had to leave out of town very quickly because his mom has stage 4 brain cancer.. We asked our friends to pick up our shirts and tutu, gave them our QR codes.. we are not expecting a refund at all but we expected to at least be able to get the merchandise we purchased. Will never sign up for up for an event with this company again. read more

STAY AWAY FROM THIS EVENT!!!!!! At the last minute they informed participants that there would be a $5 cash-only fee to pick up the packet on race day. That should have been the first indicator of a failed night to come. On the day of the race the girl told my friend it was $10. When my friend disagreed she quickly back peddle, took her money, and slipped the $5 right into her pocket! SHADY!!!!!! The track was poorly lit and there were 2 foam stations. We basically zigzagged through the parking lot and cut as many corners as we could to get the hell out of there! Oh and for the best part......ACTIVE NETWORK stole my credit card information and charged my account $80!!!! read more

This event is TERRIBLY organized. Outside of the packet pickup area I didn't see any staff members. The course itself was disappointing. It was just a dark poorly lit trail with a few "bubble stations" scattered throughout. As other reviews have mentioned the bubble stations were a let down. It was essentially just walking through some suds. Additionally, a VAST majority of the participants were walking. I have no problem with this except there was no attempt by the event staff to create an opening for runners, so the "run" boiled down to trying to dodge people in the dark for 5k. There was no defined start/finish line, and I didn't think to measure the distance, but I have no faith that the distance was exactly 5k. read more

Be warned! My co-workers and I formed a team and wanted to do the Foam Glow event on Saturday (1/19) evening. Without ANY notice, the even was changed to Friday night. The only way one of our team members found out was when she tried to register additional family members. We would have shown up for the event and no one would be there....When we requested that our insurance be refunded, the company responded that this is a no-refund event. We were also told that there is a disclaimer that the event is "subject to change". We were offered to shift our registration to the Friday evening event (we don't even want to think about going thru Friday afternoon traffic to get to Kapolei) or Saturday, daytime Bubble Run. We are all coming from East Oahu and being in the hot sun does not appeal to any of us. Besides that we are ALL busy on Saturday, during the day...At any rate, the main point is THEY CHANGED WITHOUT TELLING ANYONE!!! Also be suspicious that there are no fundraiser beneficiaries identified. We feel victimized and completely scammed! Our team contributed more than $100 for this NON-event...and we have no way to recover the insurance payment (for nothing now) that we paid.... read more

My friends and I registered a team for the Saturday January 19th event. We were very excited because we did it last year and had fun. Now they changed the date from Saturday to Friday night 1/18/2019 and NONE of us can attend. I reached out to the company and my only response was, "we sent out a mass email. Check your spam folder" I couldn't find any email anywhere and I looked. Ok, maybe the $10 registration fee is not refundable, but they should refund us for any additional products we bought. Or give us credit to the next race in Honolulu. As it is we can only transfer to another person or another race that is already on their schedule. I cannot make any of their other races. On their schedule. The company is not very trustworthy. They don't have good customer service either. Think twice before your sold on their supposedly "FREE" registration. read more

I should've known it would be bad when they run their "free registration special" for weeks on end, they don't have you register for a specific wave, and charge $5 per person to pickup your packet the day of the race... It felt like no one was running the show- no one was really on a mic directing the crowd. we just followed the massive crowd and eventually got stuck in an extremely packed line/chute where we waited like a herd of cattle for an hour from the start of the race, slowly shuffling forward every several minutes until it was our turn to finally cross the start line, praying my kids didn't get trampled or lost. The foam stations were really fun... But the four working stations were done by 1.5 miles and then there was just nothing, no foam even at the finish line. It was also just plain bubbly foam, no glowing element. Our race was on the horse race track at the fairgrounds, with zero lighting, going over bumpy dirt and weeds. There were no volunteers or race staff on the course aside from the foam stations so I kept thinking what would happen if someone got hurt out there in the dark. The one water station they were filling up cups with a hose from a huge plastic pool... no thanks! It was just really terrible, I felt trapped and just had to endure till the end. Never again! read more

They did not inform us there was a change of time. The email said 8 start time. Boyfriend and I got dressed and got to the event at 7, and they were tearing down. Multiple cars behind us were told the same information and not one email informed us of the time change. DO. NOT. SPEND. YOUR. MONEY. ON. THEM. read more

Super unorganized, and seems under prepared. The emails didn't explain the start process or start time at all. It actually starts like hours after it says. Huuuuge line once it actually does start. Lot of waiting around. Everything is super costly. If you don't pick up your shirts the day before then theh charge you per shirt even tho it was supposed to be included. They never actually check your tickets tho so you could definitely just show up free. In fact, don't waste your money, just show up free. Also if there's an option to pay early for "photo booth" photos, don't do it. I paid extra for them ahead of time online and there was NO photobooth so that was a waste too. Super unorganized. The finish line went thru the start line so the finishers were confussed on where to go because they were mixing with the line of people still waiting to start. read more

I did this event in Fort Worth, TX, but I feel I should write a review as a desperate measure to help out those even considering this. Horrendous. There were only 2 or 3 foam stations that you can run through in about 15 seconds each. The rest of the course was dark, through dirt trails surrounding the Texas Motor Speedway. Very easy to get injured and several people did. No event staff on the path itself so people were running in all directions; again, very dangerous. This was very much a money grab to get people to sign up for the ACTIVE.com free membership, hoping enough people would forget to cancel after month and avoid the $80 annual fee. I bet they made a ton of money on that. This was not a well-organized event and there was hardly any foam; bottom line. Avoid at all costs. Sure, it's geared to be family-friendly and fun; but if the course is dark and there is little staff and enforcement of rules, what kind of family-friendly fun is that, then? read more

Need to inform participants where EXACTLY packet pick-up will be located. I went to Sam Boyd and spent too much time looking for the booths! I don't know the area well and a map online would have been beneficial. I strongly suggest everyone should have a glow stick in their race packets. Everyone would have glowed and would be better for marketing. Then people would maybe want to go buy more glow items at the store. It would be more enticing to upgrade "glow gear" ,but at least everyone who couldn't afford it / didn't want more would feel better about the race event. The gravel lot should have been paved for $10 a car. Plus there was chunks of asphalt that I ran over that could have been moved out of the way. I saw many people parking down the way for free, that's what I should have done. Then the parking is very far from the actual start line and event area. Most of Sam Boyd stadium's lot looked like a better place for future reference. Finally have a map for the area especially for people who don't know the area! Didn't have enough people to lead runners to designated areas like the starting line. Had water carriers almost running into runners! Nobody cares if participants sat down in the foam areas and became tripping hazards. Could have been handing out maps or doing something more productive. Stopping runners who would cut in areas where trail overlapped. Needed to remind people who wanted to walk to stay to the right and joggers/runners on the left. Would have had more hype if tossing out some free gear or even coupons for future events. The terrain was poor and basically dangerous. I had to several times run off the decomposing asphalt to pass groups of walkers. I almost twisted my ankle and practically blew my knee in the dark dirt. The whole glow theme was a joke; it could have had more glowing effects and more foam glow stations along the path. Also mile markers to help people who care how well they're running. The overlapping areas were confusing and horribly designed. I don't know how many people just cut through sections of the run, but it was dishearting to see people just do whatever. Once again, there should have been a MAP!!!! Basic. Just basic performance and showmanship. I've already stated in my previous comments, but it definitely needs more organizing, planning, and a MAP! Didn't think that quality and variety were on the menu. The weather is out of the event planners control, but to have people running in almost 30 mph winds wasn't a good call! It could have been postponed another day. Maybe offered a MAP and some reward for running. Offering a medal and lanyard for running would create more of a loyal following. It would make a memory for participants to want to come back next time Foam Glow is in Las Vegas. Marketing and word of mouth are important for the longevity of such events and enough people like me having more and more bad experiences will cause this 5k to SHUT DOWN!!! This is all going on Yelp, and many other sites for runners looking for a real 5k worth going to and spending money. A little more effort could have went a long way. read more

Two years ago, Coronavirus caused a lot of events to be postponed or outright canceled. However, FoamGlow issued a statement stating they would NOT be issuing any refunds but would be issuing makeup dates. It's been two years since that statement and races have resumed but still no word on any form of compensation. I was signed up for multiple races as well at the time and all have provided refunds. Foam glow was the only one to have kept the money. You've lost me as a consumer and I will be spreading the word to not give money to thieves. read more

The worst running event I have ever attended. There were no signs for parking/the parking lot that had pickup the day before was blocked off. We followed cars to a place that charged $20 for parking despite signs saying parking was $15. There were only two snow one shacks selling "food" with absolutely no alcohol! You're having a foam glow event with no alcohol. We lined up for the race and 30 mins goes by with very little movement. They were only letting groups of 20 go by every 5 mins so they could get a "good photo" at the start. Everyone starting cutting the line to start the race because with over 1,000 people it would take 4 hours (yes I did the math) just to start this race. There were no staff working the event. The course was chaotic once you started. No signs for walkers and runners to stay on one side and with everyone cutting it made everything crazier. And guess what??? It was only 2.3 miles so it wasn't even a 5K! They couldn't even promise what was advertised. They didn't have people to put medals on you so you just grabbed them from a box. The DJ was not affiliated with the organization so at least he was good. I would not recommend anyone do this extremely poorly organized event. read more

My friends and I registered for this run which said it was free but with costs of extra things like a protection insurance we ended up paying $14. However, we now have all received a notice in our banks of an amount of $89.95 for signing up apparently to a membership with active. I contact the customer support website of active and was told that it was my fault basically and that it had to be done manually on the registration page which i looked over and there was no indication what so ever of a membership. STAY AWAY OF THIS RUN!!!! read more

TLDR: Disorganized scam that wasn't even a full 5k. I saw this advertised a lot on social media and I really hope that people can see this before they pay money for a scam. We purchased the photo package and a tutu along with paying almost $20 a person in fees. When I arrived at packet pickup the merch person told me that he didnt have any tutus and he wasnt sure if they had any on the truck at all but I had to wait for race day for them to exchange and refund me. Parking was cash only and that information was not clearly provided prior to the event. There were two lines for merchandise, one for people that had purchased online and another for people that didnt. The signs were all the way up by the tents and the line was 60+ people long so by the time we got to the sign we had waited in line for 30 mins and they turned us away to stand in another line that was 3x as long. When we finally had the opportunity to talk to someone, they wouldnt refund our money, only exchange for other merchandise (none of which added up to the same amount as the tutu) but they offered us a pair of socks that was $2 more than the tutu (which wont fit runners calves and i should have just fought with support for a refund) The run took forever to start the race and the way they started it was for the DJ to yell 3,2,1, GO! from the stage which was so far away I'm surprised that anyone even heard it. There were maybe 5 or 6 foam stations throughout, the foam was stacked so high you couldnt see anything walking through and I really expected it to stick to us and glow but it doesnt. You literally just run through a pile of dish soap foam. If you want to glow in the black lights, you have to paint your shirt or buy their "glow water". We finally get to the finish line and realize that on top of all the other frustrations, we only ran 2.75mi and a 5k is 3.1... I was so frustrated and annoyed that we left immediately. Lastly, there was a photo booth but no photographer, and no one anywhere on the track to take photos. After paying 20 bucks for a photo package you would think they would preemptively returned my money saying "sorry" but they didn't. Weeks later I checked for photos and had to contact them for them to refund me, which they did but an honest organization would have taken ownership of the fact that the photographer never showed. These people literally are just out to scam you out of your money. read more

I was so looking forward to this event. It was my fiance's first 5K and I had been wanting to do a fun run for forever. But the San Jose event last night was an absolute joke. I feel like I have been scammed out of my "free" registration payment and I so wish I had read the reviews The event was cheap and dangerous. It felt like a good idea gone horribly wrong, horror movie style. The course was the fairgrounds so we stumbled in the dark over jutting rocks, puddles, and deep ruts in the dirt along the entire course. My fiance twisted his ankle and we are lucky we were not hurt more for how much we were struggling. It was impossible to run, jog, or do anything but carefully pick our way over the terrible, unlit course. There were 3 bubble stations and it was literally just a blacklight and a bubble machine creating mud and crowd congestion with people trying to get good Instagram photos. On top of that, the course fell half a mile short of 3.1 miles according to both of our watches. If you want to put on a glow in the dark outdoor party as a thinly veiled cash grab, at least don't force people through torture ahead of time only to enjoy half an hour of a shitty DJ. I am so disappointed. This is a scam company and we fell for it. read more

I attended this event with my wife at Pomona for the Saturday, 11th of May 2019 event. We were really excited for it, and by the end of it, was convinced it was a scam. The first flag was the "free registration" sign on their website. But when we went through the registration, ended up costing "$24.18". It was required that we make at least $1 payment for donation, and a medical fee of $9.95 each. An extra $2.28 for processing fee. Even though we felt it was falsely advertised, we decided to go through it anyway as we thought it would be pretty fun, and it was for charity. The second flag was that if you wanted to save $5 not to pick up your packet on race day, was to come the day before and get it. We did this and we arrived at 7:30pm for pickup. We were greeted by someone that said that registration closed at 7pm. To the bemusement of my wife and I, as the email we received and on their website said it will close at 8pm. My wife and I were initially upset as we traveled 1.5 hrs to get there just for pick up. After showing the employee that it stated 8pm close on the website, he eventually honored it, and we were able to get our packet. He was friendly, but we didn't feel it was professional that he said he wanted to have his break. The third flag was on race day. If you're towards the back of the line to race, you're in for some waiting time. We waited for maybe an hour. My wife was already getting sore legs just from standing around. She was losing momentum to run the event. The fourth flag was that there was barely any staff. Low security, so if there were anything to even happen, it is doubtful that they would be able to do much about it. The fifth flag was that were 3 foam machines, that didn't seem much. They had 1 foam machine placed at long intervals of the course. We saw one guy that was drenched from the last one, but he didn't even look "Tye-dyed". It looked like dirt stains on him and his shirt. My wife and I didn't feel it was worth the shower after, so we avoided these foam machines and walked around them. The sixth flag was that the water station looked unsanitary. They give out a cup of water, and whilst my wife and I were thirsty, didn't want to drink any of it. The seventh flag was that there were no staff talking about what the event was for, and the causes it supports. We felt very skeptical about it. The sixth flag was my wife and I realised that no one checked our registration on race day. The only time our registration was checked was when we came to get our packet the day before. If someone just paid the $12 fee for parking, they could have turned up to the race for free without paying the required $24.18 for registration. In summary, my wife and I paid $24.18 to walk around the parking lot, that was far from a "glow" theme event. We didn't even finish the race because we didn't feel it was worth it. We originally invited my wife's colleagues to the event, and was glad they couldn't actually make it, because we would have felt embarrassed. The only great thing we took from the night, was that it was a nice evening walk together, and it is probably something we would laugh about 50 years later. read more

My fiance signed us up for this race, enticed by the "free registration" notice that claimed "last day for free registration". We were required to pay for a chairty donation, and ended up ultimately paying $28.00 for our "free signup". After we paid we were redirected to a webpage telling us we had been signed up for an active.com membership, unbeknownst to us, at the fee of $89.95 a year. Foam glow shared our credit card info, and secretly approved the membership (which you have to cancel in writing??). We did not appreciate being obliged to pay for anything we didnt approve of, and had to cancel our debit card. Now we cant get a refund because these people are just scammers, and scum bags. read more

Foam Glow KC MO, on 07/30/2022. This was the most unorganized event I have ever ran. I typically run a couple 5k's a year and this was the WORST! My 6 year old daughter could plan an event better than this! There were no signs up for where to go for parking, some people's navigation was taking them to the wrong enterance that was blocked, and the police were getting frustrated with all the u-turns etc becasue the entrance in was one way. There was literally like 1 man and the DJ running the whole thing. There were 4 of us in the group to run and we waited for 2 hours in line before we got moving. AND the DJ was trying his best to keep 8,000 people in check but it's not possible, cutting in the race line when people had been waiting for hours, runners and strollers and walkers all mixed in together casuing slow downs, no guidance what-so-ever. Once we started to run, the foam stuff was ok but the lighting around the race route wasn't great, no foam at the finish! I can't even believe that this event has not been shut down, it's basically a scam. AND, when you register, it like automatically signs you up for a 30 free trial with Active? If you don't catch it, they will charge the card you signed up for the race with. WATCH OUT! If you are thinking about doing a 5k, don't choose this event. read more

Don't register for any event these people have! The nonrefundable rule during this awful time of a pandemic is blood sucking and plain ole wrong! I hope cities stop allowing them to have events! They are heartless and awful! I don't care if the amount of money is small they should refund it during this time where a lot of people aren't working! They better enjoy my money because they won't get another dime! read more

The worst event I've ever been to. Falsely Advertised and poorly planned. I wish I would've read the few reviews that are posted on this page before we signed up. Everything that's been said it true. My team attended the Foam Glow 5k on April 6th in Las Vegas at Sam Boyd stadium. The best part of this event was the DJ booth. Once you hit the starting point it went downhill from there. The path was very dark with no markers, rocks, the path overlapped. There were two foam stations. One station seemed to be malfunctioning with water pouring out drenching people. The dye that was in the foam badly stained our skin and ruined our clothes and shoes. After washing everything, it's not coming out. The one water station was so unsanitary and abandoned. The participants ultimately made this event look up by showing up in their glowing attire. Their was one worker we saw directing me on the path. Many people cut the course which was easy to do considering there wasn't much to direct you on where to go. Don't waste your time or your money! read more

I am not sure if this is the first year this company has executed their event on island. Well first their bib packet pick that was done at their sponsors establishment - Orange Theroy Fitness in Kapolei dealt with over 8 hour passing out the packets which was wrapped around the buildings. Disrupting businesses activity and creating traffic within the business establishment. With that said you would think they would learn the magnitude their race would be the next evening. Unfortunately they didn't and it created some unorganization. First off merchandise pre order tent was long and left those people being the last to run. Well it took the people in the back of the line waiting to start a good hour to two to begin. No paths were marked properly many people were lost and despite the foam areas it would have been nice to have staff direct everyone and make the foams more entertaining. The only fun part was definitely the after party center stage with the foams being shot out and DJ playing. Besides that..if we didn't have great company we would have been heading home a long time ago- before it started. It was good they had food trucks and abundance of porto potty but even that would have been we light. Overall trial run...and hoping next time they strategically start things more organize - lit paths and more staff in attendance especially at one of the water station that looked abandon. Overall we had a fun evening among friends ...which was a A+ but overall theme run event D read more

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