BALTIMORE — Eight months into the pandemic and many ticket holders are still fighting for refunds to canceled concerts and shows.
Ticketmaster has offered refunds for canceled events, but StubHub customers are running into issues, especially if the show was postponed and not yet canceled.
“I bought two tickets through StubHub for $470ish,” said David Smith who bought Billie Eilish tickets last December. This March, the week before the concert, it was postponed.
“We’re not allowed to get money back unless a show has been labeled as canceled. Currently, all of the shows for this tour are listed as postponed,” said Smith.
He doesn’t know if or when he’ll get his money back, and said if there’s another show, he’s not sure he’ll go.
“At this point, I don’t even want to go to the show when it reopens up because I don’t know how safe it would be,” Smith said.
Ron Campbell’s also been fighting for a refund after buying tickets for his son to “Dear Evan Hansen” at The Hippodrome Theatre.
“The tickets cost through StubHub $574.50,” said Campbell.
The musical scheduled for last May was canceled, but StubHub didn’t offer Campbell a refund, he was issued a credit instead.
“I’m 47, I’m disabled, my wife is a waitress at iHop, my mother-in-law who just had back surgery, and her two teenage children are living with us so there’s seven of us. That $547 could really be used right now,” Campbell said.
Since StubHub is a reseller, its president said they’d usually refund buyers for canceled events before collecting money from the sellers, however, “given the impact of the coronavirus, it is not possible to sustain this practice in the near-term. We are facing significant timing delays in recouping funds from the thousands of sellers on our platform,” Sukhinder Singh Cassidy wrote on StubHub’s website. “As a result, we’ve enacted new policies.”
According to its new policies, if an event is postponed or suspended, customers must wait for it to be canceled or rescheduled.
It it’s been canceled, customers will receive a credit worth 120 percent of the original order and is valid through December 31, 2021.
But Campbell isn’t looking for more tickets, he’s trying to feed his family.
“It took us months to save for those tickets, you know, we planned on it for months, it’s not like we just came up with that money right away, you know. It was planned out and it was a special birthday gift that [my son] wanted and my wife wanted to give to him and it didn’t happen, but we can’t even get the money back to do anything else for him or use the money for our family right now,” said Campbell.
Campbell recently informed WMAR-2 News Mallory Sofastaii that StubHub agreed to issue him a refund, however, he was told it could take up to 120 days.
Sofastaii has heard from other consumers who obtained refunds after filing a complaint with the Maryland Office of the Attorney General Consumer Protection Division.
So far, the office has received 36 complaints since February. Click here to file a complaint.
