Ticketmaster are making refunds harder to get with their updated policy
While people are struggling financially from the colossal number of layoffs due to the ongoing COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, a lot of people have been looking to get refunds for concert tickets for shows that likely aren’t happening but Ticketmaster are making things very difficult for people trying to get their money back.
The company quietly changed their refund policy to only cover cancelled events instead of postponed or rescheduled ones.
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Just a couple of weeks ago, it came to light how bad ticket resellers like StubHub, Viagogo and others are doing financially.
According to Billboard, the National Association of Ticket Brokers are considering requesting a bailout and StubHub is backing out of their former refund policy to offer instead a 120 percent voucher for future concerts.
The association is gathering major ticket resellers together to collectively bargain for a financial bailout. On top of that, StubHub similarly made a quiet change to their refund policy to stop people from actually getting their money back.
People are fighting back though as a $5 million lawsuit has been filed against StubHub. A Wisconsin man purchased tickets to an NHL game with StubHub’s money-back guarantee policy. The question then becomes if StubHub changed their policy on refunds for postponed events as opposed to cancelled ones in a reasonable time frame in accordance with their own policies.
Now, it’s coming out that Ticketmaster is doing a similar thing.
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According to Digital Music News, the company has quietly updated their policy to only cover cancelled events instead of postponed and rescheduled shows too. Further, they’re trying to retroactively apply the policy to shows before the mass event cancellations that happened in March.
Previously, visitors to their site were met with a message saying “Refunds are available if your event is postponed, rescheduled, or canceled.” Now, the same page says “Refunds are available if your event is canceled” with exceptions made for MLB games and the US Open tennis tournament.
Ticketmaster also has a guideline page for coronavirus refunds explaining their policy further. They explain in the page that refunds for rescheduled or postponed events will only happen if the organizer explicitly sets it up.
In a scenario where they don’t, Ticketmaster is encouraging people to test their luck at reselling through their own resale market. Sure, they’re waiving their own fees but it’s highly unlikely anyone is ordering tickets for shows that may never happen right now. You can read their full policy here.
If you can’t resell your ticket and also can’t make a new date for any shows you have tickets for, Ticketmaster essentially will not be here to help you.
What do you think of Ticketmaster changing their refund policy amid the coronavirus pandemic? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
