Sarah Taylor and her husband were excited to see one of their favorite artists, Beck, play at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Sunday, November 27th.
Beck was part of the Arcade Fire tour, but pulled out in October after Arcade Fire frontman Win Butler was accused of sexual misconduct. Butler denied the allegations.
“The main act we were going to see was Beck,” Taylor said. “We saw Arcade Fire and they’re great, but it wasn’t really our vibe, so we decided to get a refund.”
The Calgary woman tried to get a refund through Ticketmaster, but had no luck. She listed them on StubHub for a fraction of the price they paid for them, which was $300. As of Sunday morning, many tickets went for $50 or less on the site.
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“I was completely naive to think it would be a simple return process,” Taylor said. “I’ve never been to a point where I’ve just been shut down every step of the way. I tried emailing, I tried calling, I tried going through all their apps.
“We couldn’t list them on Ticketmaster and at this point we’re just so frustrated with the process, so we just decided we’re going to take a loss and not go to the show,” Taylor said.
She and her husband ended up canceling their hotel room for the weekend in Edmonton.
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There is no official process for getting a refund, but some have had success.
When Roxanne Harde learned of the accusations against Butler, she said she was disappointed and wanted to stand by the alleged victims.
“None of us wanted to see Win Butler and Arcade Fire, so we decided at that point we’d go anyway and we’d go see Beck and then go out to dinner,” says Harde, who bought five tickets for a total of $2 000 bought.
But when Beck canceled, the Camrose woman wanted her money back, too.
“It was just a nightmare. There was no way to get (a refund) through the Ticketmaster website. It was just a loop they put you in,” Harde said. “So my daughter and I started trolling Ticketmaster, Arcade Fire, and then finally Live Nation on social media,”
Harde added that her daughter has gotten some DMs from people who got a refund through Live Nation Alberta.
“I contacted Live Nation Alberta through Facebook and started a conversation and it just kept going,” she said. “It was about 15 messages a day saying that I had spoken to a lawyer and that I was willing to get involved in a class action lawsuit.
“It’s a bait and switch. This is false advertising. This is not the concert we paid for. You have to give people a refund when it’s no longer the concert they paid for.”
Harde said she finally heard back from Live Nation Alberta and got her $2,000 back this week.
“It was insane because I mean we were literally trolls. Just direct messages and replies on Facebook and on Twitter saying I want a refund. You lost Beck. This is not the program I paid for. I want a refund, with that message over and over probably I’m guessing over 50 posts,” Harde said.
“What it really took was for people to see those posts and message us to say, ‘Hey, I got a refund and this is how I did it.’
Harde said the government must step in to hold companies accountable. She said she feels like consumers are not being protected.
“I actually talked to a lawyer about a class action lawsuit because I think there should be one. I think the band and Ticketmaster and Live Nation should be held accountable,” Harde said
Two online petitions have been created asking Ticketmaster to offer the option of a refund.
Arcade Fire will be playing in Toronto on December 1st and 2nd.
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