October 27, 2020 – Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced Tuesday that he was able to make an agreement with Ticketmaster and able to return $71 million to consumers who bought tickets to live events in Arizona that were either cancelled, postponed or rescheduled due to the pandemic.
“Consumers who spent hundreds or even thousands of dollars on tickets to live events were left in limbo because of COVID-19,” said Attorney General Brnovich. “While we’re all sensitive to the plight of artists and venues impacted by COVID-19, companies have to honor refund representations. As a result of our investigation, Ticketmaster worked with our office to ensure full refunds for consumers who purchased tickets for Arizona events that didn’t take place as scheduled.”
Brnovich’s office says in a press release that before March 13, 2020 Ticketmaster promised to automatically make refunds for cancelled, postponed or rescheduled events within seven to ten business days. A day later, they apparently changed their website to say that it was up to Event Organizers to set the refunds.
A month later, Brnovich sent a letter to Ticketmaster expressing his concerns to change the refund policies for fans and consumers.
“It was really important to me to make sure that not only because we received those complaints but when I started seeing the numbers of how many millions of dollars we were talking about, how many events we’re talking about, I knew we had to do something,” Brnovich said. “I know how expensive concerts are now, or shows, or events and so I mean, people working hard and we know it’s been tough with COVID but just because we’re in a pandemic doesn’t mean that a corporation doesn’t owe you a refund when you paid for something and they haven’t delivered on it.”
Ticketmaster worked with the Attorney General’s Office and was able to get $71,030,000 back for refunds for 650 events in Arizona.
“It would have been really stressful if I wasn’t able to get that money back, if I was on a really tight budget or situation or something,” said Matt Hickman, who got his money back after five months. “For those individuals who did lose their source of income or things became tight, now they’re out this money to an event they can’t even go to, or an event that they were expecting to be able to go to with the assumption that they would have an income. I don’t know, I’m pretty blessed to not have that happen.”
If you purchased tickets before March 14, 2020 and have not gotten an email from Ticketmaster offering a refund of a cancelled, postponed or rescheduled event in Arizona due to COVID-19, file a consumer complaint with the Attorney General’s office here.
However, according to a press release from the Attorney General’s Office, the agreement with Ticketmaster is still pending court approval.
By Jessica Goodman, AZ Family
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