Stubhub failed to provide tickets bought, refusing refund

Strictly_Fan

What did you buy?
Tickets for Strictly Come Dancing for my disabled parents.

When did you buy it?
November 2016.

Where from? (internet or in store - it DOES make a difference)
Stubhub - online third party reseller

How did you pay? (cash/cheque/debit card/credit card etc)
Barclays debit card

What went wrong?
See below

What are the vendors telling you?
See below

What solution or remedy are you looking for? (Companies may Repair / Refund / Replace)
Full refund

The details
My elderly, disabled parents are Strictly super-fans. For Christmas, I wanted to get them tickets for the live tour at Newcastle Arena. As accessible tickets weren't available direct from the Arena at the time, I bought two tickets via Stubhub, at a vastly inflated price. I know I paid over the odds, but I was prepared to do so to make sure my parents had the best experience possible.

I bought two tickets via Stubhub at the beginning of November. Yesterday, I had an email from Stubhub saying there had been "a glitch" and that the tickets I bought were no longer available. Basically, the seller has sold them via another re-sale site, or for an even more inflated price.

Stubhub offered me either a full refund, or alternative tickets and a partial refund. I accepted the alternative tickets and partial refund, but, fifteen minutes later, after checking the Arena website and realising these tickets were not wheelchair accessible, I replied to Stubhub again and said that the tickets were not suitable and that I wanted a refund.

Stubhub now say that "they cannot issue refunds", despite having offered me one not fifteen minutes earlier, and that "I have entered a new contract with the seller". I have been on the phone with three different Stubhub agents who all just repeat the same party line. In the process of trying to resolve this, one of the agents told me that it's the same seller (who sold my original tickets to another buyer) who is now refusing to give me a full refund. Had I known this, I never would have accepted the alternative tickets, even if they were wheelchair accessible, as the seller is patently untrustworthy. I would have no guarantee that he would not have done the same thing again.

Stubhub have now come back to me to say that the seller has another couple of accessible tickets available and are trying to pressure me to accept these. However, I have looked on the Newcastle Arena website and these tickets (the exact same seats) he is offering are available direct from the Arena for £75. He is poised to buy them from the Arena and then sell them to me for £600 each!

I am refusing to accept these, not only because he is trying to extort even more money out of me; but also because I refuse to allow Stubhub to tell me I have entered another contract with the seller and then hold me to these tickets.

The tickets they I briefly agreed to accept in exchange are not fit for my parents to use. And I would rather go direct to the Arena and buy new tickets for my parents than give the seller or Stubhub any more money.

Also, Stubhub now say that rather than delivering the tickets to my parents' address, as previously stated when I bought the original tickets in November, that they will have to collect the new tickets from the box office. This is completely unacceptable as my parents are not physically capable of queuing to collect tickets.

The event is on Wednesday next week.

Do I have any chance of getting back my money? As yet, I have no refund from Stubhub, not even the partial refund they offered if I accepted the second set of tickets.

stuartJo1989

Very unfortunate about the tickets being re-sold, but I can't help but think that you are partially to blame for not checking accessibility BEFORE accepting the new tickets! Nor did you check the Arena website which now sold tickets for £75 and, had you actually accepted the full refund from Stubhub, would have resulted in some serious money back!

I'm pretty sure that Stubhub/whoever sold you the tickets must either:

- Provide the goods as described + at the agreed cost (or any agreed modifications/changes)
- Refund you
(and cannot subsequently charge you MORE for what you paid without you agreeing)

In that respect, I think it is pretty underhanded if they've jacked up the price of the tickets. BUT that would also depend on the wording of the email or what you agreed to..... If they said "Do you want replacement tickets which will cost £x more?" then fair enough to them. If not, and they just said "Do you want replacement tickets? Yes? Ok good, that will be £x more" then you CAN turn round and say "no, I don't agree to that".

In terms of your parents being "not physically capable of queuing to collect tickets." - If you ring the venue directly then they MAY, out of courtesy, fast track your parents and/or get someone to meet them on site. That is assuming that you aren't exaggerating about their situation (how do they normally deal with queues for, say, the bus or supermarket etc?). Plus, if the show is next Weds then it is very unlikely that your tickets will arrive in time. Even if this was all a few weeks ago, it is not all uncommon for companies to do this sort of thing.