Concert cancelled - how to get a refund for concert tickets

Emily_Joy

The tickets were originally bought on the 1st of January for a concert to take place on 20th of March 2020. Which was subsequently moved to November 2020 and then to "Spring 2021" without specific date. Finally, it was cancelled - we've received a letter from organizers on 19th of April 2021. The letter also stated the tickets will be refunded in full. According to the Eventbrite website "the event ended", I am assuming this means the event took place.

I think we will trying calling the bank and then our only option is the small claims court. A slight complication is that the letter stating cancellation is in Dutch, not in English.

ItsComingRome

Emily_Joy said:

The tickets were originally bought on the 1st of January for a concert to take place on 20th of March 2020. Which was subsequently moved to November 2020 and then to "Spring 2021" without specific date. Finally, it was cancelled - we've received a letter from organizers on 19th of April 2021. The letter also stated the tickets will be refunded in full. According to the Eventbrite website "the event ended", I am assuming this means the event took place.

I think we will trying calling the bank and then our only option is the small claims court. A slight complication is that the letter stating cancellation is in Dutch, not in English.

You're out of time then I'm afraid, albeit only just.

ItsComingRome

born_again said:

ItsComingRome said:

So essentially a company could push the date back indefinitely and the customer would have no chargeback rights?

Once it gets passed to 540 days from the original purchase date. Yes..

But you should still have your consumer rights.

That seems like a rather bizarre loophole to allow companies to exploit.

born_again

ItsComingRome said:

born_again said:

ItsComingRome said:

So essentially a company could push the date back indefinitely and the customer would have no chargeback rights?

Once it gets passed to 540 days from the original purchase date. Yes..

But you should still have your consumer rights.

That seems like a rather bizarre loophole to allow companies to exploit.

We have faced a rather bizarre year.... This type of problem never happened pre covid. All you got was simple event cancelled & maybe the odd reschedule due to artist illness. Not move it on again & again, due to restrictions.

But as you said. Sadly is just out of time (no leeway on it either). So they will need to go via their consumer rights & maybe court to get the funds back.

Emily_Joy

ItsComingRome said:

born_again said:

Once it gets passed to 540 days from the original purchase date. Yes..
But you should still have your consumer rights.

That seems like a rather bizarre loophole to allow companies to exploit.

According to  Which (is this a trustworthy source? - I am not sure) "If an event is rescheduled to another date, your tickets should be valid. If you can't make the rescheduled date, then you're entitled to a full refund."

born_again

Emily_Joy said:

ItsComingRome said:

born_again said:

Once it gets passed to 540 days from the original purchase date. Yes..
But you should still have your consumer rights.

That seems like a rather bizarre loophole to allow companies to exploit.

According to  Which (is this a trustworthy source? - I am not sure) "If an event is rescheduled to another date, your tickets should be valid. If you can't make the rescheduled date, then you're entitled to a full refund."

Well that would be a legal consumer right. Which you may well have to take via the courts. 

Certainly nothing that the card regulations can help with.

Emily_Joy

Update. The bank predictably told us that it is too late. We thought we could go to small claims court if necessary, but for this we need Eventbrite to recognize that the concert has been cancelled. Therefore we wrote to the concert organizers asking them to provide a letter in English confirming that the concert has been cancelled, so that we can try again to convince Eventbrite and get a refund. To our surprise, the organizers wrote to us about a week ago saying that they will issue a refund themselves. Yesterday the funds were credited back.

Thank you everyone