PHOENIX, AZ (CelebrityAccess) — Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced his office has secured an agreement with Ticketmaster for the return of $71 million in refunds for consumers in the state who purchased events that were canceled or postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Brnovich took Ticketmaster to task over changes to their refund police in March which changed previous language promising automatic refunds within 7-10 days for events that had been canceled or postponed.
As the full extent of the pandemic became clear, Ticketmaster amended its website to state that the company would only issue refunds automatically for cancelled events and allowed Event Organizers (promoters, artists, and venues) to set refund limitations on postponed or rescheduled events.
“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.”
Now, Brnovich says his office negotiated full refunds for customers for 650 events in Arizona, and that every customer who purchased tickets for an Arizona event should have received an option to obtain a full refund for the event if it was cancelled, rescheduled, or postponed due to COVID-19.
As part of the consent agreement with Arizona, Ticketmaster agrees to clearly sclose its purchase policy and material facts about its refund policies for cancelled, postponed, or rescheduled events before consumers purchase their tickets, Brnovich’s office said.
