Ticketmaster refunds Rolling Stones concert goer out $800 after CTV News questions policy

A Calgary concert goer has been refunded his money, after reaching out to CTV News questioning a policy on Ticketmaster’s website. Curtis Pelletier paid nearly $900 for his two tickets for the Rolling Stones concert in Vancouver on July 5. Pelletier was later invited to a wedding. He then went online, thinking he could get a refund or resell his tickets.

"With Ticketmaster, I’ve been able to list my tickets for sale before and sell them, but with this they actually discontinued the option to sell those tickets,” he said. Instead, he was given an offer of $73 for his two tickets through Ticketmaster’s service that allows fans to set their offer price to ticket holders.

"I’m quite frustrated, I just feel like I wasn't getting any straight answers from Ticketmaster and when I was speaking with someone, they were saying, ‘You can only use a third party website to sell your tickets, you can't use ours’." According to Ticketmaster, removing the resell option wasn’t their doing.

In a statement to CTV News, the company says refund guidelines and reselling policies are something that’s decided by event organizers. Pelletier’s situation is a lesson about the importance of reading the fine print, according to one lawyer. "For most people, you're clicking that box 'I’ve read and agreed to the terms and conditions,’ but it will give information about whether or not those tickets can be resold or refunded and in what circumstances that would occur,” said Kyla Lee with Acumen Law.

She said the rule could be something strategically chosen to prevent scalpers. “It appears this could be a response to people buying good tickets for expensive shows and reselling them at an elevated price,” she said. After CTV News reached out to Ticketmaster, the company later informed Curtis Pelletier his money would be refunded..