Relief after emotional ticket ride
A TOWNSVILLE family struck gold when they purchased tickets to Wednesday’s Origin game but were put through an emotional rollercoaster after having them stripped, then later returned, because of a loophole.
Greg Budge jumped online last Wednesday to buy tickets during the Maroons’ members sale at 1pm.
To Mr Budge’s delight, he was one of the lucky ones to score tickets for himself, his sister, brother-in-law and some friends.
“I got tickets straight away. I just logged in and bought the tickets all sweet,” Mr Budge said.
“We thought, ‘ Fantastic, we’re going to the Origin’.”
But Mr Budge’s world came crashing down on Friday.
“The first email was from Paypal saying they’re giving me a full refund,” he said. “I contacted Ticketmaster but they were hard to get on to so I went to the office at Stockland.
“The guy checked out the account and said because I’m a Victorian my tickets had been resold.”
Mr Budge, a retiree from regional Victoria, arrived in Annandale over two months ago to live with his sister and her partner.
He plans on staying with them until the end of the year, but hadn’t changed his address on a number of online accounts, including Ticketmaster.
“When I got the email I was absolutely pissed off,” the 59-year-old said.
“When you log on and you have very little time to get tickets you don’t think ‘Oh I wonder what address I’m under’, you just want to get tickets.
“We were stoked and then to find out two days later they were gone was terrible. Had my brother-in-law logged on and got the tickets we would have been OK.”
Mr Budge received an email from Ticketmaster to explain his tickets had been taken back due to the Covid-19 outbreak in Victoria.
The Townsville Bulletin contacted both Ticketmaster and the NRL for comment on Saturday. A spokesman for the NRL said Mr Budge’s tickets would be returned.
“Any customer who has a Victorian profile but is currently residing outside of a Covid hotspot will have their tickets reinstated.”
Mr Budge was delighted with the news.
“I am absolutely stoked, I can’t wait to tell everyone we are getting the tickets back,” Mr Budge said.
“This is amazing, I can’t believe it.”