Ticket refund rigmarole riles
Irate ticketholders sick ofmonths of delays on refunds are blasting the ticketing company who handled sales for cancelled Manawatu¯ events.
When large events were banned in March due to coronavirus, Ticket Rocket announced refunds could take up to 60 working days to be processed, due to the sheer number of cancelled events throughout the country.
But many people are still waiting for their refunds, and are growing increasingly frustrated by the agency’s mute response.
Palmerston North woman Jill Dempster said it had been difficult enough simply trying to reach Ticket Rocket staff, and she would have given up on her refund had it been a couple of tickets. But she had $600 at stake.
Dempster bought six tickets for a family outing to the New Zealand Military Tattoo, which was to be held in April.
When she couldn’t get through to Ticket Rocket, she tried the venue, Central Energy Trust Arena, and organiser Palmerston North City Council. They both directed her to the ticket agency.
‘‘Andwhen I finally got them by email, they told me there was a delay, which I already knew, and I’d get my refund bymay 10.’’
She has yet to receive an update on her refund.
‘‘It’s been so long it begs the question, if you don’t keep at them do they just forget about you?’’
Stuff made repeated attempts to seek comment from Ticket
Rocket, to no avail.
Chris Cowley remains out-ofpocket $140 for two tickets to Menopause the Musical, which he would’ve seen on March 21 were it not for the pandemic.
He confirmed his bank details for a refund in early April. But no matter how often he tried, he said it had been impossible to get a straight answer on when the refundwould be paid – and he knew plenty of people in a similar boat.
‘‘The 0800 number’s not answered at all now and emails trigger an automated response saying there are delays due to Covid.’’
Cowley understood it was a difficult time, but it had been almost threeweeks beyond the promised latest date for a refund, with no updates or explanation.
‘‘It’s appalling ... The fact The Regent is still advertising shows using Ticket Rocket for sales makes me incandescent with rage.’’
The theatre’s acting manager David Walsh said he spoke to Ticket Rocket’s general manager this week due to complaints and inquiries he was receiving on refunds. Walsh said he was told the agency had been on a skeleton crew since the lockdown came into effect, and had been overwhelmed processing refunds for hundreds of cancelled shows.
‘‘They said they’ve processed all the online credit card repayments for [our cancelled shows].
‘‘And they were working through thousands upon thousands of emails to check bank account details and manually launch refunds for everybody else.’’
Walsh said the Regent wanted to ensure its patrons were being properly taken care of, so staff undertook a random spot check of people who had bought tickets online.
‘‘Everyone we contacted had got their refund.
‘‘So, Ticket Rocket’s response has given us confidence in continuing to work with them. Butwe will be keeping a close eye on the situation.’’
City council spokesman Don Martin said they had been advised through Ticket Rocket’s system that about 90 per cent of New Zealand Military Tattoo tickets had been refunded.