A Rage Against The Machine fan from San Francisco has filed a lawsuit against Ticketmaster, accusing the ticketing company of “deceptive practices relating to their sale of live events tickets and refusal to provide refunds for live events that have been rescheduled or postponed.”
The male fan claims he spent $600 on tickets for a Rage show that was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He is seeking to represent a class action of would-be concertgoers who have not received Ticketmaster refunds after the coronavirus outbreak forced the cancellation or postponement of most large events.
The plaintiff is seeking damages, injunctive relief and restitution while requiring Ticketmaster to, among other things, reverse the changes they have sought to make to their refund policy as it relates to tickets purchased prior to March 30th.
After the coronavirus outbreak forced the cancellation or postponement of most public gatherings, Ticketmaster retroactively revised its policies applicable to prior ticket sales to allow for refunds only for canceled events, not postponed or rescheduled ones. Over the weekend, due to intense backlash, Ticketmaster announced it will issue refunds for more than 18,000 events postponed due to the crisis.
Ticketmaster has reportedly canceled or postponed 30,000 events, totaling $2 billion in ticket sales. There are currently another 25,000 events still scheduled to take place through the end of 2020. Refunds for events that are only “postponed” will be available for 30 days starting May 1st.
