This woman got scammed out of $12,000 Taylor Swift tickets. You’ll never guess how StubHub handled the situation.
Concert tickets have become notoriously expensive, especially to see major artists like Beyoncé and Taylor Swift.
On average, Taylor Swift tickets cost a whopping $1,088, CNBC reported. This puts Swift right behind Adele, whose tickets run around $1,243. Compare that to other huge artists like megastar Beyoncé, whose average ticket price is $323, and Drake, whose tickets average around $450.
There are various factors affecting the sharp increase in ticket prices including that artist make much less from streaming compared to when CDs and vinyl were king, increased demand, and resellers, according to Vox and BBC.
Taylor Swift tickets go missing
StubHub, a popular ticket reseller, has come under fire over deceptive practices and hidden fees.
Earlier this year, the attorney general for Washington, D.C., sued the platform for advertising deceptively low prices. These were then hiked up with added fees that were sometimes more than 40% of the advertised price.
And this isn’t the only bad business they’re accused of. Multiple users have accused them of mishandling tickets and refunds.
Kristen (@kgipson26), an avid Taylor Swift fan who planned a whole trip around her concert and bought handmade Taylor Swift jackets, is one of the latest people to fall victim to StubHub.
In a viral video with more than 280,000 views, the Swiftie Kristen shared the precarious situation she was in with StubHub.
Kristen explained that she “worked her butt off” and waited tables and picked up extra shifts to afford $12,000 third-row Taylor Swift tickets.
But now it seems that despite dropping that hunk of cash, she won’t be seeing her favorite artist live.
A few weeks ago, she said someone hacked her account, transferred her tickets to themselves, and accepted the transfer.
She immediately called StubHub, which told her they’d start an investigation. Do not worry, though, as she’d be covered by their FanProtect Guarantee and would, at minimum, get new tickets.
@kgipson26 HELP! STUBHUB WONT REPLACE OR REFUND MY $12,000 STOLEN TAYLOR SWIFT TICKETS @StubHub @Ticketmaster @Taylor Nation @Taylor Swift #stubhub #stubhubscam #stubhubhelp #stolentickets #taylorswift #theerastour #swifttok #swifties #swift #taylor #faketicket ♬ original sound – Kristen
Unfortunate news
“Today is when my heart was shattered,” Kristen said after about two weeks of back and forth with StubHub.
“They have decided through their internal department to not refund me my $12,000 or offer me new tickets,” she said.
Kristen tried to speak with a manager but was told that they were all at a manager level, and there was no one else to talk to. “The decision was final,” she said she was told.
She asked for her case to be reviewed again and spoke with two other people to no avail. She opened an investigation with her credit card, contacted local news stations, and emailed StubHub executives—still nothing.
“I’m back at square one and not really sure where to go from here,” Kristen said.
Finally a resolution
It seems that sometimes the only way to get big corporations, like StubHub, to take you seriously is to blast them online.
After Hannah’s video went viral, a StubHub representative told her that she’d not only get a refund but also a $1,000 voucher.
Now, the question Kristen is toying with is whether she should repurchase tickets through StubHub or not.
Commenters react
“I’m glad you’re getting a refund but I don’t understand. If they know your account was taken over and your tickets were transferred to someone else. Why can they not just give you back your tickets?” a person pointed out.
“I’d use a different site to buy the tickets and save the voucher for something else that’s less exciting in the future LOL,” another suggested.
“Glad you got your refund but they should provide an answer/ let everyone know this won’t happen again? Like someone just has your tickets and that’s it??” a commenter wrote.
The Daily Dot reached out to StubHub via email.
In a TikTok direct message, Kristen added the following:
“Originally when I bought the tickets there was never an option for me to claim the tickets or to transfer them to my Ticketmaster account. There seemed to be a lot of confusion in the comments as to why I didn’t transfer them to myself for security, but I never had that option.”
“I also received a lot of criticism for spending that large amount of money, but I split it with a family member,” she continued. “I picked up bartending and server shifts to make a dream happen.”
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