Adrienne Gil paid StubHub $4,799 for tickets to a Taylor Swift concert.
StubHub delivered the tickets — for the wrong date.
Now Gil wants StubHub to cover the $6,784 she had to pay to get into the show.
Impossible? Maybe, maybe not.
But before I get to this case, I have a few questions.
First of all, who spends $4,799 on concert tickets? I mean, even if I really liked Taylor Swift, a price tag like that is enough to make me, you know, shake it off?
(I promise that’s the last Taylor Swift song title in this story.)
Also, have people stopped reading their ticket confirmations? Because this looks like the kind of problem that could have been addressed before Gil showed up at the concert venue. I’ll get to the answers in a minute.
This case raises three important issues:
- Does StubHub’s FanProtect Guarantee protect fans when tickets are invalid?
- What should happen when tickets don’t work?
- Do companies owe compensation for emotional distress caused by their mistakes?
First, let’s take a look at what happened to Gil.
“StubHub caused emotional stress”
Gil had paid $4,799 for two tickets to a Taylor Swift performance in Toronto. That breaks down to about $2,400 per ticket. But the actual tickets didn’t cost that much. The Rogers Center only charged her $3,551, but Stubhub added $1,248 in fees.
And there’s the answer to my first question — why are concert tickets so expensive?
The price of concert tickets is on the rise. It jumped by 23 percent in 2023, to an average of $130, according to a survey by the trade publication Pollstar, driven by higher costs and Ticketmaster’s concert ticket monopoly. And apparently, the Millennials and Gen Yers think nothing of dropping thousands of dollars on concert tickets.
Who knew?
When Gil arrived at Toronto’s Rogers Centre, her tickets didn’t work. A venue representative told her they were for the next day. But Gil already had a ticket to fly back to Montpelier, Vt., where she lives.
Which brings me to question #2. Didn’t Gil read the receipt? She did. The receipt was for that day, even though the ticket was for the next day.
StubHub’s FanProtect Guarantee promises you’ll get valid tickets to your show or your money back.
But when the system fails at the venue gate, customers like Gil face a difficult choice: miss the show or pay inflated last-minute prices for new tickets.
A representative instructed Gil to return the tickets through Ticketmaster’s app and promised replacement passes within “15 to 20 minutes.”
They never came.
“We waited outside for over an hour,” Gil remembers. “No callback. No new tickets.”
Gil bought new tickets on the spot through the same platform, spending $6,784.
StubHub refunded her original tickets, but that’s not enough for her. She wants the platform to cover her expenses.
“I would like to request the difference in ticket price and compensation for the StubHub fee. Stub Hub guarantees tickets. StubHub issued the wrong ticket and caused emotional stress and financial strain,” she told me.
Is that a legitimate request?
Does StubHub’s FanProtect Guarantee protect fans when tickets are invalid?
StubHub’s policy sounds airtight: “We’ll find you comparable tickets or give you a refund.”
But the devil’s in the details — and the timeline.
When Gil’s tickets failed, StubHub had less than an hour to deliver replacements for an almost sold-out show. Its system clearly couldn’t handle that kind of pressure — or respond swiftly. (Sorry, couldn’t help myself.) And it wasn’t set up to cover any additional costs resulting from a glitch in the system. In other words, if Gil had to pay extra for a new ticket, StubHub’s FanProtect Guarantee isn’t set up to compensate her for the difference.
Sometimes, what a guarantee like this doesn’t say is as important as what it does say. If she waited the extra day and used the tickets StubHub sent, it wouldn’t have covered her travel expenses for a flight a day later, or for missed work, meals, or any incidentals. And, as she found out, it wouldn’t cover the cost of a new ticket and the accompanying fees.
And in her case, the FanProtect Guarantee wasn’t much of a guarantee. It was more of a promise to fix things … if it was convenient.
What should happen when tickets don’t work?
This case raises an interesting question. What is StubHub’s responsibility when things go wrong? Should it be on the hook for extra hotel expenses or missed work time? What about emotional distress?
I’ll get to the distress in a minute. But first, let’s talk about the extra expenses.
StubHub needs a “rapid response” system that addresses ticket problems in real time. Gil tried to contact StubHub but was referred to Ticketmaster, which never got back to her. If StubHub really wants to do customer service right, it needs to find a way of resolving concert ticket problems as they occur — not hours or days later.
Such a system doesn’t exist.
The problem is that tickets pass through several intermediaries, kind of like travel. First the venue, then Ticketmaster, then a third party such as StubHub. And there’s no one to take responsibility for the ticket when something goes wrong. In fact, StubHub’s FanProtect Guarantee ensures that a platform like StubHub has only a limited liability. Most fans don’t realize that when they plunk down thousands of dollars to see Taylor Swift or some other mega-star.
But realistically, what does StubHub owe someone like Gil?
Do companies owe compensation for emotional distress caused by their mistakes?
Although Gil feels she deserves to be compensated for the emotional distress caused by the StubHub error, she only asked StubHub to cover her extra expenses. Let’s break those down.
Does StubHub owe me money for emotional distress? The answer is almost always no. Stubhub, like most businesses, will not pay a customer for pain and suffering caused by a ticketing problem. You would have to sue StubHub for such compensation. Our advocacy team is unable to push for that kind of compensation.
Does StubHub owe me money for additional expenses? Our team always recommends that you get approval for any additional expenses you incur as the result of a problem. Sometimes, a business will tell you it’s OK to book another night at a hotel to see a concert the next day, and that they’ll cover it. If it does, get it in writing.
Whose interpretation of the contract matters? The business gets to decide — at least, until you go to court. Then a judge gets to make the call. So if you think StubHub should cover your costs under its FanProtect Guarantee, you’ll need to convince StubHub that your interpretation is correct. Otherwise, it gets to decide.
Could Gil have avoided this? It’s possible that event ticket insurance might have covered StubHub’s failure, although it wouldn’t have provided any compensation for lost hotel reservations or transportation if she’d decided to stay and use her original tickets. Gil could have also reached out to one of the StubHub executive contacts for help — but again, they would have ultimately decided what to compensate her, if anything.
Here’s what StubHub did when we contacted it
Our advocate Dwayne Coward reached out to StubHub to find out about Gil’s case.
“As the customer stated, she received tickets for the incorrect date,” a representative told him. “Per our FanProtect Guarantee, if there’s an issue with a ticket, we’ll work to find an equivalent or better one, or provide a full refund. As we weren’t able to replace the tickets in the short timeframe before the event, a full refund was provided.”
What about the compensation she requested?
“In addition, due to the buyer’s experience at the door, we are also refunding the difference in ticket prices in the amount of $1,904 and offering a coupon for $1,696, equivalent to 25 percent of the cost of the new tickets.”
Gil is grateful for the extra refund but says she’s unlikely to use the credit. But something is better than nothing.
