Ellen Kwan-Portal just can’t let go of her Adele tickets.
When the pop star postponed her Las Vegas residency, Kwan-Portal decided to resell her three tickets on StubHub, the platform through which she’d bought her tickets. StubHub promised to waive seller fees for tickets because of the postponement.
But when she sold her tickets, StubHub charged her $747 in fees anyway. What followed was a five-month odyssey of phone calls, promises, and frustration.
“Every time I call them, they acknowledge their error, and say they are working on it,” she says. “But they still have my money.”
Her case raises several key questions:
- Can companies change their policies after a transaction?
- What recourse do consumers have when a company fails to honor its promises?
- How can you protect yourself from hidden fees?
Can we help Kwan-Portal find a refund? Let’s see.
“Please let me know what else I can do”
Kwan-Portal bought three tickets to Adele’s “Weekends with Adele” show for her April 2024 residency in Las Vegas.
When the concert was postponed because of Adele’s illness, StubHub sent her an email assuring her that fees would be waived if it resold her tickets.
Kwan-Portal took the company at its word. She sold her tickets to another concertgoer last September. Then she saw a $747 deduction on her ticket sale, which Stubhub readily admitted were fees.
Kwan-Portal contacted StubHub immediately by phone. Over the next five months, she spoke with multiple customer service representatives, each of whom acknowledged the error and promised to fix it.
But nothing happened.
By January, Kwan-Portal had reached a dead end, and she turned to Elliott Advocacy for help.
“Please let me know what else I can do,” she said.
Can companies change their refund policies after a transaction?
StubHub sets its refund rules, so it’s allowed to waive them. But when it does, it should also keep its word.
When a company makes a promise — like waiving fees for resold tickets — it creates a binding agreement. Changing the rules after the fact is a breach of trust and, in some cases, a violation of consumer protection laws.
Or is it?
According to StubHub’s terms of service, it can do pretty much whatever it wants.
We may charge fees for selling and/or buying Tickets through our Site and/or otherwise using our Services, as well as delivery or fulfillment fees (collectively referred to as “Service Fees”). Service Fees may vary depending on event type, Ticket type and location.
We may in our sole and absolute discretion change our Service Fees at any time, including after you list your Tickets. Any applicable Service Fees including any taxes if applicable will be disclosed to you prior to listing or buying a Ticket. We may charge and/or retain Service Fees if you do not fulfill your contractual obligations under this User Agreement.
In other words, StubHub knows it’s wrong to charge fees even after it agrees not to, but it still reserves the right to do so.
Come on.
StubHub’s email to Kwan-Portal explicitly stated that fees would be waived for resold tickets. The company charged her anyway. This raises concerns about whether StubHub’s policies are consistently applied — or if they’re subject to change without notice.
The lesson is clear: Save all communications with the company. Kwan-Portal’s paper trail, including the email promising waived fees, was crucial in resolving her case. Without it, she would have had no remedy. (Sorry, there I go quoting Adele lyrics — sorry about that.)
What recourse do consumers have when a company fails to honor its promises?
When a company breaks its promise, consumers have several options. First, they can escalate the issue within the company.
Kwan-Portal did this by calling StubHub multiple times. That was an understandable step, but not the most effective in her case.
Instead, she should have connected with StubHub by email. I list the names, numbers and email addresses of the key StubHub executives on my consumer advocacy site, Elliott.org. A brief, polite message might have led to a quick resolution. Having something in writing is vitally important when dealing with a problem like a refund. A verbal promise is essentially worthless, since you can’t prove it was made.
I should note that StubHub is on our Red List of the worst companies for customer service.
If internal escalation fails, there are other resources. Kwan-Portal could have turned to her state attorney general for help. Often a politely worded complaint is all it takes to resolve a problem like this.
And there’s also small-claims court. Kwan-Portal, who is based in Massachusetts, could have taken her case to court and recovered the $747. (In her state, the People’s Court has a claim limit of $7,000.)
How can consumers protect themselves from hidden fees?
Hidden fees are one of the most common complaints we get. Kwan-Portal did one thing that made her case airtight: She kept the email from StubHub in which it promised to waive the fees. Without it, she wouldn’t have had much of a case.
There are other ways to steer clear of hidden fees when you make a concert ticket purchase:
- Read the fine print. Extra fees are often lurking in the terms and conditions — or, as with StubHub, the company will give itself a license to liberally charge them.
- Use a credit card. Credit cards offer stronger consumer protections than debit cards, including the ability to dispute charges. If Kwan-Portal had paid for her tickets with a debit card, her options for recourse might have been more limited.
- Ask questions. If a company’s policies are unclear, get clarification before completing the transaction. A few minutes of due diligence can save hours of frustration later.
But perhaps the best way to avoid hidden fees is to not use a ticket platform that charges outrageous fees in the first place. If you can buy tickets at the box office, completely circumventing these overpriced platforms, consider doing so.
“It shouldn’t have been this hard”
I contacted StubHub on Kwan-Portal’s behalf. Even though most of her communication with StubHub had been by phone, she had the one document that proved her case — the email promising to waive StubHub’s fees.
Shortly after that, Kwan-Portal received an email that told her she should expect a refund in five days. And finally, she received every penny of the $747 on her credit card.
“It shouldn’t have been this hard,” she told me. “I’m so grateful for your help. You and your work are so appreciated.”
