Under a settlement with the Colorado Department of Law, StubHub has agreed to issue refunds of more than $3 million to over 8,000 customers in Colorado. One of the country's largest venue ticket brokers initially refused to pay refunds to customers who had bought tickets to concerts, sports, and other events that were canceled because of the pandemic.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said that StubHub had agreed to pay a total of $3,120,442 in refunds, which will be divided among 8,699 customers in the state. The refunds will be given to customers who had bought tickets covered by the company's pre-pandemic refund policy.
Wieser said that the pandemic had impacted both people and events organizers. He added that customers should not lose money when a service they paid for was never provided.
"Consumers should not be out of their money when a service they paid for was never provided. My office is committed to protecting consumers, and we will continue to take action to ensure that consumers, like those of Stubhub, receive the refunds they are owed," Wieser said.
Before the pandemic, StubHub had a clear refund policy under its "FanProtect Guarantee." The company had given customers full refunds on the ticket price and associated fees when their events were canceled for whatever reason. However, after March 2020, the company halted the practice following a wave of canceled events.
Instead of giving out refunds to its customers, StubHub began to issue account credits equal to about 120% of the money customers had spent on their tickets. StubHub said the credits can be sued towards purchasing tickets for future events. Wieser claimed that this compromise was unfair to consumers and they should not be forced to take the offer instead of a full refund.
Following a coordinated multi-state effort, StubHub eventually reversed its refund policy in May 2021. Weiser said other companies, including Ticketmaster, had quickly issued refunds for canceled events but StubHub had to be threatened with litigation before it agreed to the refunds.
Customers from Colorado who had bought tickets to canceled events through StubHub can contact the company directly or call the state's Attorney General's office to get their refunds.
