Me v. Live Nation

In November 2009, I bought tickets to see Mario (the guy who looks like a baby Chris Rock and sings "Let Me Love You") for me and J, and about two days later his concert was rescheduled.  Live Nation informed me that I could either get my money back or hold onto my old tickets because they would be honored at the rescheduled show.  We decided to hold onto the tickets because we really wanted to see him... big mistake!  I waited some months and when I'd call Live Nation for the status, they would just tell me that the new date hadn't been set and to just stay tuned. 

November 2010 rolled around and I realized I still had the unused tickets sitting in my wallet.  I called Live Nation once again, and they told me they couldn't find my order on file anymore because they merged with Ticketmaster and the system was different blah blah blah.  They said they would get in contact with me once they knew more.  Months passed... nothing.  Obviously at this point, I realized they weren't going to reschedule the show and I just wanted my money back.  I continued to call Ticketmaster and they continued to give me the run-around.  I think that most people would just say forget it at this point, but it bugged the hell out of me.

A few weeks ago, I saw the customer service email sitting in my inbox, so I decided to give those mofos another call.  The first rep I spoke to was a complete bitch.  She said something along the lines of, "Why are you only calling now if this happened two years ago?"  OH. MY. GOD... I exploded.  HELLO!!!!!!!!??!?!  DO YOU WANT TO SEE ALL OF THE EMAILS I SENT?  DO YOU WANT TO KNOW HOW MUCH TIME I'VE SPENT CALLING YOU PEOPLE????  She forwarded me to her manager who was being a dick as well.  They said that a mass refund was issued to everyone who was supposed to attend that concert, but I knew that I never got my refund.  They both told me that there was nothing they could do because the order number I was giving them wasn't coming up in their system.  I explained Live Nation and Ticketmaster becoming one, so the system was different blah blah blah.. but I also said I had all of the original emails/receipts, my bank statements, and everything they needed to show them I never got my refund.  In the end, this dickhead manager gave me a customer service email, phone number, and snail mail address.  He told me that I would have to write a letter or call.  I exploded again.... why the hell couldn't he just tell me that from the very beginning?

I sent an email and explained everything.  I got a response saying that everyone got their money back and to double check my bank statements.  So what did I do?  I called Bank of America and got a copy of all of my motherfreakin statements from November 2009 until now.  I went through my statements (it didn't take long) and found the original transaction of when I purchased the tickets and what do you know?  NO SIGN OF THE REFUND.  A part of me was praying that I really did get the refund but I had just overlooked it because I didn't want to deal with anymore BS.  My mind was at ease when I saw on paper that my refund was never issued.  I replied to the email and said I had just gone through 2 years of statements and found no such refund and would PDF my statements to prove it.  The rep said she would be back in touch within a week.  I emailed her yesterday to follow-up and this was her response:

Hello Julie,

Just about an hour ago sent out another email to the team to get an update and they have informed me the files have been archived and can’t be opened.

So what I am going to do for you “If it is ok” send you out a Gift Card in the amount of $XXX. Please reply to this email and let me know if that is suitable to you.

Thanks
Susie

A GIFT CARD??????  I was a bit insulted but let's face it, I use Ticketmaster a lot so whatevs.  I said that was fine and now they are sending me my gift card this week.  UGH FINALLY!!!!!!  After 22 months of fighting with Live Nation/Ticketmaster, I am finally getting justice!!!  Sorry if this was boring to you, but I feel like a champion right now.  Now let's hope the stupid gift card doesn't get lost in the mail.

Now I'm starting to wonder how many people never got their money back from this Mario concert!