I canceled my credit card, so how will I get my concert refund?

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By Christopher Elliott

At the same time BTS canceled their world tour, Barbara Evans canceled the credit card she used to buy tickets to the show. That’s a problem since Ticketmaster will only refund the concert to the original form of payment. So will she ever see the money again?

Question

In early 2020, I bought tickets to the BTS Map of the Soul Tour for June. I used my Chase Visa to make the purchase. After the pandemic started, I canceled this Chase travel card.

This August, Ticketmaster emailed to say the concert scheduled for 14 months ago had officially been canceled and to expect refunds to the card used to purchase within 30 days. Knowing a refund to my card would not be possible, I contacted Chase bank to confirm they didn’t receive a refund for me.

I’ve reached out to Ticketmaster by email, phone, and Twitter fan support and still have no refund. I get auto responses and referrals back to canned information on refunds that don’t apply to me.

Twitter fan support did ask for my address in September, but I still have no refund and they will not respond to any additional questions from me. I would like a check mailed to me or proof of where they believe I was refunded. — Barbara Evans, Lexington, Ky.

Answer

This is a refund case with an interesting twist. I think you would have received your concert refund by now if you hadn’t canceled your Chase Visa.

My advocacy team sees problems like this from time to time. It’s usually a complicated back-office IT issue or a rigid corporate policy that insists all refunds must be made to the original form of payment (and no exceptions!). But of course, there have to be exceptions, because sometimes customers’ circumstances change, as yours did. (Related: These Eagles tickets are giving me a heartache tonight.)

(By the way, I’m not going to make fun of you for buying tickets to a BTS concert. My teenagers are horrified when I open my BTS playlist in the car. What’s wrong with them?)

Generali Global Assistance has been a leading provider of travel insurance and other assistance services for more than 25 years. We offer a full suite of innovative, vertically integrated travel insurance and emergency services. Generali Global Assistance is part of The Europ Assistance (EA) Group, who pioneered the travel assistance industry in 1963 and continues to be the leader in providing real-time assistance anywhere in the world, delivering on our motto – You Live, We Care.

Ticketmaster should have offered you some support and helped facilitate the concert refund. Instead, it sent you form responses or had bots answer you on Twitter. I loathe the Twitterbots that pretend to be humans and also pretend to care about your case. They are worse than the script-reading, outsourced phone center support workers. At least those phone representatives were human and can recognize when a case fell outside the normal bounds of the support system. Bots can’t do that. (Related: Lured by a $200 Southwest Chase Visa credit. So where is it?)

The good news: Your refund for the concert is on its way

We list the names, numbers, and email addresses of Chase executives in our company contacts directory. I also have a helpful story on how to get a refund from Ticketmaster.

I’m impressed with the way you kept track of all the paperwork. It’s maddening to read your paper trail. Ticketmaster repeatedly promised you a refund for the concert. Then, after it assured you that the money was with your credit card, it deleted your tickets from its app, effectively disallowing you from contacting it further about your case.

I reached out to Ticketmaster on your behalf. A representative contacted you promptly and promised to send you a refund check for the canceled concert in six to eight weeks. And this time, it did.

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Christopher Elliott

Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that empowers consumers to solve their problems and helps those who can't. He's the author of numerous books on consumer advocacy and writes three nationally syndicated columns. He also publishes the Elliott Report, a news site for consumers, and Elliott Confidential, a critically acclaimed newsletter about customer service. If you have a consumer problem you can't solve, contact him directly through his advocacy website. You can also follow him on X, Facebook, and LinkedIn, or sign up for his daily newsletter.

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