in this case
- Sharon McMonagle paid $1,176 for four club section tickets to a Lumineers concert through StubHub. The confirmation email had no seat numbers, and the day before the show StubHub sent tickets for a completely different section with no club access.
- StubHub asked her to accept the wrong tickets and transfer them back, which she feared would lock her in. An agent told her to send a screenshot proving she had not accepted them, which she did.
- After 45 days, StubHub said she would get nothing because she had not returned tickets through Ticketmaster, tickets she never accepted in the first place. StubHub advertises a FanProtect Guarantee promising replacements or a full refund.
Sharon McMonagle orders $1,176 in club seats for a Lumineers concert, but StubHub sends her tickets for seats in a completely different section the day before the show. The company promises a refund, then reverses course and refuses to pay. Can she get her money back?
Question
I bought four tickets to see The Lumineers in concert for $1,176 a few months ago. I specifically ordered club section seats through StubHub. But something felt wrong immediately. The confirmation email didn’t include any seat numbers, which seemed suspicious. I disputed the charge with my credit card company, but because the concert wasn’t scheduled for a few months, my credit card denied my dispute.
Fast forward to the day before the concert. StubHub finally sent me four tickets. But they were in a completely different section, with no club access whatsoever. I called customer service right away. The agent told me there were no alternative tickets available.
Here’s where it gets complicated: StubHub asked me to accept the wrong tickets and then transfer them back. I told the agent I was in a no-win situation. If I accepted the tickets, StubHub would consider them mine and I’d be stuck with them. The agent seemed to understand my concern and told me to send a screenshot proving I hadn’t accepted the tickets, which I did.
Then I received an email from StubHub saying it would help me with a refund. I thought the problem was solved. But when I called back the following week, a StubHub representative said they had 45 days to process my refund. After waiting the full 45 days with no refund, I called again. This time, a customer service representative told me that since I hadn’t returned the tickets, I wouldn’t get a refund.
I explained that I’d followed the agent’s instructions and sent the screenshot. But StubHub suddenly claimed I should have followed different return instructions from an earlier email that told me to transfer the tickets back from my Ticketmaster account. The problem? I never accepted the tickets into my Ticketmaster account in the first place, so there was nothing to transfer back. The whole situation feels like a carefully designed trap.
StubHub advertises its FanProtect Guarantee, which promises buyers will receive the tickets they ordered or comparable replacements, or get a full refund. I got none of those things. Can you help me get my $1,176 back? — Sharon McMonagle, Louisville, Colo.
Answer
StubHub should have refunded your money immediately, as promised.
Its FanProtect Guarantee is crystal clear. If you don’t receive the tickets you ordered, the company promises comparable replacements or will issue a full refund. You ordered club section seats. You received tickets to a completely different section.
StubHub created the confusion here. Its customer service agents gave you conflicting instructions about how to return the tickets. One agent told you to send a screenshot proving you hadn’t accepted them. Another email said you needed to transfer tickets back through Ticketmaster — tickets you never accepted in the first place. Then a third representative promised you a refund. No wonder you were confused.
You did almost everything right. You contacted StubHub immediately when you realized something was wrong with your order. You called customer service the day before the concert when you received the wrong tickets. You followed the agent’s instructions and sent the requested screenshot. You kept excellent records of every interaction.
Your success rate I surmise is a lot higher than anyone else’s due to your reputation (do members of the public get a 25% bonus? Likely not), but the reddit stubhub group has a significant number of these same complaints regularly and many people are at their wit’s end since they had no tickets and were out thousands of dollars with no recourse.
I also read people convey that they followed the dispute resolution terms only to have their mail returned to sender or refused even though it was the official designated address in stubhub’s terms and conditions.
Maybe as a publicly traded company they will try to be better, but personally I would never purchase or sell tickets ever again on StubHub, though I had many times in both capacities in the past. I think the resale platform on Ticketmaster or similar is more reliable.
Read more insightful reader feedback. See all comments.
I say “almost” because I wouldn’t have filed a credit card dispute. There was no way to know if the transaction was fraudulent until the day of the show. (Related: StubHub FanProtect guarantee failed. Here’s how one buyer fought back.)
I would have also escalated your complaint to a StubHub executive sooner. I publish a list of StubHub executive contacts on my consumer advocacy site, Elliott.org. A brief, polite email to one of these executives with your paper trail attached often cuts through the customer service red tape.
This isn’t the first time I’ve seen StubHub’s ticket return process trap consumers in an impossible situation. I recently helped another reader who received tickets for the wrong date to a Taylor Swift concert. And I’ve mediated several cases where StubHub’s FanProtect Guarantee didn’t protect fans.
StubHub’s return process needs to be simpler and more transparent. When a company sends you the wrong tickets, you shouldn’t need a consumer advocate to get your money back. The FanProtect Guarantee should protect you automatically — not after weeks of calls and emails.
Here’s my advice for anyone buying tickets through a resale marketplace: Document everything. Save every email. Take screenshots of your order confirmation and any tickets you receive. If something goes wrong, contact customer service immediately and follow up in writing. And if the company refuses to honor its guarantee, don’t wait 45 days. Escalate to an executive contact right away.
I contacted StubHub on your behalf. The company acknowledged its communication created confusion about next steps.
“We regret the challenges Ms. McMonagle experienced with her ticket order,” a StubHub spokeswoman told me. “Our FanProtect Guarantee ensures buyers receive the tickets they ordered or comparable replacements, or receive a full refund. In this case, the tickets provided did not match what was purchased, and our communication created confusion about next steps.”
StubHub issued a full refund along with a 25 percent voucher toward a future purchase.
Your voice matters
StubHub sent the wrong tickets the day before the show, then gave conflicting return instructions, promised a refund, and reversed course after 45 days. The FanProtect Guarantee promised replacements or a full refund but delivered neither without an advocate’s intervention.
- Should ticket resale marketplaces be required to deliver the exact seats ordered or issue an automatic refund the moment a mismatch is confirmed?
- Should resale platforms be banned from requiring buyers to accept wrong tickets before they can qualify for a refund?
- Should ticket sellers be required to disclose actual seat numbers in the confirmation email at the time of purchase?
What you need to know about StubHub refunds and the FanProtect Guarantee
Quick answers to the most common questions about StubHub’s FanProtect Guarantee, what to do when you receive the wrong tickets, and how to get a refund when a resale marketplace gives conflicting return instructions.
StubHub’s FanProtect Guarantee promises that if you do not receive the tickets you ordered, the company will provide comparable replacement tickets or issue a full refund. The guarantee is meant to protect buyers in the secondary ticket market where sellers list tickets they have not yet delivered. In practice, buyers sometimes have to escalate through multiple customer service contacts before the guarantee is honored.
Contact StubHub customer service immediately and document the mismatch with screenshots showing the section and seats you ordered versus what you received. Request the exact return process in writing. Do not accept the wrong tickets if doing so would forfeit your refund. Cite the FanProtect Guarantee by name. See Elliott Advocacy’s guide to how consumer complaints work.
StubHub’s return process sometimes requires buyers to accept tickets into their account and then transfer them back to the seller. This creates a risk that accepting the wrong tickets could be treated as accepting the order, forfeiting your refund. If accepting the tickets would put you in a no-win position, refuse and document your refusal in writing. Ask StubHub to confirm in writing that declining wrong tickets preserves your refund eligibility.
StubHub representatives have cited a 45-day window to process refunds. However, waiting the full 45 days can be risky if the company gives conflicting return instructions, because a representative may later deny the refund based on a process you were never clearly told to follow. Do not wait passively through the 45-day window. Escalate to an executive contact if you receive conflicting instructions or sense the refund is at risk.
Elliott Advocacy publishes a directory of StubHub executive contacts including names and email addresses on its consumer advocacy site. Use these contacts after standard customer service has failed to honor the FanProtect Guarantee. Send a brief, polite email with your full paper trail attached, including the order confirmation, screenshots of the wrong tickets, and records of every conflicting instruction you received.
Filing a credit card dispute months before a concert can backfire because the card issuer often cannot determine whether the transaction is valid until the event date. If you receive the wrong tickets close to the show, a chargeback under the Fair Credit Billing Act may be appropriate. Notify your card issuer within 60 days of the statement showing the charge. See Elliott Advocacy’s complete guide to chargebacks and winning credit card disputes.
Save your order confirmation showing the exact section, seat numbers, and price. Take screenshots of any tickets you receive showing their actual section and seats. Keep every email from the seller and screenshots of any chat conversations. Note the date, time, and agent name for every phone call. If the confirmation lacks seat numbers, save that as evidence too. Strong documentation is essential if you need to escalate a refund dispute.
What is StubHub’s FanProtect Guarantee?
What should you do if StubHub sends the wrong tickets?
Why does StubHub ask you to accept wrong tickets before refunding?
How long does StubHub take to process a refund?
How do you contact StubHub executive customer service?
Should you file a credit card dispute for wrong concert tickets?
What records should you keep when buying resale tickets?
