Weeks after CityNews was first to report on the postponement of a popular music festival, more fans are speaking out as they wait to get back money they paid for tickets.
Ryan Leverton, who lives in Hamilton, bought two VIP tickets totaling $700 to the highly promoted “Hot in Toronto” music festival, scheduled for June 22 at Downsview Park — an event he was looking forward to attending.
“I actually went to the festival last year, it was called ‘Hot in Herre’ and had a good time.
Months ago when the organizers, Festivals of Vaughan, announced this year’s lineup featuring American Rap Artist Lil Wayne, Leverton was all in.
“I was really interested in going again, just to have the same experience I had last year.”
But Lil Wayne unexpectedly dropped out and festival organizers tried but failed to get another headliner forcing them to postpone the festival.
Back in May, after our original Speakers Corner report aired, festival organizers emailed fans, telling them to make an official refund request no later than June 8.
Leverton contacted them well before that deadline but still has yet to get his money back.
“I have emailed them multiple times asking for an update, but they are not responding. It kind of leaves me wondering if it’s actually going to happen or not. I’m not too sure at this point.”
Leverton also reached out to a third party, where he purchased the tickets, to see if he could get a refund that way.
“I paid through a payment service called Afterpay which splits the payment up into four payments and I opened up a dispute with them but they are denying my refund due to the terms and conditions which I agreed to stating the line-up could change.”
Frustrated, Leverton and other fans are demanding an update from Festival Organizers.
The last email they received was in May which gave fans the deadline to submit refund requests. Since then fans say organizers have been unresponsive.
Speakers Corner reached out to Festivals of Vaughan for an update but we have not yet heard back. In our original report, they told us losing their headliner act was a huge blow, one they had not anticipated, but could not provide any further details citing a non-disclosure agreement with the artist.
“To be clear, all artists were fully contracted and deposits were paid. Unfortunately, Lil Wayne is no longer able to perform at our event. When a festival loses its main headliner it causes a lot of problems as fans have purchased tickets and expect to see the artists they paid for. We tried to find a replacement headliner but we were unable to find someone on short notice,” a spokesperson told us back in May.
“All fans will be offered a refund. Fans need to be patient. We understand they are mad, and want their money back. We get it.”
Leverton says he has been more than patient and doesn’t understand why the refund process is taking so long.
“Someone has the money, so why is there such a delay in giving it back?” he asked.
In the May statement Festivals of Vaughan asked that fans not do a chargeback or dispute with their credit card or bank, saying it would only delay the refund process.
“The chargebacks cause problems with our processing merchant. Including the merchant classifying us as high risk, and suspending and cancelling our account, which means we have no way to process refunds since our account gets closed. This is actually happening right now, and if it continues it will drastically delay the process.”
But Leverton says due to the lack of communication from organizers, he isn’t taking his chances.
“I just opened a dispute up with my bank,” he told us. “They too had concerns when I told them the festival was not responding and are taking it very seriously. They said it would take up to 30 days for them to look into it. “
Festival organizers told fans they are working on launching another event either later this year of next and said fans can hold on to purchased tickets for the next festival. But Leverton isn’t interested.
“At this point, I would just like my money back,” he said. “If another festival is going to happen, I can decide at that point if I want to buy a ticket or not.”
CityNews is still waiting for an update from festival organizers, check back for more information as it becomes available.
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