Billboard (04/06/20) Rosenbaum, Claudia

Wisconsin resident Matthew McMillan has filed a $5 million federal class action suit against StubHub for not refunding money he spent on a suspended National Hockey League (NHL) game, charging the ticket resale company with breach of contract and negligent misrepresentation. He alleges that he bought two tickets on StubHub in early March to attend an NHL game, and requested a refund when the league announced the suspension of the season because of the coronavirus. McMillan claims StubHub denied him a refund because the game had been postponed and not canceled, even though he had purchased his tickets with StubHub's money back guarantee policy and that he was all but certain the game will eventually be called off. The complaint points out that StubHub President Singh Cassidy sent an email to users stating that while refunds would still available for canceled events, it would also offer coupons for 120% of the original order price as an alternative. The firm later revised its policy to say that "if the event is canceled and not rescheduled, you will get a refund or credit to use on a future purchase, as determined in StubHub's sold discretion (unless a refund is required by law)." A March 30 email from Cassidy announced that StubHub had changed its longstanding refund policy due to the financial strain the pandemic was placing on the company, but McMillan contends that neither he nor other StubHub customers were informed of or agreed to this new policy. "Instead of instituting responsible financial transaction policies, (StubHub) made it their practice to pay ticket sellers before the event had occurred, exposing themselves to the possibility that they would be left holding the bag (or have to ignore their own guarantee and cheat their customers) if an event was canceled and they could not promptly collect from sellers," the complaint says.

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