A.G. Gancarski
The St. Augustine Amphitheatre, until the moment coronavirus shut down concerts as we knew them, was a leading concert venue in Northeast Florida.
The drum solos will return eventually, as will the radio hits and the deep cuts and the calls for encores. But in the meantime, a phalanx of postponements and a cascade of cancellations have combined to create a cash flow conundrum.
The Amphitheatre would like to refund disappointed patrons, says Gabe Pellicer, the general manager of the St. Johns County Cultural Events Division.
But Ticketmaster is holding the money, which Pellicer describes as “disheartening.”
“The newly revised refund policy not allowing refunds for a postponed event until the event is rescheduled is reprehensible and extremely disappointing. The delay of refunds does not align with how we do business and is not the experience we want for our patrons. I can assure you that there has been no directive given by our organization to withhold any refunds from patrons of the St. Augustine Amphitheatre and Ponte Vedra Concert Hall. We have no benefit in holding money that people may urgently need at this time,” Pellicer notes.
“Our ticketing agency, Ticketmaster, adjusted their refund policies on a global level, creating delays for refund requests and even more delays with the refunded ticket being credited back to your account. As you may know, refunds are typically available via the original point of purchase. This means that anyone who purchased tickets online through Ticketmaster has been unable to get refunds at this time. This is unacceptable and we are close to a resolution,” Pellicer added.
How close?
“The situation with the delayed refunds will resolve. We will not rest until it does,” Pellicer notes.
Ticketmaster outlined its plan for refunds already, to a point. Ticket buyers should expect emails in May when postponed shows roll out new dates, Billboard reported.
Congressional Democrats have slammed the vendor, but the company insists it has “committed to doing more than anyone else in the industry to assist affected fans,” having processed $600 million in refunds thus far.
