Unexpected refund vouchers

[Matt Dale]

Hi,

Does anyone know how I can clarify what any refund vouchers relate to?

Here’s what’s happened:

- I booked tickets for the summer dates including a lot of photo ops

- I got messages advising that the tickets would automatically roll over to the new November dates 

- Two of my guests cancelled

- I then received vouchers amounting to far more than the two guests would have come to

So I’m not clear if my tickets have been accidentally cancelled  and I need to rebook them, or if Showmasters have accidentally been very generous and given me extra vouchers.

I’ve been going back and forth with the sales@ email address for weeks now and just getting the same template responses that these relate to tickets I requested be cancelled. 
 

I get that mistakes happen and I’m more than happy to rebook anything that’s been accidentally cancelled, but I have no way of being certain what - if anything - has been. 
 

Anyone with similar experiences have any advice?

[Raylenth]

Depending on how many tickets you had bought for guests and if you can remember them all, all I can suggest is, if you haven't done it already, logging into your Eventbrite account and seeing what tickets are left and try and work out if anything else is missing.

[Matt Dale]

Hey Raylenth - thanks! It’s a good idea, unfortunately ALL my tickets are still in the Eventbrite app, including the two guests who’ve cancelled. So I can’t trust that for certain either. 

[shakeYourGrooveThing]

Hi groovy Matt, my friend had a refund voucher which totalled 513 when it should have bn 65 i believe he said, but he had a lot of peopl he initially wanted refund vouchers for, and although he has enquired he has done his math and the remaining ppl he was needing vouchies for seems to add up to the value in the vou. So, maybe, depending on how many refunds you've asked for (even if you haven't received more gift vouchers you think you should have got), do the math and c if it adds up to c if it includes everything you've asked for. If it adds up to stuff u haven't asked for, u may have to re-buy a lot. 

On another note, u haven't received an e-mail saying u've purchased activity tickets but haven't bought an entry ticket? Sm did that to him and he had to say he still has an entry ticket although there was a problem buying/re-buying tickets via eventbrite a couple weeks back and he had to buy some via paypal which may have confused them. 

Edited October 10, 2021 by shakeYourGrooveThing

[Matt Dale]

Thanks Groovy GrooveThing!

No joy there either really. I’ve not asked for any refunds. Two of my guests have cancelled but they don’t total anywhere near the value I’ve been given in vouchers (and one of them is gone for March 2022 so I believe they should have rolled over anyway - only Alan Ruck should have generated a voucher). 
 

No email from them about a lack of entry ticket, so I guess that’s promising and suggests I can at least get in. 
 

At this stage I’m half tempted just to show up and use the tickets I have. I’m concerned I’ll keep having issues at the front of queues being told the tickets are void, which will slow up the queue behind me, but until SM tell me which are void I’m a bit of a loss

Edited October 10, 2021 by Matt Dale

[steve1parker]

I have exactly the same issue. Two of the guests for LFCC, Alan Ruck and Alice Cooper, are no longer able to attend. So I have been sent gift vouchers. Both gift vouchers are for the wrong amounts (one of which appears to for the whole amount of the order...not just the cancelled portion!). I emailed shop@showmastersevents.com and have had a couple of responses; the first being a templated response asking me to look at the voucher guide link (which I had already done), and today one saying their tech people will look into the matter.

Obviously I'm keen to have assurance that all my remaining tickets are still valid given I have booked hotel/train etc, and don't want the embarrassment of standing at the doors of the Olympia only to be told my tickets aren't valid. So I do hope their tech people get back soon.

But, if I may rant for a little bit...I had also said in my initial email that I only discovered the issue whilst trying to redeem the vouchers to purchase tickets for Destination Star Trek. In the email I received today, I'm told that the vouchers cannot be used for Destination Star Trek. Erm...why? I was a tad annoyed that Showmasters had changed their policy of refunding cancelled guests/tickets to the customers credit card, to one of issuing Gift Vouchers instead. But, I get that the Covid pandemic has had a serious impact on business (it has on mine too!), and trying to keep the money in Showmasters bank is a valid response to that. BUT...I do expect to be able to actually use those Gift Vouchers on a Showmasters Event!  Rant over.

[MVronsky78]

Sorry to follow on the back of this, and for being thick, but when one receives a new voucher from SM, how can you tell you've been refunded the correct amount without going into Eventbrite and spending it on something else?!

[Matt Dale]

The vouchers do have the value on them. 
 

But when the value doesn’t match the total you’ve spent (so it can’t be that everything has been cancelled) nor does it match the value of a cancelled guest, it’s a bit tough to figure out what’s happened!

 

[steve1parker]

It wierd, but neither of the gif vouchers I received had the amount on them, neither on the email nor the downloadable PDF. I had to go to the link on their voucher guide page ==> https://giftup.app/place-order/5faf68d5-c327-449a-82aa-8c076c4bf51a?platform=Hosted  (click the "Check your gift card balance" and enter your gift voucher code) to get the amount.

Incidentally, and I know this is off-topic and I'm still ranting...but I had a reply to my querying why I couldn't use the gift vouchers for Destination Star Trek. The reply being that it's a Massive Events event. Ok, I get that...BUT, DST is organised "in association" with Showmasters as clearly stated on it's website. DST is promoted on the Showmasters Events own website, with no indication that it is not a Showmasters event. It has it's own section on this very Forum, again with no indication it is not a Showmasters event. And I believe it will be Showmasters people staffing it. And no-where can I find information related to the gift vouchers saying that you cannot use them against DST. Pretty poor really. So, have just asked for money-back rather than gift vouchers for the cancelled LFCC guests. At least I can use the refunded money for DST (unless they stop accepting that too). Ok....rant over...for now

[Matt Dale]

What a mess. Totally agree with you - it’s understandable they’d switch to vouchers instead of refunds in the current climate but frustrating that they’re limited to only certain Showmasters events. I had no idea DST wasn’t fully SM either. 

[MVronsky78]

Thanks for the link Steve, my voucher didn't have the amount on it either and I had no idea how to check for sure!

[Matt Dale]

Apparently the team are dealing with a higher than normal number of emails at the moment. 
 

Thing is, if they’d just do as I ask and send me a list of the tickets in my name that are still valid on their system, I’d stop sending them weekly emails on the topic and just go and figure out which ones I need to re-buy. 

[yuna66]

Oh my goodness I'm so glad someone brought this up! 

 

So early October I got a refund for ALL my tickets after Alan Ruck cancelled!! This is 2x 3 day passes, and multiple photo ops. 

Each week I ask them what's happened, where are my tickets, will they get redistributed? They haven't said why it happened at all, just "our team are really busy and will re-issue your tickets soon." 

Their communication is very little which isn't helping stress wise! I understand they're busy, don't get me wrong, but it's such a mess!

Meanwhile I'm terrified of the prospect I'll be turning up with invalid tickets...3 weeks to go and still no message with my new tickets yet....I've missed going to LFCC and I hope this gets sorted in time!!