Hundreds of people have reached out to Fair Go about not receiving refunds for a cancelled or postponed event, or one that changed venue.
Rotorua's Dean Lowrie has been waiting since January for his $550 refund from the 2023 Elton John farewell concert.
He first bought tickets in 2019 for the Mt Smart Stadium (Auckland) concert in 2020.
But Elton's opening night gig was cut short and the consecutive nights cancelled after the singer fell ill with walking pneumonia.
The shows were then all postponed until 2023 because of Covid-19.
Dean, determined to see one of his favourite artists, held on to his tickets until this year.
"We were going, and then it started to rain," he says.
And of course, less than half an hour before Elton was set to take to the stage for his 2023 show, the event was cancelled again with torrential rain wreaking havoc across Auckland.
Dean spent the next couple of months trying to get his refund from Ticketmaster to no avail, but in March, he was told he would have his refund within 14-21 days.
Consumer New Zealand CEO Jon Duffy says 21 days to wait for a refund is the upper limit of what is expected for a ticketing agency to issue a refund.
"These are big companies with lots of resources and it is not beyond the realms of probability that an event would be cancelled," says Jon.
"They should have systems in place to manage bulk refunds effectively."
Fair Go got in touch with Ticketmaster about the delays and it says that wherever possible it does use a bulk refund process, and so far has processed 50,000 plus refunds for Elton's concert.
"Within seven days of the Elton John show being cancelled, all refunds for those with valid card details were processed," it says.
"There are over 10,000 requests that need to be completed manually.
"We have been working hard to administrate an unprecedented amount of refunds, and the volume of requests currently being processed is unusually high, impacting response times."
Ticketmaster thanked its customers for their ongoing patience, and due to Fair Go's inquiry, issued Dean's refund.
Page Wilson from Auckland was waiting for her $700 refund from the Six60 concert in Wellington's Sky Stadium in October 2022.
On the night of the concert Page received a text from Ticketek that the concert was postponed until the following evening because of dangerous wind conditions.
Page couldn't stay in Wellington another night due to other commitments, so she contacted Ticketek to start the refund process.
But almost six months later she reports she's only ever received automatic responses.
"You get an email saying we'll give you a response shortly, and it's been a lot longer than shortly," Page says.
In response to Fair Go's questions about Page's case, a Ticketek spokesperson acknowledged the number of weather-affected events, and the increase in rescheduled and cancelled events.
Ticketek says it has "significantly increased its communications to customers across this period".
"To those who have faced delays, we apologise and thank them for their patience."
Ticketek also confirms that over 99% of refunds have now been paid. After Fair Go got in touch with Ticketek, they also refunded Page.
So, what can you do if you're still in the queue to get your refund?
Jon Duffy says you can apply to your bank for a charge- back, if you've paid by credit card.
"If you get into a dispute with a ticketing company about whether a refund is owed, you may have to head to the disputes tribunal," he says.
Jon says you can also reach out to the artist or band directly.
"Let the artist know through social media that this has happened and if enough people do, it’s likely those artists are going to pay attention," he says.
"I'd urge the ticketing companies, if they want to see people attend events they're running in the future, they should work hard to get those refunds back to people as quickly as possible."
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