@Belowthesalt I asked for the merchandise credit, but while they acknowledged my choice, I have not gotten the promised code so I can buy anything. Was there a code in your notice?
Sympathy doesnāt buy goodwill among possible return customers who paid for an item and didnāt receive it either as promised or as a suitable alternative. Iām guessing you work in accounting and not with the public 
Large concerts that get cancelled offer refunds or alternative dates. This is not rocket science, itās public relations and long term accounting - take a nasty loss now with hope of long term recovery, or see the whole venture dry up completely.
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No I do work on the public side of things. There is plenty of sympathy from the organizers towards the spectators, as they know they are a huge part of āwhy the show goes onā - they dont want to ruin anyoneās experience or have anything cancelled etc. Sometimes the ability to give back a full monetary refund is just out of their control.
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It shouldnāt be. The ticket purchasers paid for something they absolutely did not receive in any way shape or form. At best, offering zero refunds (which I totally understand is NOT what is happening in the case of the freestyles), is dishonest and shitty business practice. At worst, well, Iām sure there are fancy legal terms for that sort of nonsense.
You donāt go into a store, pay for something, and not get it and all is OK. Same thing with tickets and event holders should be aware of that, carry insurance for that, have better budgeting practices for that.
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But even when purchasing these specific tickets, there was a disclaimer saying non refundable. Which isnt out of the ordinary for event tickets. So buyers were given a warning right from purchase. Again, I would hate to not get a refund myself. But im just trying to explain the other side of things before people start turning noses.
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I donāt think the definition of non-refundable means what you think it means. This is not a case of the weather was shitty so there were only 2 people in the stands and the rest want their money back because there was shitty weather. This is not that people changed their plans and couldnāt go and wanted their money back. Obviously, people forfeit their purchase price in those instances.
This was a case of zero goods offered for tickets already purchased. I am failing to see how this is hard to understand. It is unfortunate for the event, but it is not the fault of the ticket purchasers. Ultimately it is the fault of the the event for rolling the dice on the weather and logistics and not having a full contingency plan in place. It is unfortunate, but it is not the fault of people who put money out in good faith.
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Most sporting and other events donāt offer refunds. They may offer honoring the ticket on the day the event is actually held (in the case of a delay). In the case of a cancellation, then sometimes the ticket may be honored at an equivalent event in the future.
Donāt know of any case where an event is cancelled for weather and ticket holders get their $$ back. Weather cancellations are normally ālast minuteā and ticket revenue has been spent on event expenses that are non-refundable.
It is not the fault of the ticket purchasers, but it is not the fault of the event either. The ticket purchasers are just as aware of the risk they are taking choosing to purchase/attend to an event in a season that there can be sometimes bad weather. The decisions to cancel events were not made because of a lack of attendance, it was made with the safety of the horses, competitors AND spectators in mind. If the event was to guarantee a full refund at the time of ticket purchase, this means they would need to allocate double the profit projected for ticket sales (the double being the reserve to refund). This is a huge cost that a lot of times would make their budget unattainable, and hinder their ability to hold the event.
Events dont give riders refunds if their horse goes lame, even if there was a vet note. That was risk the rider took as well, and it wouldnt have been their fault that their horse popped an abscess at a bad time. But it doesnt make them entitled to get their entry fee back either.
Can anyone tell me what the refund amount is for the 3 day dressage pass for covered seats?
Oh my. So a couple of things to think about here.
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Many shows will offer a partial refund (less office fees yada yada) with a vet note.
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Think of a giant stadium concert canceled at the last minute because the performer has become suddenly Ill. You would seriously not expect a refund or credit?
I think I just found my way to make millions. Iāll set up a fancy but completely imaginary event, charge top dollar for tickets and then refuse to refund when I have to cancel the event for whatever reason! Iām gonna be rich!!!
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A huge difference between a concert in a stadium venue and an event like this where they were putting up a venue essentially for this event - the stadium already exists. They havenāt spent the ticket money building the facility.
Not saying it is the case here, but there are plenty of events that simply donāt have the money to refund, even if they wanted to. Obviously Tryon has come up with a solution - albeit with a few early glitches in the early going with the email choices - that has made people happy.
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I would email them. I received the credit back on my credit card!
I would doubt that already having spent the money would give them a legal leg to stand on. But if it does ā¦ gonna make my millions, I tell ya!
And, yes, we are definitely talking abstract since Tryon is doing what they are obligated to do to keep their customers happy and to stay on the right side of legality .
Remember, the purchase of a ticket was a purchase of a ticket. It wasnāt a go fund me or a kickstarter. It was payment for goods/services promised.
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I had a first week pass for all events. I stayed over an extra day so I could see both the freestyle and the eventing stadium jumping. The freestyle was canceled. I emailed Tryon and the response was that since I had the full week pass there would be no refund for the one event. Not a happy camper.
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At least you got a response, I havenāt heard anything. Staying over an extra day just wasnāt possible for us, and I imagine wasnāt possible for a lot of people.
Yes, the tickets say they are non-refundable. They also say events will take place rain or shine. What was predicted, and what was eventually received, at the time of cancellation for endurance and for the dressage freestyle (remember, they cancelled TWO events in week one), was rain. Just rain for the freestyle, rain and āshineā (heat) for the endurance. Pretty typical kind of amount of rain and heat for the area as far as I can tell, and a whole hell of a lot less rain than we got in a non-hurricane associated storm in San Antonio the week prior. They did not have adequate facilities, adequate contingencies, and adequate management to fulfill their contract in the face of not-great, but not-that-unusual, weather for that location that time of year.
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It sounds to me as if they may have put themselves between a rock and a hard place when they wrote that events would take place ārain or shineā. I bet they wonāt include that language again.
Tryon already existed before this event was bid for and a lot of the things they promised never got built at all, so Iām not convinced this is true.
Bellisimo didnāt spend million to build Tryon for the WEG. It was an existing planned venue with other revenues.
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did Tryon/WEG cancel the freestyle or was it cancelled because the riders chose not to ride on the rescheduled day, the following day, because too many of them had a flight back to Europe for the horses (obviously very hard to re-book) on the Monday?
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In the news coverage I saw at the time, it sounded like the riders elected not to participate after Tryon/WEG/FEI came up with an alternate plan to hold the freestyle at a different time and place.
I doubt that the general public will ever know for a fact exactly what happened there, but that was the impression I had from the statements they released during the course of that weekend.
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I too was told I wasnāt entitled to a refund because the fine print said I wasnāt and I agreed to that. Iām more upset now that it appears that was applied selectively and some people GOT money back on their credit cards or other options. Boo hiss on the organizers for that.
