A Welland, Ontario man was thrilled when he scored a floor ticket to see Paul Simon – his favorite musician – on his farewell tour. That joy turned to heartbreak two weeks later, when he received word from Ticketmaster that his seat was double-booked and he was the unlucky recipient of the cancellation notice.
Mike Nero, a devoted Simon fan, was already on Ticketmaster’s site when the tickets went on sale on the morning of February 9 according to coverage of his misfortune by Toronto.citynews.ca. He secured a floor ticket for Simon’s show at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre on June 12, and minutes later, received a confirmation number. The seat was perfect, and close to his friends, who had separately bought tickets to the show.
Two weeks later, Nero received an email from Ticketmaster, which he tweeted a picture of, telling him that the ticket was sold to him by mistake.
“This isn’t the kind of email we like to send,” the email read. “Unfortunately we had to cancel your ticket because they were sold to you by mistake. We consequently found new seats we hope you’ll like just as much.”
“I felt very secure, I’ve ordered tons of tickets from Ticketmaster and I’ve never had a problem before,” Nero said. “I didn’t even know what that meant. How did I buy a ticket by mistake and then how did you figure it out two weeks later?”
Ticketmaster offered the 40-year-old man an alternate seat in another section of the venue, along with a “partial refund” of $25. Nero originally paid $214.50 for his fourth row seats, and was not ready to take this offer. The ticketing company gave him little information regarding the reason why he was the one to lose the ticket, and not the other person that the ticket was double-booked with. He said he made numerous calls to the site to try and reclaim his original seat, but Ticketmaster did not respond with help.
Nero also tweeted at Simon, asking for help. He demanded Ticketmaster to “prove” that the other person received the ticket first, and wants the floor seats that he purchased back. Ticketmaster did not respond.
“They said the ticket was double-sold, that was the best explanation,” he said. “They kept saying to me, ‘Mr. Nero it’s not your fault, we realize that, but this is all we can do for you.’”
Toronto’s CityNews reached out to Ticketmaster late Wednesday afternoon, which later said they are looking into the issue. CityNews did not receive confirmation on if and why the ticket was deemed a mistake in the first place.