An Indians fan drove from Ontario to Cleveland to attend a match over the weekend, but when he tried to enter the game, he found out that his tickets were cancelled due to “broker activity.”
The fan, named Bryan, tweeted about his experience on Twitter. He claimed that he purchased club seats directly from the Indians’ website last month, and he was not told that the tickets were cancelled until after he drove five hours from Canada. When he called fan services, he was redirected to a voicemail, which had not been returned.
“Looks like this is my last visit to Tribe Town,” Bryan said in a tweet.
My @indians club level tickets, bought from https://t.co/G63mc0ln4L a month ago, were cancelled. Just discovered this after driving 5 hours from Ontario. Fan services directed me to a voicemail, which has not been returned.
Looks like this is my last visit to Tribe Town ?
— Bryan (@NachoHelmet) September 14, 2019
The Indians ended up replying to Bryan’s tweet, claiming that his tickets were cancelled due to “broker activity” on his account. They directed him to the team’s ticket policies page, which notes that “any broker activity involving a ticket, as determined by the sole discretion of the Club, is a Non-Permitted Transfer unless specifically approved by the Club,” constitues the team to revoke a person’s tickets.
Cleveland News 5 reached out to the team to learn about the issues Bryan dealt with over the weekend. The team explained that his tickets were fully refunded and revoked after they noticed “broker activity on his account that does not align with our ticket policies” and an email was sent to him on August 29. Bryan said that he had sold a few tickets to games he couldn’t attend in the past, however he resold them on the Indians’ official ticket resale partner StubHub.
Fans blasted off at the Indians’ response to Bryan, with many noting that they do not want to become season ticket holders because of the Indians’ strict anti-resale policy.
Sorry Bryan. This is so shitty. I guess you shoulda just bought them from a stranger standing outside Progressive Field.
— Bill Sunyoger (@BSunyoger) September 14, 2019
Yup. I live 10 mins from the stadium, go to enough games to warrant a season ticket package, and would honestly love to be a STH, but there’s no way I’d do it with the way they treat their fans. It’s horrible.
— Michael Keefe (@TheMichaelKeefe) September 15, 2019
The Indians do everything humanly possible to alienate their fans
— (((Yonatan Ben-Shmuel))) (@jmecky216) September 14, 2019
Broker activity. I was a season ticket holder for 7 years. Had to work in California for 6 weeks a few years ago, and sold my tickets while I was out of town. I was deemed a ticket broker. I used to go to 20-30 games a year, haven’t been to one since.
— Chris McCaskey (@McCaskey19) September 14, 2019
The Indians played a doubleheader Saturday, losing 2-0 and 9-5 against the Twins. They’re slated to take on the Tigers tonight and tomorrow, followed by games against the Phillies, White Sox, and Nationals later this month.