Bina Ramroop broke down in tears when she realized she wasn't going to get the World Cup tickets she'd bought for her grandson's 13th birthday. As thousands poured into Atlanta Stadium on Monday to see Spain face Cape Verde in what turned out to be a remarkable scoreless draw, Ramroop stood outside, increasingly stressed as she went back and forth for hours between StubHub reps on the phone and FIFA representatives in the ticket booth. Each blamed the other, and no one could figure out why the tickets Ramroop bought months ago on StubHub for $485 apiece couldn't be transferred from the original seller to the FIFA ticketing app. StubHub offered her a refund and, as Ramroop heard the crowd roar for the start of the match, she knew she had no choice but to give up and take the offer.
"I didn't want a refund, I didn't want my money back," Ramroop said. "I wanted to go to the game." The World Cup has delivered thrills on the pitch, but fans have flooded social media with complaints about tickets that never arrived, orders that were canceled at the last minute, and hours they spent trying to sort out problems between FIFA's ticketing system and outside resale platforms, per the AP. The vast majority seem to be about industry titan StubHub, but people who bought through competitors such as SeatGeek and Vivid Seats have also reported issues.
Interviews with fans and industry experts show some cases stem from technical glitches in the transfer process, while others could involve sellers who never had tickets to deliver in the first place, though StubHub denies such sales happen on its platform. FIFA has urged fans to buy resale tickets through its own marketplace, where it slaps a 30% surcharge on every resold ticket—15% each from the buyer and seller. But many fans bought through other resale sites, either out of habit or because those sites have lower prices or are easier to navigate.
StubHub blamed FIFA for the transfer problems that buyers like Ramroop have experienced. In a statement, it said FIFA has "poor technology infrastructure," enacted last-minute transfer restrictions, and didn't launch its new ticketing app until a few weeks before the tourney. The company also called out organizers that "take anti-competitive actions" that limit where fans can buy and sell tickets. Asked about the technical issues, FIFA on Wednesday reiterated that sales through its official site are guaranteed to go through. More here.
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