After a recent news article in the Long Beach Post about someone selling fake tickets on StubHub for a nonexistent show at the Aurora Theater in Long Beach, the ticketing resale company has reached out to say sorry.
“We sincerely apologize for the confusion and disruption this caused the venue and local theatergoers,” said a StubHub spokesperson in an Aug. 22 statement to the Long Beach Post.
Tickets were being sold on StubHub for the musical “The Wiz” at the Aurora Theater in Long Beach for $54 to $337 between Aug. 20 and Sept. 5, even though it was never scheduled to perform there.
The dates corresponded to a scheduled run at the Aurora Theatre in Lawrenceville, Ga., from Aug. 20 to Sept. 7, according to that theater’s website.
The spokesperson said they wanted to “proactively reach out” after reading the Aug. 18 story about the problem, which they said was caused by a mapping issue.
“These events were mistakenly created due to a venue mapping error,” they said. “We’re taking steps to understand how this occurred and to prevent similar issues in the future.”
They also said StubHub is making efforts to make things right by those who purchased the fake tickets.
“As soon as we became aware of the issue, we removed the listings, canceled the events and notified affected customers that they will receive full refunds,” the spokesperson said.
Aurora Theater owner Charles Tentindo said he has been consoling distraught patrons who thought they had bought legitimate tickets to see “The Wiz” at his theater.
“These poor people are so emotionally upset when they arrive and realize that they’ve gotten ripped off and they’re not going to be able to see ‘The Wiz,’” Tentindo said. “Patrons have spent thousands of dollars on these fake tickets, with no way to recover their money at the door.”
Tentindo said he had tried calling StubHub to fix the problem, but to no avail.
“I spoke to StubHub three times and got the runaround each time,” he said. “They wanted me to join StubHub for some reason and then asked me to take screenshots of everything.”
On learning that StubHub has now corrected the problem, Tentindo said it seems like StubHub is mostly “scared of the bad press.”
Since the fake ticketing story came out, comments on social media have mentioned similar experiences with StubHub and expressed outrage and sadness.
“I feel so badly for both the theater and the people who have been scammed by this entire affair,” commented Steve Barber on Instagram. “I question the site’s integrity for any future sales.”
One person said they almost fell victim to purchasing false tickets for “The Wiz” in Long Beach.
“I almost got scammed by this!” exclaimed Ta-Tanisha Browne on Instagram. “When I tried to research it online, I questioned the location. I came up with the same info that the LB Post did. Thank God!”