An Alberta woman wants others to beware when it comes to buying event or concert tickets online.
Jan Tuffnail thought she was buying tickets to the Roy Orbison Hologram Tour through the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium website, but when she typed the words “Roy Orbison” into the search bar, she was redirected to secondary sellers or the resale brokers.
“I just assumed because it was the official site, I’m going to them,” Tuffnail said. “It’s part of the Jubilee so I trusted that.”
So imagine her surprise when she got the tickets and the bill for them was in U.S. dollars.
“I went: ‘Wait a minute, this is $500 and some odd dollars.’ Then I looked and I went: ‘Are you flipping crazy?'”
Global News contacted the Jubilee. In a statement, operations manager Scott McTavish said the Jubilee’s goal is to provide the best possible experience for guests.
The statement reads in part: “The Jubilee’s official provider is Ticketmaster, and we always encourage people to buy tickets directly through them or from our box office.”
It goes on to say a link to Ticketmaster is included on its site, but neither Jan nor her daughter Heather could find that link.
Heather reached out to the Jubilee as well but isn’t happy with the response she received.
“She said, you know this is a common occurrence. We get these complaints all the time. It’s a buyer beware market.”
The Tuffnails say they’re very aware now of what can happen and want to warn others to be careful what they click on.
On Tuesday, the Global News series continues with the new protections put in place for Alberta consumers when it comes to ticket buying and selling. Click here to read and watch that story.