StubHub to Pay California Customers $20 Million Over Pandemic Cancellations

Granger Smith performs onstage at the Stagecoach Country Music Festival at Empire Polo Field in Indio, Calif., April 2018. Jason Kempin/Getty Images

Online ticket retailer StubHub has agreed to pay customers more than $20 million in restitution for allegedly failing to promptly refund them for canceled events in California during the COVID-19 pandemic, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Aug. 23.

California sued the entertainment ticket company after investigators with the state’s Department of Justice found StubHub did not honor its advertised policy of providing full cash refunds for canceled events, and instead issued customers credit for future events, according to Bonta.

After the investigation, the company reversed its policy in May 2021 and started giving customers cash refunds.

The settlement was approved Aug. 23 in Los Angeles Superior Court and includes a penalty of $295,000 payable to the state and $20 million in cash refunds for more than 45,000 California consumers.

“By failing to issue full cash refunds for canceled events during the pandemic, StubHub not only violated its advertised policy but also violated the trust of its consumers,” Bonta said in a statement Friday.

StubHub operates one of the largest ticket reselling marketplaces in the nation, allowing buyers to purchase tickets to concerts and sporting and entertainment events.

In late March 2020, when much of the United States was shut down by government officials in response to the emerging COVID-19 epidemic, mass events were canceled across the country.

Some of the popular events in California affected by the closures included the Coachella and Stagecoach music festivals.

In response to the shutdowns, StubHub announced a policy change, which offered consumers a 120 percent credit for future purchases, instead of a full refund for canceled events.

California’s lawsuit alleged the company violated the state’s Unfair Competition and False Advertising laws by misleading ticket buyers who relied on the advertised refund policy when buying their tickets before March 2020.

StubHub Deputy General Counsel John Lawrence said the company was happy with the settlement.

“We are pleased to have reached a resolution with the California Attorney General regarding the difficult decision to adjust our refund policy for canceled events at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Lawrence said in a statement provided to The Epoch Times.

“In 2021, as soon as circumstances allowed, StubHub ensured that consumers impacted by this adjustment were made whole, offering them the choice between retaining their 120 [percent] credit for canceled events or receiving a cash refund.”

The "Escape Velocity" moving sculpture by artist group Poetic Kinetics looms over Coachella festivalgoers on the Empire Polo Field on the first day of the 2014 Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif., on April 11, 2014. Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

The company remains committed to upholding its “FanProtect Guarantee,” Lawrence added.

The settlement brings closure to a multi-state legal effort to recoup ticket costs for StubHub customers during the pandemic. Customers in Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Indiana, Minnesota, Ohio, Virginia, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Virginia, and the District of Columbia will receive shares of a $9.5 million settlement reached with the company in 2021.

California withdrew from the multi-state lawsuit to pursue its own claim against the company.