Toronto resident felt ‘cheated’ after StubHub took back money from World Cup ticket sale

World Cup ticket sales have not gone smoothly for all fans, with some launching a class action lawsuit against StubHub in the U.S. Pat Foran has more.

Scarborough resident Mehdi Riyadh says it was a lifelong dream to see Brazil play in the World Cup, so when he saw that his favourite team was playing Scotland in Miami, Fla., he tried to get tickets.

“I am a huge fan of Brazil; just thinking about being at the game gives me goosebumps. I used to stay up late with my father to watch Brazil play in World Cup matches,” said Riyadh.

He was able to purchase four tickets for the match that was on June 24.

“When I received the email from FIFA, I literally couldn’t believe it. It was huge for me,” said Riyadh.

Unfortunately, a family member couldn’t go to the game, so he decided to sell one of the tickets on StubHub. The ticket sold right away for $1,278 and he got $821.

Even though he received confirmation the ticket was delivered, the buyer later claimed it was the wrong ticket. After that StubHub blocked Riyadh’s account and took back the $821.

“I feel cheated, betrayed and a company like StubHub making judgment calls and assuming I am a scammer is very unfair,” said Riyadh.

There have been other cases of soccer fans having difficulty getting tickets or refunds from StubHub. In the United States, World Cup fans have filed a class-action lawsuit. They accuse the ticket reseller of failing to deliver tickets they bought on the secondary marketplace.

While StubHub offered refunds, fans say they wanted to go to the games and were stuck paying for airfare and lodging costs. The lawsuit is seeking US$5 million from the ticket company.

StubHub has not commented on the proposed lawsuit.

CTV News reached out to StubHub about the lawsuit as well as the refund issue with Riyadh.

A spokesperson said, “Our singular goal is to get fans into events, and if anything goes wrong, our FanProtect Guarantee provides replacement tickets or a full refund. The World Cup is no different, and the issues fans have experienced are largely driven by problems with the event organizer’s own ticketing infrastructure.”

After CTV News reached out to StubHub on Riyadh’s behalf, his case was reviewed, and he received a refund of the $821.

He was able to get to the game in Miami and said it was an amazing thing to be part of.

“For the two hours the game was going on, we couldn’t sit down for 10 seconds. The entire stadium felt like it was vibrating for the two hours we were there,” said Riyadh.

With files from Farah Chandani