Australia's Maitreya organisers sued by ticketing agency
The festival was cancelled one day out in March
Organisers of Australia's Maitreya festival are being sued for more than $400,000 (AUD) by the agency they were using to sell tickets to the doomed event.
Fairfax Media reports TryBooking is suing organisers for $409,082 plus damages, which it says it is owed after refunding $520,524 to ticket-holders who used credit cards to make their purchases.
The festival was cancelled one day before it was due to begin on March 10 and by that point more than $1 million worth of tickets had been sold via the agency.
"The event organiser has not cooperated with us on a refund process as required by our terms and conditions, leading to us pursuing them via legal avenues," said TryBooking CEO Jeff McAlister.
But his agency isn’t the only one Maitreya organisers haven't cooperated with.
The saga began when the local Buloke Shire Council denied organisers the permit required for the festival to go ahead at the planned Lake Wooroonook site from March 11 to 14, saying it had not been provided with the necessary documentation.
Organisers continued to insist the festival would go ahead at a new site, on private property, right up until they announced it was cancelled due to poor weather.
Last month, they said they would not be offering refunds, and instead proposed a replacement event at the same site, which the council said it wouldn't allow, either.
"Unfortunately we are unable to make any more refunds for tickets purchased for the 2016 event," organisers wrote on Facebook.
But commenters were quick to point out organisers had, in fact, given no refunds and the only way people had been getting their money back had been via credit card "charge backs".
Unfortunately, though, that is an option only available to some.
Consumer Affairs Victoria has said anyone who held a ticket to a cancelled event was entitled to a refund. Ticket-holders can head to their website for contact information.
Scott Carbines is Mixmag's Australian Digital Content Editor, follow him on Twitter
[Via: Fairfax]
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