Maitreya organisers refuse to give refunds

Organisers of Australia's Maitreya festival, which was cancelled one day before it was due to begin in March, have announced they will not be offering refunds.

About 10,000 people paid between $150 and $300 per ticket for Maitreya's planned tenth anniversary edition at Lake Wooroonook near Charlton in rural Victoria.

The local Buloke Shire Council denied organisers the permit required for the festival to go ahead at the site from March 11 to 14, saying it had not been provided with the necessary documentation.

But organisers continued to insist the festival would go ahead right up until they announced it was cancelled due to poor weather at the last moment on March 10.

Posting to Facebook, organisers wrote: "Unfortunately we are unable to make any more refunds for tickets purchased for the 2016 event."

Instead, they said they were planning a replacement event for Maitreya ticket-holders on the Australian Football League's Grand Final weekend at the end of September.

However, plenty are not satisfied.

Commenters have pointed out the only refunds given have been from credit card "charge backs", 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.

Read Maitreya's full post, their first since late March, below.

Scott Carbines is Mixmag's Australian Digital Content Editor, follow him on Twitter