Juicy Fest customers livid over refund delays, threatening legal action

One calendar month after the cancellation of Tauranga’s Juicy Fest concert, ticket holders are livid over missing refunds, and have taken to social media to “build a case” for further action against the festival organisers.

The Facebook group, Juicy Fest 2023 – Refunds Issues, had 200 members by Sunday. The page description read: “I’m hoping to connect with others who are still waiting for refunds, so I can build a case to take to commerce commission.”

One member said in a post they had started a small claims court application.

The heavily publicised hip hop and RnB festival, which faced online backlash questioning its legitamacy before it even began, was forced to cancel the Tauranga leg of its New Zealand tour due to weather on January 6 – hours before the show was set to start.

On the day of the cancellation, organisers posted to social media stating refunds would be processed within 14 working days, but another post on January 19 said they were still working with the ticketing vendor on logistics to streamline the process.

“Bear with us as we’re still on tour in Perth, but this is a high priority for us to process all refunds within 14 business days,” the post read.

Stuff attempted to contact Ticketspace through the company’s website in January but did not receive a response.

In a separate email on January 25, ticket holders were advised of further delays. Organisers did not give an expected refund date.

The email stated that because the show was cancelled due to dangerous weather conditions, “we must follow all appropriate processes before we can access these funds, which are all part of normal insurance procedures”.

“We know this whole situation has been extremely disappointing, and we acknowledge the frustration that is being felt by our customers”.

But Consumer NZ told Stuff that ticket holders “should not have to wait for an insurance claim, and people can expect a refund within a reasonable timeframe”.

“We say 20 working days is more than reasonable”, and customers should expect a refund by then, a representative said in an email.

One industry insider, who Stuff agreed not to name, worked on the festival and said while insurance procedures should cover lost costs from shows, there should not be a delay in accessing funds for refunds.

“All the cash should sit, basically on bond, until the show happens … that’s the industry standard, it’s what everyone does,” they said.

“If a show doesn’t go ahead, the ticketing company has to release the money … If someone’s not refunding money, the only reason would be they don’t have [it].”

“You shouldn’t, and you can’t, profit from the show until the show’s done. If you don’t have a million dollars to put on a show you shouldn’t put on a show.”

Tuesday will mark 20 working days since the cancellation. An email sent on Friday assured customers that refunds had been sent, but ticket holders Shantahlia Gye and Sarah Brown said they had not seen the money in their accounts.

The email said the money may take up to five working days for banks to clear, but Gye said she and other ticket holders called their banks on Friday and were told there was nothing to be cleared.

In January, Juicy Fest promoter Glenn Meikle said in a statement sent to Stuff that “returns are guaranteed and there is no risk of this not happening”.

A timeframe for refunds was not provided by Meikle, but the statement repeated they were following “normal insurance procedures” and, “hope to have refunds returned to our customers in the coming days.”

That email was sent on January 26.

Meikle’s statement ended by saying they, “hope to deliver something special at Juicy Fest Tauranga in 2024.”

Gye told Stuff the fact the organisers were promoting next year’s show before they have refunded the cancelled gig was a kick in the teeth.

“There are thousands of ticket holders who have missed out and been disappointed. Yes, it was their first festival but at the end of the day they need to be held accountable. They’re sitting on millions of dollars.”

As many as 15,000 people were expected to attend the Tauranga event. The tickets cost $193.28 for general admission, $213.78 for general admission 2, $316.28 for VIP and $1033.78 for platinum VIP.

Brown said the some $600 she was waiting on in refunds was “a big deal” for her family.

“On an emotional and personal level it’s been a lot. That’s a lot of money for us.”

Brown said she had reached out to festival organisers numerous times for updates, and was disappointed at the “lack of communication” and “lack of professionalism”.

“I reached out multiple times and pleaded “Can we get some kind of answers? You’ve told me this and you’ve told me this, and you’ve told me this”…

“It’s just a big mess and unfortunate. As Kiwis, you don’t want to think the worst but at this stage, a month down the track, I am. And I see a lot of other people are too.”

Gye said she was disappointed by Jucy Fest MC Athena Angelou’s responses to ticket holders who messaged her on social media to ask about their refunds. She shared screenshots of an Instagram conversation in which Angelou called one ticket holder a “weirdo” and later said “I’m done, either catch me in person or you weak”.

Said Gye: “These people are living lifestyles like they’re rich and famous, like they’re some type of Kardashian, and here’s us out here struggling to buy a goddamn chicken. Are you kidding me? There are people out there who don’t even have houses now because of the floods and here’s you walking around in your bikini with your sunnies. It gets to you and it really riles you up, and people have had enough. They’re not happy.”

A celebration of 1990s hip hop headlined by Nelly, Ne-Yo and Ja Rule, Juicy Fest was founded by One Love Festival organiser Glenn Meikle and businessmen Kane Sala, Rawiri Nelson and Matt Spratt. The cancelled Tauranga event was one of five scheduled Aotearoa tour dates.

Napier, Palmerston North, Auckland and Whangārei shows went ahead as planned.

As for the options for punters who do not receive a refund for the Tauranga show?

Consumer NZ told Stuff ”If the refund is taking a long time to come through then people (who paid for their tickets by debit or credit card) can speak to their bank and request a chargeback.”

Meikle’s representative was unable to respond to Stuff’s request for further comment by deadline.