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The organizer of Comic Con recently filed a lawsuit against a ticket company, claiming that the provider stole million of dollars in refunds that should have gone to fans.
Due to the coronavirus outbreak sweeping through America, ACE Universe Inc. was forced to cancel plans for Comic Con in Boston, scheduled to take place from March 20 to 22.
Unfortunately, the company’s plans for ticket refunds were allegedly disrupted by ticket company GrowTix – prompting ACE to file a lawsuit alleging fraud and breach of contract.
Comic Con in Boston was set to be massive event and an “enormous success,” according to ACE’s recent lawsuit.
Have you been denied refunds for canceled events or trips following the coronavirus outbreak? Get legal help by clicking here.
The organizers had booked big name stars including Chris Evans, Tom Hiddleston and Chris Hemsworth.
When these big plans were stopped in their tracks by the global pandemic, ACE reportedly committed itself to providing full refunds to consumers within 30 days.
“ACE knew that the refund policies of many other event promoters shut down from the coronavirus were not as ambitious, but ACE did not hesitate, believing strongly that the fans should be made whole immediately,” the Comic Con lawsuit notes. “GrowTix led ACE to believe that it did too.”
According to ACE, GrowTix was provided $680,000 in order to facilitate the ambitious refund policy. ACE was allegedly told for several days that the refunds would proceed as planned. However, on March 16, GrowTix reportedly changed their tune.
The lawsuit claims that ACE was sent a letter from the CEO of GrowTix’s parent company Patron. CEO Mark Jenkins allegedly told ACE that the company would be withholding the $680,000 given to them for refunds, and demanded more money from ACE to cover its own fees. GrowTix president John Sloan allegedly sent a text message to one of the ACE Universe founders, stating that “That [refund] plan no longer works for us.”
ACE’s lawsuit claims that this stance directly contradicted the previous refund agreement reached between the Comic Con organizer and GrowTix. ACE theorizes that GrowTix’s actions were motivated by the “financial peril” facing the company amidst global event cancelations.
“The noticeable shift in tone from John Sloan asserting a complete about face by GrowTix on the Refund Agreement, and the desperate letter from Marc Jenkins, someone ACE had never dealt with in the many years it had worked with GrowTix, led ACE to conclude that GrowTix and its parent, Patron, were desperate, given the economic fallout from the coronavirus,” the Comic Con lawsuit notes.
The Comic Con refund lawsuit claims that the issue escalated on March 17 when GrowTix and Patron attempted to seize and withdraw $2.3 million from ACE’s bank account.
According to ACE Universe, these actions violated the terms of the refund agreement contract and constituted fraud.
The Comic Con lawsuit also argues that GrowTix and Patron’s actions have caused them financial damages in the form of $680,000. Damages will reportedly continue in the future based on “reputationsl and financial harm” sustained by ACE as its struggles to resolve these issues and refund their customers.
Additionally, ACE argues that consumers have started to submit chargeback requests due to a lack of refunds. These requests, which will reportedly continue over the next several days, include a $25 transaction fee. ACE will allegedly be forced to pay these fees due to GrowTix’s failure to provide refunds according to the previous contract agreement.
“The continued failure to process the refunds expeditiously has and will result in substantial damage to ACE, amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars in chargeback fees and other related transactional fees avoidable if the Refund Agreement had been followed,” the Comic Con lawsuit argues.
ACE Universe seeks compensatory damages, punitive damages, injunctive relief, court costs, and attorneys’ fees.
ACE is not the only party to take legal action over failed refunds. Education First faces a class action lawsuit from parents claiming they were denied full refunds for study abroad trips scheduled for their high school students.
Allegedly, Education First included a deceptive clause in their trip agreements that prevents consumers from collecting a full cash refund if trips are cancelled due to a global health emergency. Parents in the class action state that they are owed full cash refunds.
ACE is represented by David B. Harrison of Spiro Harrison.
The Comic Con Refund Lawsuit is ACE Universe Inc. v. GrowTix LLC, et al., Case No. 1:20-cv-02517, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
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5 thoughts onComic Con Says Fans Are Owed Coronavirus Refunds
As a conrunner that uses Growtix, Growtix doesn’t have the money. ACE does, with the exception of fees (which are not refundable) and probably 20%, depending upon their contract.
This close to the show, ACE would have taken all of the draw, minus that 20%. Growtix is not their bank. They’ve had that money to pay for merchandise, catering, equipment rental, deposits to their guests, plane tickets, all of the rest. Unless Tom and Chris have sent back their deposits already, the airlines have refunded their tickets, the hotels where they’re booking folks have let them out of their deals, and all of the merch vendors are taking back their custom order goods, I imagine that they’ve spent it, and don’t have it to give back to Growtix.
I feel horrible for them, and put myself in their shoes. Our show would be bankrupt if this happened to us. But Growtix doesn’t have the money.
It seems not a lot of news outlets are concerned that innocent fans and customers have lost $2.9 million dollars collectively so thank you for publishing this article. I personally was traveling with my husband from Florida to Boston, others from all over the country and many even from Italy, England and Norway. We had money tied up in plane fares (which we can only get credits for, not refunds), hotels and other travel related costs. Now we get this news regarding our refunds. While I had about $1,000 invested in photo ops for the con that are tied up in this lawsuit, others on the FB message boards that I’ve met have lost as much as $6,000. A lot of fans that were to attend have been laid off due to COVID19 and that refund money was to be used for basic living expenses. One fan in Italy last night told me that he lost his job because almost all business in Italy is closed and they have been rationing food for his family. Meanwhile ACE is withholding $2.9 MILLION dollars of OUR money. Growtix has refunded other cancelled cons all over the country like Dallas comic con and Megacon in Orlando. So the issue is certainly not with Growtix.
Add me
Actually yes and for this specific Ace Boston Comic Con. I bought a photo-op to meet Tom Hiddleston. Still waiting on a refund.
Yes