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Brown Paper Tickets, an online ticketer specializing in smaller community events, owes ticket holders and event organizers millions of dollars in the US and in Canada after failing to pay for COVID cancellations.
That’s according to a lawsuit filed by Washington State against Brown Paper Tickets alleging that it owes more than $6.75 million to consumers across the US. The state’s Attorney General’s Office noted in an announcement that it had received 583 complaints from residents about the company not issuing refunds. The Office estimates that over 80,000 people in the US have been affected by Brown Paper’s conduct.
“Beginning in early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic and consequent restrictions on public gatherings resulted in the cancellations of many live events. Brown Paper Tickets has failed to remit payment to event organizers for events that took place and has failed to provide refunds to ticket buyers who purchased tickets for canceled or rescheduled events,” alleges the Washington State lawsuit.
The company has been in business for more than two decades, but the more than 1,200 consumer complaints over the past year caught the agency’s attention, notes the BBB website.
Community event organizers have reported waiting over a year for events that were canceled last spring due to COVID-19. Organizers at a high school in Wisconsin told local reporters that they, as well as the schools and ticket holders, are owed thousands by Brown Paper after their play was canceled last spring.
“We were supposed to do the Sound of Music at the beginning of April last year,” explained one of the organizers to a local NBC affiliate, stating that family and friends who purchased tickets to the canceled event never saw their money back from Brown Paper. “Our poor ticket holders who were just trying to support our local high school theater production are out all of this money.”
Canadian event organizers and performers also say that Brown Paper failed to pay them and their audiences, according to CBC News. Several community event organizers told reporters that the company has been holding proceeds and refunds for more than a year now.
In September of 2020, the company issued a COVID-19 recovery statement promising better communication in the future.
“While we can’t offer an estimated timeline for your specific refund at this moment, our team has been and continues to initiate full refunds,” said Founder & President William Scott Jordan in the letter. “It’s a long process with thousands of events canceled, postponed, or abandoned. Like many businesses, we were unprepared for a crisis of this scale, but we are making headway.”
Community organizers owed refunds by Brown Paper told reporters that it was concerning that the company was still offering event services.
“The scary thing for me is that you can still go onto Brown Paper Tickets and people can still book an event,” stated one Wisconsin organizer.
Are you waiting for a refund or event proceeds from Brown Paper Tickets? Tell us about your experience in the comment section below.
The State of Washington is represented by Craig Rader and Marc Worthy, Assistant Attorneys General for the State of Washington.
The Brown Paper Tickets Lawsuit is State of Washington v. Brown Paper Tickets, LLC, Case No. 20-2-14549-1, State of Washington, King County Superior Court.
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44 thoughts onBrown Paper Tickets Owes Millions to Small Theaters, Schools, and Holders, Lawsuit Claims
We have sent 5 emails to brown paper tickets regarding an event cancelled in November. At this point, I’m beyond perplexed- not over the fact that we haven’t been reimbursed….but no courtesy of a simple reply from the company. It’s just awful.
You can add me to the list. I filled my refund request a year ago and within the time frame they wanted. Have attempted to contact them many times with no response. We were told it would take a couple weeks to process our refund request, it’s been a year.
I tried for weeks (months, actually) to pursue a refund for a pair of concert tickets; the concert was canceled due to COVID, and I had followed the given procedure for requesting a refund. Followed up via email numerous times. At one point I received an email from Brown Paper Tickets promising “better communication in the future,” but that was the extent of it — no further communication, and of course still no refund more than a year later. I was alarmed at one point to see that they were still offering ticketing services (and apparently, therefore, still robbing people of their money).
I bought tickets to a concert in Indiana. Spent $60 and was told to hold out for the rescheduling of the concert. No communication now and no refund.
We are a small venue in Florida. BPT stopped payment on 2 checks that had already been deposited in our bank account and have not forwarded ticket income that came in for future events (many ticketholders donated their ticket purchases to the venue after the shutdown). They owe us around $18,000.
We had 6 performances of a play completed before the shutdown in March. Last performance was March 14. Brown Paper Tickets has yet to pay a dime. They owe us around $4000.
We used Brown Paper Tickets as our ticket vendor for our Home Performance Season for 4 shows – Feb. 27,28,29 and Mar. 1, 2020. Our organization was paid by Brown Paper Tickets for only two of the four performances , and this was weeks later than expected/promised. We are still owed from Brown Paper Tickets for the 3rd and 4th performances for our home season in the amount of $1,920. The organization has suffered financially because of this negligence on the part of the BPT agency. These funds were to go directly to artist performance fees. We had to pull these funds from our small reserve to cover these expenses.
I am a choreographer from San Francisco. On March 6 & 7, 2020 I collaborated with four other choreographers from the Bay Area and presented a performance at the DZINE Gallery in San Francisco. All together we hired five other dancers and we also danced in each others’ choreography. Our Box Office generated $4000 and we still have not been given our money. I actually dipped into my savings account to compensate the additional dancers.
Had a few small music venues cancelled by COVID and wasn’t reimbursed
Add me