Soundwave ticket refunds processed, Eventopia taking legal action

Following confusion over who was liable to refund tickets to this year’s cancelled Soundwave Festival, ticket agency Eventopia has told TMN all refunds have been processed.

Eventopia General Manager Martin Curnow said all ticket buyers’ refunds had been processed prior to January 31, the cut off date the agency had given ticket holders to apply for cash returns.

Curnow told TMN this week that if customers have not received their refunds they should contact soundwave@eventopia.co for assistance.

“If a customer’s original credit card account used to purchase Soundwave tickets is no longer active, has expired or the customer has a new credit card account, those customers should contact us so we can arrange a direct credit into their nominated bank account,” said Curnow.

Following Soundwave’s cancellation last December, ticket holders for the three scheduled events in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney in January - who paid $185 for their tickets - were given opposing instructions. 

The festival’s promoter AJ Maddah took to Twitter on December 17 to advise ticket holders to request a refund from their credit card supplier.

Maddah’s suggestion proved difficult for some fans whose credit suppliers were the big four banks. ANZ, Commonwealth, NAB and Westpac have 90, 60 or 30-day time limits for customers to lodge a complaint on a transaction.

Eventopia’s Martin Curnow released a statement via TMN on the same day last December, which suggested Maddah was in breach of contract: "Eventopia is not responsible for the management, or the financing arrangements of Soundwave Festival. The promoter AJ Maddah is.

“If fans have questions regarding Soundwave Festival, then they should direct those questions related to the event to the promoter." 

Maddah’s former Soundwave operating company is in administration with debts of $26 million, so while he was at a legal obligation to Eventopia, the ticket agency did not want to disadvantage its customers and therefore took responsibility for ticket refunds. It contacted all ticket holders in late December with a solution. Its email promised fans that if they applied for a full refund of their Soundwave 2016 ticket prior to January 31 2016, they would be refunded in 21 business days.

Eventopia today told TMN it is pursuing legal action against AJ Maddah.

"Eventopia is investigating all possible courses of action against AJ Maddah and his companies," it said in an emailed statement.