By Amy Tennery and Shariq Khan
NEW YORK, July 1 (Reuters) – World Cup fans have sued StubHub Inc, accusing the resale platform of failing to deliver expensive tickets they bought on the secondary market for the world’s premier soccer tournament.
In a proposed class action filed late Tuesday night in Manhattan federal court, fans claimed they “did not get what they paid for” because StubHub never delivered their promised tickets.
StubHub said it would not comment on pending litigation but added in a statement: “Our singular goal is to get fans into events, and if anything goes wrong, our FanProtect Guarantee provides replacement tickets or a full refund.
“The World Cup is no different, and the issues fans have experienced are largely driven by problems with the event organizer’s own ticketing infrastructure.”
FIFA had urged fans to only use its own official resale platform, saying it was reliable.
Fans have flooded social media during the tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada, blaming StubHub for last-minute ticket cancellations and for backing away from assurances they could get replacement tickets.
Many ticketholders say they travelled long distances to watch matches, and ticket refunds offered little comfort because they remained stuck with airfare and lodging costs.
“(Fans) were lied to and purchased World Cup Tickets for large sums of money – only to incur tremendous financial losses,” the complaint said.
“This is a new low for a sports ticketing industry that has been rampant with consumer protection issues time and time again to the detriment of the fans who make sports special.”
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages of at least $5 million for thousands of people in the United States who did not receive World Cup tickets they bought through StubHub, for alleged violations of various consumer protection and false advertising laws.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery and Shariq Khan in New York, additional reporting by Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)
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