A Tynemouth mam has slammed the organisers of a Northumberland festival after it took her months to get a £244 refund on tickets bought over three years ago.
Julie Marsh bought a family ticket for the Corbridge Festival in 2020 for herself, husband Phil, and daughters Eve, 14, and Ellie, 12 on January 4 2020. Understandably, the festival, which was due to be held at Tynedale Rugby Club, was postponed in 2020 due to the Coronavirus pandemic and once again in 2021.
Initially, NHS worker Julie said she was happy for the organisers to keep the money and roll it over until the festival could safely go ahead. However, when that was pushed back again in 2022 due to not being able to find a "suitable venue", she asked for a refund - last November, but says that her emails were "stonewalled" by both SSD Concerts and TicketLine.
Read more: North East 2023 music festival guide to what's on, where and when throughout the year
When Julie finally spoke to TicketLine over the phone and asked about timescales in February 2023, she claims that they could not give a timescale on their refund process. However, after Julie contacted ChronicleLive initially due to not receiving the refund and very little communication and we contacted both SSD Concerts and TicketLine on Monday 27 February, her husband Phil was notified that day they would be getting a refund, which they received on the same day.
Julie believes that she would not have received a refund without ChronicleLive's intervention, and worries that there are more people out there who are in a similar position. She said: "It was an annoying and worrying wait because obviously I mentioned previously we rolled it over a few times in good faith because we didn't want to pull money out of a local festival we wanted to support.
"We let them hold onto the money in good faith and to go from that to having all of our communication ignored was really frustrating. I just hope people who might be in the same situation might get it resolved."
The 51-year-old mum of two said that though she'd initially been looking forward to the festival, she wouldn't be spending her refund on tickets if it makes its return in 2023. She finished: "I don't have a lot of faith in them because of their complete lack of response.
"I'm just relieved to get the money back now, but I'm not sure what we're going to spend it on yet. There are several things that a sum of money like £244 could go towards."
A spokesperson for TicketLine said: "We have recently spoken to this customer and the matter has been resolved." However, they made no comments on further questions from ChronicleLive, including how many people were still waiting to be refunded for the Corbridge Festival.
SSD Concerts were also contacted for comment but have not responded. The most recent statement on the Corbridge Festival website, posted in 2022, read: "We still have big plans for 2023 but it’s with a heavy heart that we have to announce that the Corbridge Festival 2022 will not be going ahead.
"Despite our very best efforts, we have simply been unable to secure a suitable venue. We asked you to allow us to hold on to your ticket money because we had every intention of putting the event on and whilst we acknowledge that there are other live music events taking place this year, circumstances are different for each event.
"If you decide to hang onto your tickets, this will mean the world to us and they will, of course, be valid for next year. For those of you who've applied for a refund through our ticketing agent, we understand and we hope to see you again in the future."
It is not yet confirmed if the Corbridge Festival will go ahead in 2023.
Are you waiting for a refund from the Corbridge Festival? Let us know!
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