A diehard Taylor Swift fan has been left shattered after her tickets to the pop star’s hotly-anticipated show were “stolen” from her account and re-sold without her knowledge.
Rebecca Smedly was one of the thousands of people trying to get their hands on a ticket to the Eras Tour, but like so many, found it almost impossible.
But on December 3, she finally struck gold and got her hands on a VIP ticket, which cost her a staggering $659.
Finishing up the payment, she then received an email from Ticketek confirming her purchase and proof she bought the tickets.
“I essentially had my ticket stolen from me”
The 21-year-old was relieved after purchasing tickets, especially after suffering through the stressful ordeal of using the ticketing service.
But she had her ticket and was getting her costume ready for the show. That’s when things took a turn.
Others who paid for a VIP package began receiving them in the mail, but Rebecca’s were nowhere to be found.
“When everyone started receiving their VIP packages, and I hadn’t, I was starting to get a little bit worried,” she said in a TikTok.
“So, I checked my Ticketek account, and the ticket was gone.”
The woman was understandably heartbroken and furious, so she took screenshots of her issue and sent an email to Ticketek.
But after hours of trying to get in contact with the customer service team, she was still getting nowhere.
She tried calling but was left speaking to an automated voice recording; they promised her a response within 48 hours, but she heard nothing.
Her Taylor Swift tickets were still nowhere to be found, and she was left more than $600 out of pocket.
Distraught, Rebecca’s mum took things further and headed straight to the Tiketek office in the city and demanded answers.
But what Rebecca heard from the ticketing service was infuriating for the TS fan.
“They said: ‘Sorry, this ticket glitched out of your account, it was relisted for sale out of your account, and someone else has it, we don’t know who, we can’t check, we can’t track who has your ticket,” she said.
“All they could do was issue me a refund, I essentially had my ticket stolen from me. It’s scary to know our accounts aren’t secure enough to hold our tickets once they’ve been purchased.”
Ticketek gives Tayor Swift fan an upgrade after re-selling tickets
While Ticketek offered a refund but no explanation about her “stolen” tickets, Rebecca took to social media to vent her frustrations and see if anyone else had gone through something similar.
A team member at Ticketek saw her post, which quickly went viral, and issued the woman an apology “for any confusion” about her tickets.
Thankfully, there was a happy ending to Rebecca’s stressful ordeal, with Ticketek assuring her the tickets she bought were safely back in her account.
The ticketing service advised her that they hadn’t only replaced her tickets that were mysteriously re-sold, but they also upgraded her tickets.
“I was making friendship bracelets, so to have the ticket back in my account and not only my original ticket, but Ticketek has actually upgraded my ticket, so that’s so special,” she said.
Sadly, Rebecca isn’t the only one who has experienced tickets mysteriously disappearing from people’s accounts.
“I had three tickets scammed from my account for Dom Dolla in Melbourne in December and re-sold off Ticketek Marketplace.” someone shared. “Didn’t know until we tried to get into the venue on the night and our tickets were cancelled.”
“The way I raced to my account to make sure my tickets were still there,” a worried woman wrote.
“Exact same thing happened to me,” said another. “Took days to get in contact and be issued a refund, which all up I received no apology. Will never use Ticketek again.”