Cancelled festivals and refund entitlements

When purchasing a ticket to any event, you enter into a contract with the organisers of the event who, in exchange for the purchase price, enable you to attend the advertised event.

This contract often contains many terms and conditions which seek to limit your rights. Such limitations often extend to a waiver of any requirement for the organiser to refund the price of your ticket if the event is cancelled. Despite any such condition of the contract, where the event is cancelled or undergoes a major change, the organisers cannot waive their responsibilities to provide a full refund to you, in accordance with the terms of the Australian Consumer Laws (ACL).

Unfortunately, whilst you may be entitled to a refund pursuant to the ACL, there are circumstances in which you may not receive your money back. For example, the organiser may no longer hold sufficient funds to refund all money generated through ticket sales as the organiser may have spent that money on necessities for the event or on other matters, without the ability to recover that money. The ticket holder then becomes low in priority on a list of debts the organiser has to pay.

We recommend the following course of action for anyone seeking to recover a refund:

1. Contact the ticketing agency and festival organisers and request a refund

2. If no refund is offered, file a complaint with the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission

3. You may seek legal advice however keep in mind that legal and court fees are expensive and even where you are entitled to a refund, if the company is in liquidation there may be nothing to recover.

This article was co-authored by Law Cadet Laura Hope.

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