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“We were among the first to stop and will be among the last to return.” The phrase is repeated among various entertainment companies and producers of shows in the country, given the complex panorama they are experiencing as a result of the pandemic and the consequent paralysis of live activity.
A crisis started last October that they face between uncertainty and optimism, exacerbated today by the worldwide expansion of the coronavirus, which has forced most of the festivals and concerts originally scheduled for this season to have been postponed until the end of this year or early 2021. And the situation is alerting both the filmmakers of these events and their attendees.
The former have been emphatic when it comes to clarifying that all their efforts are aimed at rescheduling the shows instead of canceling them, that most of these events are going to end up taking place at some point and that, therefore, they aspire to the public Keep your tickets for each show instead of asking for a refund. But there is a percentage of attendees who have chosen to demand this return and, in some cases, they have encountered unusual difficulties and obstacles when carrying out this procedure.
This is the case of about 175 people who have joined a class action lawsuit against Lotus, the production company that organizes the postponed 2020 edition of Lollapalooza Chile, and PuntoTicket, the company in charge of selling tickets for said event. This, as they explained, because it would be conditioning the restitution of the money invested and demanding to justify the reimbursement for reasons of force majeure. A situation that, as they comment from the Sernac, has been repeated with other reprogrammed recitals in the country, for which they have also received complaints.
Although they clarify that these are minority situations within the total universe of the public with tickets in hand for these shows, the Chilean producers acknowledge that special and new conditions have been established for returns. Of course, they clarify that these requirements respond to an unprecedented context and global catastrophe, to the initiatives promoted in the creative industries of other countries in the face of the pandemic and even to the guidelines suggested by the authority itself.
“The return conditions have historically been different, but the authority has indicated to us that, as the reason for the cancellation of Lollapalooza was unpredictable, the reasons for people who cannot attend are due to force majeure. And we are going to give those answers personally, we are working on that, “says Sebastián Meza, from the Lotus production company.
According to the producer, that those attending the festival – now set for November – who demand the reimbursement of their tickets “have to justify the reason why they cannot attend, also obeys the indications that Sernac himself gave us, attending to the reasons force majeure that prevented us from doing the event in March “And adds:” This is new, but the situation we are experiencing is new too. “
In this sense, for Meza “it is understandable that there are people who may not have been responded to in time, since the moment we are living in makes it possible for responses to take time, and that is why we are reviewing case by case to respond in time to each person”.
A vision shared by Jorge Ramírez, president of Agepec, the trade union association of show production companies in Chile, which met a few weeks ago – along with other representatives of the music industry – with the ministries of Finance and Economy and Sernac to raise their concerns and seek solutions for both the public and the live music sector, whose crisis, according to their projections, would affect nearly 800 thousand jobs.
“We hope that the conversations we have started with all sectors of this country will prosper towards a sensible common denominator, which protects jobs, the productive chain and a devastated sector that probably needs another year to return. And that it asks for the best solutions that the rest of the world has had for creative economies, putting the rescheduling of the shows ahead and leaving the return of the tickets in a secondary and exceptional condition, ”says Ramírez.
In this sense, the president of Agepec explains that the returns directly affect that productive chain. “(That people keep their tickets) is the only way that the benefit is given and at the same time protect the labor sources of thousands of Chileans. Otherwise, it is possible that the artist’s show will finally not come and that thousands of people will be unemployed. ”
“All ticket entries go in advance to suppliers and artists and if that chain breaks it obviously affects everyone,” agrees Meza. “The call, as in many countries of the world, is to save your ticket, because this is something of force majeure and we are going to return with force.”
Faced with this, the producer from Lollapalooza calls on local authorities, “because one sees that in this pandemic the authorities of countries such as Italy, Brazil and Colombia have made very important efforts supporting the entertainment industry, working on policies that will they allow you to stay on your feet, something that has not happened here in Chile ”.
Who is responsible for the return of tickets?
As in the case of Lollapalooza, the directors of the postponed shows of Kiss, Metallica and André Rieu -among others- have clarified to their assistants that those who want the restitution of the investment in the tickets should contact the Puntoticket help email , giving reasons of force majeure and before a deadline (between April and May).
From the ticket sales company, yes, they clarify that the latter is the responsibility of each producer. “Punto Ticket carries out the sale and distribution of tickets, acts as a money collector for tickets to various events and performs customer service, with the producers being responsible for promoting and organizing them. Therefore, all information or consumer response requests come from the producers, as reported in our terms and conditions available to the public at www.puntoticket.com ”, says Paulo Atienza, general manager of the company.
Likewise, the executive assures that “we have worked hard to deliver the information to the clients in a continuous, truthful and timely manner, respecting the consumer’s rights fully. However, considering that the events industry has been severely affected, for external reasons and due to force majeure, response times have been delayed compared to normal conditions ”.
From Lotus, meanwhile, they assure that it is rather a shared responsibility. “We, when we market the tickets, hand over the commercial responsibility of the tickets to the ticketera, who is obviously a partner, an intermediary,” says Meza.
“Today we are more than ever working together with Puntoticket, we have to work together to deliver the best response to the consumer,” he adds.
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