Reply from TicketbudNov 15, 2017
Wayback Entertainment and its representative, Stephen Eubank (collectively, the "Event Organizer"), approached Ticketbud in early September 2017 about using the Platform to facilitate the sale of tickets for its "Haunted Booze Cruise" events in certain cities across the United States ("Initial Events"), which Event Organizer was already promoting on Facebook. After being contacted by the Event Organizer, Ticketbud conducted reasonable due diligence to confirm the validity of the Initial Events, including:
Speaking with Stephen Eubank about such events;
Requesting contact information for the boat vendors for each of such events;
Confirming that a contract existed between such boat vendors and the Event Organizer;
Confirming that Event Organizer had made substantial deposits with such boat vendors;
Confirming, in some instances, that Event Organizer had successfully held similar events with such boat vendors in the past;
Confirming that Event Organizer did not intend to sell tickets in excess of the capacity of the reserved boats; and
Continuing to follow up with the boat vendors to confirm all payment to the boats were made and such reservations remained in place.
Upon completing its due diligence on the Initial Events, Ticketbud agreed to allow Event Organizer to sell tickets to the Initial Events through the Platform and Event Organizer entered into a separate agreement with Stripe to process the payments associated with such sales.
A few weeks later, Ticketbud noticed that Event Organizer had started selling tickets to "Haunted Booze Cruise" events in new locations ("New Events"). Ticketbud immediately reached out to Event Organizer in an effort to perform the same due diligence on the New Events that it performed on the Initial Events. Event Organizer communicated that it was in negotiations with several boat vendors for the New Events and would promptly provide Ticketbud with the requested information. However, Event Organizer shortly thereafter informed Ticketbud that it was unable to secure the required boat reservations and intended to cancel such events and refund all tickets purchased for such events.
Stephen Eubank initiated refunds for such tickets with Stripe on or around September 28, 2017 as well as informed Stripe that a significant volume of transactions were going to be refunded by the Event Organizer. Upon initiating such refunds, the fees collected by Ticketbud in connection with the canceled events (i.e., an aggregate amount of $7,497.81) were returned to Stripe to be refunded to the purchasers. To Ticketbud's knowledge, Ticketbud no longer possesses any fees and has not profited or made any revenues, from the canceled events of Event Organizer. To the extent Ticketbud does possess any such fees, Ticketbud has authorized Stripe to collect such fees and refund the applicable purchasers. At this point, this process is solely controlled by Stripe.
After the refunds were initiated, Ticketbud contacted the Event Organizer and requested that it keep in communication with its customers during the refund process. Event Organizer agreed to do so and assured Ticketbud that the customers who purchased tickets to the canceled events would be refunded the full amount paid for their respective tickets.
However, after the standard 10 business day refund period, Ticketbud was notified by Stripe that it was unable to complete the initiated refunds and that Stripe was working directly with the Event Organizer to resolve certain issues and complete the outstanding refunds. Ticketbud later learned from Event Organizer and Stripe that the bank account of Event Organizer (i.e. Stephen Eubank) had been frozen and the funds required to process the refunds were not accessible.
Ticketbud understands that Event Organizer wired a significant amount of funds to Stripe on or about October 24, 2017 to cover a portion of the outstanding refunds. Ticketbud further understands that Stripe is still waiting for additional funds from the Event Organizer to cover the remaining outstanding refunds. Ticketbud has and will continue to use its best efforts to facilitate communication between Stripe and Event Organizer in an effort to complete the outstanding refunds, but has no control over the refund process at this point.