IMPERIAL BEACH, Calif. (KGTV) — An Imperial Beach family spent roughly $15,000 on a World Cup trip, only to be turned away from the match after their tickets failed to transfer through StubHub.
And they say it happened again on Friday in Los Angeles.
Seven members of Mercedes Carriedo's family traveled to Miami to watch Argentina face Cabo Verde on July 3. The family had saved money, purchased tickets through StubHub, and booked the trip.
"Roughly $15,000 we're talking about flights, Airbnb, the car rental, food," Carriedo said.
But just hours before kickoff, their tickets still had not appeared. "It was always transfer, transfer, transfer," Carriedo said. "Nobody was able to. Like give him the word, hey, we sold your tickets."
StubHub offered the family a refund and replacement tickets to a July 10 match in Los Angeles.
They told ABC 10News in a statement in our original story, "StubHub was founded with the mission of making buying tickets easier and safer, and for 26 years, we’ve helped millions of fans access the events they love. The World Cup is no exception, but even a single bad experience is deeply disappointing for fans and for us. That’s why, in the rare instance that problems arise, our FanProtect Guarantee provides replacement tickets or a full refund—and why we are working tirelessly to resolve ticket transfer issues and get every fan into their match.”
But a similar problem happened again.
"We give them an hour, and then they call back, yeah, give us another hour," Carriedo said. "And the game started at 12 p.m. And unfortunately they never showed up. The tickets never showed up once again."
Only 4 of the 7 tickets transferred, leaving 3 family members to watch the match at a bar.
StubHub told ABC 10News that the event organizer limits purchases to a maximum of four tickets per order and that the tickets had to be secured through two separate orders. The family successfully transferred four of the seven tickets, and those tickets were used to attend the match. StubHub added that it tried to provide assistance to secure the 3 remaining tickets. The company said it offered replacement tickets, but that the family declined the additional help and instead requested 3 tickets to the World Cup final. Carriedo pushed back on that account.
"For them to say that we denied tickets when we've been asking for the tickets since yesterday," Carriedo said. "To me that doesn't add up, that doesn't add up."
Carriedo grew emotional when reflecting on the likelihood that her father would have another opportunity like this one.
"My dad's not getting younger," Carriedo said. "The World Cup comes every 4 years. So for them to take that experience. That's when I knew I had to do something because this is not right."
The family says the only way StubHub can make things right is to provide all 7 tickets to the World Cup final, with all expenses covered.
"Not only did we lose flights, we lost the car rental, we lost the Airbnb. Like that's all money. It's not, it's not cheap. " Carriedo said.
The World Cup final is scheduled for Sunday, July 19.
