JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Are you looking forward to a summer full of live music?
After a number of people were turned away at the entrance of a concert in Jacksonville Friday after buying tickets on Stub Hub, First Coast News is On Your Side to make sure when the show goes on, you'll be there. Invalid ticket issues in Jacksonville were the worst country star Luke Combs ever experienced, his manager said.
“Third party ticket sellers are always a gamble,” said Dianya Markovits with St. Johns County Cultural Events, which operates the St. Augustine Amphitheatre and Ponte Vedra Concert Hall.
The experience with invalid tickets in Jacksonville Friday is not unique to that concert or venue. A local concert venue volunteer told First Coast News he runs into problem "probably every week or every other week."
Markovits said she understands the disappointment.
“It's honestly quite heartbreaking because you get so excited for a show," she said. "You invest your time, you invest your money and to get to a venue and to not have a seat, to be told that your ticket isn't valid... Understandably, people get very, very upset.”
Markovits said this happens often for extremely popular shows. She said to always buy your ticket through the box office and their approved ticketing platform partner. The Better Business Bureau advises knowing the refund policy and always using a credit card.
A StubHub spokesperson said all their orders come with a “FanProtect Guarantee” and for the Luke Combs concert, they gave fans a 200 percent credit and are investigating certain sellers. The spokesperson said fewer than 0.2 percent of their orders ever have any issues at the door.