Ticket Rocket Welches On Refund Date Promise

By Robert Thomas

It has been the source of frustration for concert goers and Moose Jaw Warriors’ fans but if you were expecting promised event refunds by Mosaic Place’s former ticketing agent, Ticket Rocket, the funds never appeared over the weekend.

The refunds were expected to be received by August 22nd under a promise Ticket Rocket made to Ryan MacIvor general manager of Mosaic Place (Spectra Events Management) back in June. The refunds were to be made for the cancelled May 10th ZZ Top concert, the cancelled May 28th High Valley concert as well as the March 14, 17 and 21st Moose Jaw Warriors games.

The reason for the event cancellations were the restrictions under the Province’s declared State of Emergency which did not allow events to take place in an effort to help prevent the further spread of COVID - 19.

Initially Mosaic Place took ticket purchaser’s information in an effort to speed up the refund process as the Ticket Rocket main office in Victoria, BC was closed due to that province’s COVID - 19 pandemic plan.

In answering questions from MJ Independent regarding the future use of the personal information ticket goers provided to Mosaic Place the City said they had been informed the information would be properly disposed of. The answer came weeks from the City after MJ Independent attempted to get it directly from Mosaic Place.

In a press release issued today the City stated “The City of Moose Jaw understands the frustrations of ticket purchasers and the City is currently reviewing all options.”

MJ Independent was previously contacted by several ticket purchasers who felt as a subcontractor for Mosaic Place the facility or the City itself as the owner of the facility and who hired Spectra to operate Mosaic Place should ultimately be responsible for any and all refunds.

Ticket Rocket’s owner and boss Matthew Davey was according to news reports out of New Zealand has been under intense scrutiny and was the subject of a police investigation in that nation due to not providing refunds for two events - Hurricanes Sports Rugby and the Warbirds Over Wanaka.

Consumer New Zealand has advised ticket holders not yet receiving promised refunds within 60 days to seek relief through their banks.

Ticket Rocket's holding company, Fortress Information Systems, lost a court battle and had $676,000 NZD seized to cover an outstanding event from February.

Ticket Rocket boss and Victoria native Matthew Davey is no longer living in New Zealand but has returned to Canada.

It is unknown at this time if Ticket Rocket Canada is financially directly tied to Ticket Rocket New Zealand.

Mosaic Place uses a ticket agent system where the agent holds the funds until after the event takes place and releases the funds to the facility once the event is over. The Moose Jaw Cultural Centre also uses a ticket agent but their arrangement is that all funds are immediately remitted to the facility.

At present Mosaic Place has a Request For Proposal looking for a new ticketing agent and it is unknown what payment system they are looking for.