Brenna Oude-Reimerink just wants her money back. A month after the Great Outdoors Comedy Festival was abruptly postponed, she says she hasn\u2019t heard a word from organizers about the $394 she spent on two VIP tickets.<\/p>\n
The festival was scheduled to happen at Erindale Park, near the University of Toronto Mississauga, from Sept. 11 to 13. Several big names in comedy were billed for the weekend, including Stavros Halkias, John Mulaney and Jeff Arcuri, who Oude-Reimerink was most excited to see. <\/p>\n
Oude-Reimerink sprung for two VIP tickets for Sept. 12, paying roughly $394 for the seats, and purchasing the pair through the third-party ticket supplier used by the festival. The VIP tickets promised exclusive entry lanes, and table service during the event. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy sister and I were really looking forward to seeing him live. We\u2019ve never seen him before,\u201d Oude-Reimerink said in an interview with CTV News Toronto. <\/p>\n
The comedy festival sent out an email on the morning of Sept. 7, reviewed by CTV News Toronto, detailing everything to know ahead of the festival from when doors opened to where to park and what could be brought into the grounds. A day later, festival organizers announced they would be postponing the festival without providing a clear reason why.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know there was a lot of excitement around the show, but our priority is to deliver the best possible festival, and we believe that postponing this week\u2019s performance is the right decision to ensure we can do that,\u201d the Great Outdoors Comedy Festival wrote in a statement posted online Sept. 8. <\/p>\n
That\u2019s how Oude-Reimerink learned about it: an Instagram post. She felt \u201cdisappointed\u201d by the announcement and wanted answers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does this mean? Am I going to be able to attend the new show, even if there is one? Will it even be the comedian I was looking forward to seeing?\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
She says it took at least a full day for organizers to send an email out to those who purchased tickets.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe apologize to those who found out about the postponement on social media instead of directly from us \u2013 we understand we need to do a better job of communicating to our guests in the future and will strive to do so,\u201d the email, sent on the afternoon of Sept. 9, reads. The organizers said they are currently exploring new dates and other solutions for ticket holders, and would provide \u201cmore updates as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Oude-Reimerink feels like she\u2019s been left in the dark. About an hour before that email was sent, Oude-Reimerink sent an email of her own to the festival requesting a full refund for her purchase. <\/p>\n
As of Oct. 9, she still hasn\u2019t heard from festival organizers about whether a refund will be granted. CTV News Toronto repeatedly contacted the Great Outdoors Comedy Festival but did not hear a response. <\/p>\n
She isn\u2019t alone. Oude-Reimerink found a Reddit thread<\/a> from another ticket holder who had also tried emailing the festival for a refund, where some of the 80 comments mentioned also seeking money back and never hearing a response. Then she saw vendors for a Halifax festival<\/a> put on by the same group in early August have yet to be paid, with one vendor posting on Facebook on Oct. 9<\/a> that they are still waiting to be paid more than $28,000.<\/p>\n The lack of communication has been \u201cone of the most frustrating things\u201d for Oude-Reimerink, who says the organizers have basically gone \u201cradio silent\u201d for the last month. <\/p>\n \u201cWe hear about concerts, as an example, getting postponed or rescheduled, but at least the organizers are responsive and would acknowledge questions,\u201d she said. \u201cIt just seems like there\u2019s no way to get an answer or more information.\u201d<\/p>\n The festival\u2019s refund policy<\/p>\n Online, the Great Outdoors Comedy Festival stated that they do not provide any refunds or exchanges. <\/p>\n \u201cLine-up and show schedule are subject to change, including the postponement of headliners to future festival dates,\u201d the website reads. <\/p>\n Richard Powers, associate professor at the University of Toronto\u2019s Rotman School of Management, says the festival could issue a refund for goodwill purposes, but stressed a contract is a contract. <\/p>\n \u201cYou have to look at it from a legal and a contractual point of view, that\u2019s what they agreed to,\u201d Powers said. \u201cOftentimes they\u2019ve spent the money that\u2019s come in for tickets, promoting the event, things like that. So, they may not have the money to give the refunds. That\u2019s how they cover themselves off.\u201d<\/p>\n The question lies in whether the terms and conditions were readily available when the tickets were purchased in the first place. <\/p>\n \u201cIf they can show that it was in the small print, it was never brought to their attention, they may have a claim there,\u201d Powers said, adding that if they had to check off a box agreeing to terms and conditions they wouldn\u2019t have as strong of a case. \u201cThey could go after them in small claims court.\u201d<\/p>\n As for what is considered reasonable for postponing an event, Powers said that is typically within 12 months of the original date.<\/p>\n Oude-Reimerink doesn\u2019t want to take the chance to wait for the postponed festival, especially if it means she and her sister wouldn\u2019t be able to see Arcuri perform. <\/p>\n \u201cAt this point, let\u2019s at least get some acknowledgement of what\u2019s going to happen,\u201d Oude-Reimerink said. \u201cIn a perfect world, of course, a refund as well. Although, the longer I go without hearing back, the more that feels out of reach.\u201d<\/p>\n Related Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brenna Oude-Reimerink just wants her money back. A month after the Great Outdoors Comedy Festival was abruptly postponed,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":929035,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194297],"tags":[712,49,48,55405],"class_list":["post-929034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mississauga","tag-apple-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mississauga"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=929034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/929035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=929034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=929034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=929034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}