Man heartbroken after Ticketmaster cancels ‘double-sold’ seat

Purchasing concert tickets can be a nerve-wracking task for any die-hard fan, but for one seemingly lucky Welland, Ont., man, scoring a ticket to his dream show took less than two minutes.

Tickets for Paul Simon’s upcoming summer shows at the Air Canada Centre were set to go on sale at noon on Feb. 9. Mike Nero, a devoted fan, loaded his Ticketmaster app just as tickets were being released.

He says he secured one ticket for a floor seat just four rows from the stage for the June 12 show, and minutes later received an email with the confirmation number. His friends, who were purchasing single tickets for the same show, also managed to secure floor tickets not too far away from Nero.

But Nero told CityNews that 14 days later, he received an email from Ticketmaster telling him the ticket was sold to him by mistake.

“I felt very secure, I’ve ordered tons of tickets from Ticketmaster and I’ve never had a problem before,” Nero said. “I didn’t even know what that meant. How did I buy a ticket by mistake and then how did you figure it out two weeks later?”

Nero shared the email he says was sent to him by Ticketmaster. It shows the company offered him an alternate seat in another section of the venue, further back from his original seat, and a “partial refund of $25.”

“This isn’t the kind of email we like to send,” the email said. “Unfortunately we had to cancel your ticket because they were sold to you by mistake. We consequently found new seats we hope you’ll like just as much.”

The 40-year-old, who had first seen Simon in concert nearly 20 years ago, claimed he made numerous calls to Ticketmaster to get his original seat back, but to no avail. He added the company gave him little explanation as to why he was the one to lose out on the ticket, for which he paid $214.50. His friends who purchased single tickets did not have similar issues.

“They said the ticket was double-sold, that was the best explanation,” he said. “They kept saying to me, Mr. Nero it’s not your fault, we realize that, but this is all we can do for you.”

Nero has not given up just yet, and said he’s still in contact with Ticketmaster to get a better seat than the alternative one provided to him.

“There was no money in the world you could’ve given me to give up my seat in row 4,” Nero explained. “I was extremely upset, I was disappointed, I was let down basically.”

CityNews reached out to Ticketmaster late Wednesday afternoon, who later said they are looking into the issue. CityNews has not received confirmation on if and why the ticket was deemed a mistake in the first place.