Lakers Fan Gets Bounced By Ticket Vendor
WEST LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — One Lakers fan thought he had scored a sweet investment when he bought four tickets to Kobe Bryant's last game. But what happened next messed up his plans.
Jesse Sandler is not just any Lakers fan. He is a mega fan because he watches every game and has all the memorabilia.
But this fan - like Kobe Bryant himself - has foresight. He bought four tickets to the April game that will be Bryant's last.
Sandler's four tickets at the time were $200 each. After Bryant announced that he was retiring, the tickets' value shot up $6,000 total.
"I couldn't believe it. It was amazing," Sandler said. Within just two weeks of the announcement, Sandler received an email that changed everything.
It was from StubHub saying: "The seller let us know these tickets were listed incorrectly. Your order has been canceled."
Sander said: "My jaw was on the floor. Couldn't believe it." He said he read the email three to four times. "I was angry. I was upset."
After many calls and emails, Sandler said he got a refund and a few vouchers but nothing to get him to that game. And he was not about to sit on the bench for this one.
He reached out to the media. And only then, he said StubHub offered new tickets and tweeted: "We shot an air ball on this one."
StubHub issued a statement to CBSLA saying: "This was a mistake that we will learn from and we will do everything in our power to make sure this doesn't happen to one of our customers again."
But Sandler turned down StubHub's offer and instead accepted four of those coveted tickets from a smaller company who heard his story. They are even better seats than the ones he bought on StubHub.
"I had never intended to sell the tickets at all. Money comes and goes. But this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be able to do this," Sandler said.
