Miami Grandma Robbed Of $1700 Bieber Tickets, Learns Harsh Lesson
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Miami Grandmother Gema Ruiz wanted to make this Christmas a very special one for her granddaughter, 7-year-old Amanda.
So back in June, she ordered two Justin Bieber concert tickets for his January performance at AmericanAirlines Arena.
Since the concert was sold out, she bought them on the secondary market, through StubHub.
"It was the only thing my granddaughter who is 7 years old wanted..she's like Justin Bieber's #1 fan. I almost died because the face value was $36 dollars and I paid $1700," the veteran Miamian explained.
A few weeks later, her house was robbed — her Christmas gift to granddaughter Amanda gone.
"The grinch has stolen my Christmas and her Christmas," explained Gema.
She tried to get them replaced, but hasn't been able to.
Since she wasn't the original owner, the original ticket vendor, Ticketmaster, couldn't replace them. When she tried to get StubHub to replace them she found out it couldn't either.
"The owner of the tickets had said that the venue could not replace them or reprint them. What'd you think about that? I was in shock because we're in 2013, they can, we know if they lose them they void the barcode and issue new ones," Gema explained.
StubHub offered Gema a coupon for her full purchase price: $1721.35 toward another set of Justin Bieber concert tickets.
StubHub spokesman Glenn Lehrman added: "We don't own the tickets that are sold on our site. The original tickets were sold on Ticketmaster; we don't have anyway of getting them to reprint tickets. All we can do is either give her a coupon or refund her money."
But Gema said comparable seats at the concert are now selling for over $1600 each and she doesn't want a coupon for another concert...she just wants her floor level concert tickets to make her grandaughters' dreams come true.
"I don't want my money...I want my tickets. It's my granddaughter. I can't even talk about this. I'm going to cry. I want my granddaughter's tickets," Gema said.
StubHub later changed its offer and told Gema it would replace her stolen tickets with another set of comparable ones for the same concert at her original purchase price.
But she's not sure they'll be as good as the originals.
She still hopes to get the stolen ones re-printed.
Remember, if you buy tickets on the secondary market and have a problem, you may not have all the same rights and consumer protections as the original purchaser.
