INDIANAPOLIS — We now know more about the confusion that caused hundreds of Elton John fans to miss part, or all, of the icon's performance Friday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
"They scanned our tickets, and we went up to our seats and the row of seats we were in had been eliminated," said Jennifer & Brian Simpson. “They ended up giving us new tickets, we go back to where the new seats were at and they were already taken."
The Simpsons missed the entire Elton John show on Friday night.
Spencer Keuhl had a similar issue with his tickets.
He stood in line for 45 minutes just to get answers about where he was supposed to sit. He says those answers were few and far between.
"It just seemed to be that it was under renovation and the tickets got confused with what use to be there with what’s there now,” said Spencer Kuehl. “We got in because there was an employee handing out balcony tickets. Otherwise, we would have still be in line for another two hours or so."
Gainbridge Fieldhouse says renovations did play a role in the confusion during Friday night's concert, but it was also the kind of tickets people were using to get in.
"We sold these tickets at a time when we were still using paper tickets which now we are all digital this is part of the impetus behind using all digital tickets," said Danny Lopez Vice President of Corporate Communications for Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Lopez says there were several printed tickets that proved to be counterfeit which is why so many people were held up in line. The arena also says they contacted people who bought tickets directly from them or off Ticketmaster that their seats may have changed due to the renovations.
Lopez says a debacle like this won’t happen again.
"This was the last show that we had that had been rescheduled that was sold under a different seating manifest a different seating chart,” said Lopez. “Everything moving forward has been sold under the current manifest so seats aren't going to change the way they did for this concert.”
The arena says anyone who ran into issues Friday should contact the Gainbridge Fieldhouse box office for a potential refund. But for Elton John fans like Brian and Jennifer Simpson a refund isn't what they want.
"As far as I am concerned it's more than them refunding money, they need to send us somewhere else that he is having a concert,” said Jennifer Simpson.
If you missed a portion of the concert or the entire event, call the Gainbridge Fieldhouse box office at 317-917-2727.
You may also send them an email at boxoffice@pacers.com. Refunds will be handled on a case-by-case basis.
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