SeatGeek is voiding orders placed with a discount code that offered $500 off tickets after the code leaked online.
On May 12, someone shared the $500 discount code on social media letting people know the codes ‘MLB1’ and ‘MLB2’ resulted in big discounts at checkout. Now SeatGeek says it is working through the process of canceling all of the orders placed in the one-hour window in which those codes were live.
“On Friday night, some fans made purchases on our site using an ineligible promo code that was wrongfully distributed without authorization,” says Cameron Papp, a representative for SeatGeek. “Tickets acquired via these purchases are not valid and we are working to resolve each situation accordingly.”
For situations in which SeatGeek is the primary seller or an authorized reseller, canceling ticket sales should be a simple enough process. But in situations where the seller has already transferred tickets to the buyer, SeatGeek cannot cancel a transaction that has already happened.
Over the weekend, many redditors took to deal threads to brag about snagging great deals on festival tickets. But the tears started rolling in the next day as customers noticed SeatGeek began the refund process on their orders.
“I honestly don’t have a clue what SeatGeek does, but I highly doubt a multi-million dollar loss is what they decide on,” one person on Twitter said. Another person replying to them adds, “Just got off the phone with customer service; they told me they’re voiding every single purchase where MLB1 or MLB2 was used. Absolutely brutal.”
Right now it’s unclear how many orders went through using the $500 discount, or how many orders SeatGeek has had to cancel. For the brief time it was available, the code worked on any tickets sold by the SeatGeek platform so the damage is spread across the music industry, sports, theater, and more.