Finnish Fans Can Now Get A Refund When Not Satisfied By A Concert?

Chuck Berry

I am lucky, I don’t think I have ever regretted paying for any concert I have attended, I have never left before the end of a show, although I have been tempted sometimes…. But I am not the regret kind in life and I go through each experience with the idea, it is just another experience, good or bad…

But concert tickets are not cheap, in fact they have increased a lot these last years, so would you be happy to know you could get a refund if you are not entirely satisfied? I hear you Morrissey fans! Sometimes you may feel the show was not what you expected, and there is now a precedent installed by the Finnish Consumer Disputes Board: fans can now ask for a refund at concerts where they weren’t fully satisfied with the show.

The BBC reports that this is the result of a complaint made after a 2013 Chuck Berry concert in Helsinki, people did not feel entirely satisfied because the poor 88-year-old musician was feeling a bit sick! Despite the fact that Berry apologized on stage, some people complained and the consumer body decided that the event’s organizer should refund 50% of the ticket price!

Of course, this is an open door for any complaint but Paul Stahlberg, the board’s chairman, did clarify during an interview with Finnish broadcaster Yle: ‘Anyone seeking a ruling like this is always spurred by a subjective opinion, but that’s not enough to get a refund. What is significant is a generally agreed view that the concert was a failure, as it was in the Chuck Berry case.’

‘It’s not at all unusual at rock festivals that some artists are high, and that doesn’t even necessarily affect the quality of their performances,” he added

So do not rejoice Scott Weiland’s fans it’s not going to work each time, however this story is really ridiculous, I don’t know how Chuck Berry sounded but what could people expect from a 88-year-old guy? Did they expect a perfect voice, a perfect performance? Is it again a result of this generation Wuss mentioned by Bret Easton Ellis? Something was not at the height of their expectation, so they can’t accept it and need a refund? It probably is not the case because old people, not young ones, go see Chuck Berry, but still this mentality is spreading. Stop whining, you take a risk when you pay to see an old performer, just be happy to have seen him before he dies, it was already a privilege to see a legend, and a refund in this case sounds like a disrespectful blasphemy.