Boyfriend buys Swiftie girlfriend Taylor Swift tickets in Tokyo, but seller can't deliver

Thursday, December 7, 2023

Boyfriend buys Tokyo Taylor Swift tickets, seller can't deliverTickets and airfare to Japan were cheaper than seeing Swift in the States, but one Oakland man's gift was delayed by missing concert tickets.

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- Jared Kaufman lives in Oakland. He showed us a photo of himself and his girlfriend, Sophia.

Sophia is a Swiftie. And Jared is a smart shopper.

"I had missed the opportunity to see her locally in the Bay Area, and so I was doing research on all the different tour locations. I think she's playing again in Indianapolis and Miami and a few other places, and I was comparing flights and concert ticket prices, and Tokyo ended up being quite, like, significantly cheaper than any of the other places," Kaufman said.

He was planning a surprise birthday gift for Sophia, so he bought Taylor Swift tickets in Tokyo.

MORE: Moms buy Taylor Swift tickets through StubHub, but company doesn't really have them

"The concert tickets were around $500 and flights were around $500 as well. So all in, flights and tickets were around a thousand dollars, versus just tickets in the States that I was looking at were anywhere from $1,200 to $1,700 apiece," he said.

All was well... but then he didn't receive his tickets.

"Stubhub responded that they were, that they apologize for the issue with my tickets, and let me know that they were looking for replacement tickets. Which was news to me. At this point I was like, 'Oh, replacement tickets! I never heard that there was anything wrong with my original tickets,'" he said.

He was given a special link to try and find replacements, but says that wasn't working, so he got online and sent his issue to 7 On Your Side. That's when things changed.

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"Magic, magic happened. I got a call from someone at Stub Hub. They were able to find replacement tickets for me," Kaufman said.

StubHub issued a written statement and told us in part: "StubHub's FanProtect Guarantee ensures that a ticket buyer will get in the door, and if any issue occurs, we'll find an equivalent or better ticket, or provide a full refund, but our priority is always to get our customers in the door."

StubHub also told 7 On Your Side that it is taking extra precautions to fulfill Taylor's international tickets since buyers are traveling.

Take a look at more stories and videos by Michael Finney and 7 On Your Side.

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