After concert is postponed three times, ticket refund gets lost between seller and bank

SANTA ROSA, Calif. (KGO) -- No doubt the pandemic upended many of our plans. It's a dilemma many of us have likely faced, including one woman from Santa Rosa.

The chorus of Blake Shelton's recent hit goes, "When I die I want to come back as a country boy."

Christine Shend listens to the hit on her iPad. She had hoped to see Shelton at the upcoming Summer Country Festival in Santa Rosa.

He's just one of many stars scheduled to perform.

She originally bought the tickets for the concert back in 2020, but COVID forced it to be postponed at least three times.

It's finally happening later this month.

"Unfortunately I can't go this month, so..." said Shend.

She contacted Etix and the ticket agency sent her a refund. "They said they issued a refund to my credit account, but it never showed up," she said.

Shend finally figured out that the Citibank credit card she used to buy the tickets had since been closed and reopened under a new credit number. Etix sent the credit to the old number.

"Each of them told me to contact the other one to get it fixed," she said.

She went back and forth between Etix and Citibank and for three months the issue went unresolved.

"It was like riding a merry-go-round," Shend said.

Shend said Etix told her Citi would have to write a letter saying the account was closed.

But she said Citi wouldn't do that because technically the account wasn't closed, it was just under a new account number.

She contacted 7 on Your Side.

"I finally was able to get a letter that was acceptable to Etix to get the refund," Shend said.

Citibank confirmed Shend's issue had been resolved to her satisfaction but would not comment beyond that, citing privacy concerns. Etix did not respond to our request for comment.

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

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