Curtis Bird frustrated with being met by silence from VANFEST

Tens of thousands of dollars spent on VANFEST tickets are in limbo after the event, originally scheduled in Bathurst for December 2022, has been postponed twice.

The latest announcement was the festival would be held in December 2023, but with no word from organisers regarding dates or ticket refunds, festival goers who were planning to attend have joined forces and are calling for answers via a Facebook group.

Creator of the group Curtis Bird said ticket holders want to know what's going on and why they can't get their money back.

"My most recent attempt at contact was their email address which is no longer receiving emails, and that's the email address from their website," Mr Bird said.

"Our Facebook group alone makes up maybe $20,000 in retaining refunds and that's a conservative estimate."

He said they want VANFEST to "explain to us what's going on with this festival that we all paid hundreds of dollars to attend".

While organisers announced early in 2023 that the festival would be held in December this year, no confirmation has been given.

Mr Bird paid $260 for his ticket, and knows people who are $1700 out of pocket as a result of the continual postponements and being unable to receive refunds.

Mr Bird said out of the 91 people in the Facebook group - most of whom live in Bathurst - he only knows one person who has received a refund.

"They described a pretty obscene process that involved Fair Trading, NCAT (NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal) and contacting Moshtix once every three days for several months," he said.

"I've lodged several refund requests, all of which you get an automated response telling you that you're not entitled to a refund unless it's pursuant to the LPA [Live Performance Australia] ticketing code of conduct, so you write back and say well it is and they say nothing.

"It's rough."

The Western Advocate contacted NSW Fair Trading for an update on the situation, with a spokesperson saying:

"NSW Fair Trading has received 51 complaints about Moshtix [ticketing company] and 16 complaints about VANFEST between January 1, 2023, and October 22, 2023.

"Five refunds have been issued.

"A Fair Trading investigation into this matter is ongoing."

Bathurst MP Paul Toole said the situation is very concerning and the fact that people are out of pocket after paying for a service that hasn't been provided is unacceptable.

"This concert has already been cancelled on two occasions and people rightfully deserve to have a refund of their payment," he said.

"This should not be questioned, it should be paid up immediately by VANFEST or Moshtix.

"If there has been any breach that has occurred then I would expect disciplinary action to be taken against those organisers.

"If the Federal Government has made any payments to the organisers for an event that has not taken place, then it should be fully audited to ensure every dollar is paid back."

Attempts by the Western Advocate to contact VANFEST were unsuccessful.

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