Chris Schulz: Consumer NZ Senior investigative journalist on concert cancellations and delays

A reminder to concert-goers to prepare for cancellations and date changes. 

Canadian rapper Drake is the latest artist to push out his New Zealand shows by two weeks, a month out from the original dates. 

It follows the cancellations of Juicy Fest, the Timeless Tour, and Paradise Rock festival. 

Consumer NZ senior investigative journalist Chris Schulz told Mike Hosking paying $10 dollars for insurance on a ticket can be worthwhile 

He says it's a good idea for shows a year away, as a lot can happen in that time. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Increasing ankst around concert concert dates, consumer rights. A couple
of weeks ago, Drake announced the two stop tour, but
already the day it's been pushed out by a Fortnite.
This is the thing, the Timeless Tour, including Boy George
and the Little River Band, Travis Scott, Juicy Festival, the
Paradise City Rock Festival. They're just to name a few.
Because Human Seeing, your investigative journalist Chris Schultz is with
us on this. Chris Morning, Hi, make so what are

(00:23):
you rights? Are there rights? I mean if I say
I'm coming Tuesday and then I say, what's sorry, it's
got to be Thursday, what happens?

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Yeah, you definitely have rights under the Fair Trading Act.
If an artist cancels a show, you're allowed your money back.
Drake has offered refunds to fans because he's changed these
these dates. So yeah, you definitely have options when you're
buying tickets as well. At the moment you can, you
can take a little box that offers insurance and that
can also give you a few extra rights as well.

Speaker 1 (00:54):
Your advice, this is like buying anything like airline tickets,
is your advice to always tack the insurance box or not.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
It depends, you know, if you're buying tickets for a
show that's a year away, I think it might be
a lot can happen in a year. You might be
moving house, you might change cities or jobs, so that
could definitely be worth getting insurance for. It depends on
the price of the ticket too. You know, if you're
buying a three or four hundred dollars ticket, which they
can go up to these days, then it's probably worth

(01:23):
getting insurance. If it's a thirty dollars show, you know,
down at Double Whammy, then probably not so important.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
Is this a thing that's a trend that's growing and
has it got anything to do with the fact that
we're at the bottom of the world and maybe at
the end of a tour.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
Possibly? Look, raps are notorious for this. Travis Scott did
it last year. Childish Gambino I think was due to
play a couple of days ago and he canceled that tour.
I think he was injured. So that one's so legitimate
excuse for Drake. You know he's down here. I believe
everyone thinks he's hiding out because Kendrick Lenara is playing
a Sicker Bowl and he's worried about anything you might
say or do again, Drake, that had a big feud

(01:59):
last year, So yeah, it is happening. The other thing
with festivals at the moment, Mike, is that police are
cracking down. They're opposing liquor licenses at the moment, which
is what happens to Juicy Fest. That also affect is
a timeless tour. That's why sixteen to eighteen year olds
can't go to Lane Way this year. So there's definitely
a lot going on.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
Sure where it gets tricky as far as I can
work out as you'll be coming from out of town,
so yes, you can get a refund on your ticket.
That's life. There's just an inconvenience to deal with. But
then you've got airlines and hotels and rental cars and
that's where are there obligations there or not?

Speaker 2 (02:35):
It's complicated. There could be if one of the guarantees
has been breached, you may be able to claim for
any reasonable forseable losses under the Consumer Guarantees Act. That's
the fine print. In reality, you know you've got a
fight for that. You'd have to go to dispute tribunal,
file a small claim I don't know if anyone's really

(02:55):
got that in them. You know, for accommodation, if you
go through it like a commodation, you don't normally pay
for that until you have that accommodation. You arrived at
Hope the hotel that normally pretty pretty flexible, so you
should be able to get out of that. With flights again,
they offer insurance as well. If you're booking flights for
a concert you made us want to tick that insurance pot.

(03:17):
It's like eighteen twelve dollars and then you are covered
under that.

Speaker 1 (03:22):
All right, or alternatively, Chris appreciate it very much. If
the concert's only been moved today, you could just leave
your own New Zealand flight and given its delay, you'd
probably arrive on time the next day anyway, So that
could work out well for you. Chris Shultz, who is
the he's the consumer. Senior investigative journalist. Are they now
replacing newsrooms? So a business is now employing senior investigative

(03:44):
journalists to be senior investigative journalists instead of newsroom. That's
an interesting development. Great news. Over the holidays, By the way,
a couple of the kids went to a festival and
They do this every year, and have done for a
number of years, and they crash at our place, and
then they invite their mates to crash at our place,
and it's nothing short of a nightmare. And I keep

(04:07):
saying to them, I've said for several years, I said,
you're too old for this bollocks. Anyway, this year they
worked out they're too old for this bollocks because they
went to this festival I won't name, it doesn't matter.
It's in the middle of nowhere. The moment they get there,
there's no cell phone coverage, so they lose each other. First,
one wanders off to go get a bourbon and coke,
and the other one goes off with the toilet. The
caw find each other anymore because no cell phone coverage
because you're in the middle of a paddock. Then the

(04:28):
second thing they do is that they then panic about
how to get home because we pick you up get lost,
So they want to take a bus, and of course
there aren't enough busses because the festival organizers deliberately make
it so they aren't enough buses, So you trapped til
four o'clock in the morning. So they finally came home
the next day when they roused themselves. We said, you're
going again next year. They said, nah, So good news

(04:48):
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