Here’s what to do if your StubHub World Cup resale ticket is canceled

A growing number of World Cup fans who thought they had bought tickets to matches on the ticket reseller StubHub were notified with just days or hours to spare that their tickets did not exist. Horror stories about stranded families , ruined once-in-a-lifetime trips, thousands of dollars squandered, and hang-ups on StubHub’s customer service line are flooding social media and local news. It’s the latest sign of the powerlessness many consumers feel in the US, say advocates who estimate thousands of World Cup fans may have been affected. “The system is deeply broken and flawed at all levels,” said Brian Hess, the executive director of the Sports Fans Coalition, a non-profit that advocates for fans’ rights. “Consumers should not have to fight like this,” he said. StubHub has a history of failing to deliver promised tickets, claimed Bradford Clements, an attorney and former Texas state prosecutor who has more than 150 clients, both buyers and sellers, who say they were ripped off or misled by StubHub and are owed $2.4m. “This happens over and over” – not just at World Cup matches, Clements said. StubHub often says the seller pulled out of the ticket swap at the last minute, but that’s frequently not the case, he said. A StubHub spokesperson said that fans should “contact us directly and ask for World Cup specialist support”. Many of the World Cup issues had to do with a faulty new ticketing app that Fifa introduced just before the tournament, StubHub said. …