Here’s why it’s so important to get ticket insurance for shows in NJ

It's one of those things some of us might overlook or not even think of when planning to see a show. Perhaps tickets are purchased well before a concert, and the price isn't necessarily that low. Spending beyond the actual ticket cost might not be something you'd like to do.

In most cases, that would be my thinking as well. You're already spending quite a bit of cash as it is to obtain tickets and might start to feel strapped when it comes to ticket insurance. But I have to tell you, it's worth spending the extra for it.

First off, what show did I purchase tickets for, and what prompted me to get the insurance in the first place? Well, the very thing I had a concern about was related to what happened.

Back in December 2021, it was announced that Jack Johnson would be touring and making one stop here in New Jersey. Since my wife absolutely loves Jack Johnson, and the timing of this announcement just before the holidays, I figured it would be a perfect thing to get to surprise her.

What made it even better was that his New Jersey show would be happening only a couple of weeks after our wedding anniversary. So the stars all aligned which made it a no-brainer to get a pair of tickets.

As I was purchasing my tickets through a very big and famous ticket company online, I saw the option to purchase ticket insurance. I paused for a bit thinking if it was worth getting.

First, I decided to do a little research on this topic. I learned about instances against certain big-ticket companies regarding misleading refund policies and their refusal to issue refunds for a handful of reasons.

After learning of that, I then thought about everything we had just gone through with the pandemic, and the unknown that was ahead. Not knowing where we might be with the virus months down the road was enough for me to decide to spend the extra on insurance. If the show ended up being canceled or postponed due to the pandemic, I wanted to be sure I'd get my money back.

Fast forward to the month of June, our anniversary month, and the approach of our upcoming show. At this point, we had secured a place for our kids to stay overnight while my wife and I prepared for our first time out to a show without the kids since the pandemic started. I even took one of my Sundays off at the radio ranch just so we can truly enjoy the weekend away.

So here we are, the Friday before the show, when around 3 p.m. with just a little over 24 hours till showtime, we get the email. The show for that Saturday evening got postponed. And the reason for this sudden change? Yup, you guessed it. Covid.

This meant our tickets automatically got transferred to the new date of his show, which was the following month on Tuesday, July 12. As much as we would've loved to go to that show, it simply wouldn't have been possible during the weekdays with work and camp for the kids.

So we had to start the cancellation process. First, I went to cancel the hotel room. At first, I was told I was illegible for a refund there due to the short notice. But after I spoke to a manager and explained the situation he gladly put the cancellation through. So far so good. Now it was time to cancel our digital tickets.

Here's where the insurance paid off. This big-ticket company not only refused to issue a refund, the sales rep even refused to hand me off to someone else who might be able to help. He kept telling me since the show date was changed that they couldn't refund our tickets.

No matter how many times I tried to talk to this guy, he wasn't budging. In fact, he started giving me an attitude after a while, at which point, I got a little heated myself.

After repeatedly telling him I had insurance for this reason, and him telling me it didn't matter, I looked back and pulled up my original email from December and read the insurance details to him. Finally, things started to work in my favor.

Once I pointed this out, he told me that he can see those details on his end and proceeded to tell me that the insurance is handled by a separate company that I'd have to contact separately in order to receive my refund. At this point, he gave me the new number to call and the website.

In other words, he knew the entire time I had this insurance but chose not to tell me this little bit of info until after we go through a heated exchange and I go back to read the actual purchase info from my original email. Only then does he tell me he already had this info and knew I could get my refund all along.

It honestly felt like they wanted me to accept the loss and that it was my fault we couldn't make the new date due to this sudden last-minute change done by the artist. What's more, I can almost promise if I didn't look back and call him out after reading what my original email stated, he would've never told me I could get my money back, and thus, no loss on their end.

So after losing what was around a good hour of arguing with this person, I proceeded to the insurance site he gave me. That process was super easy with no issues, and yes, I did finally get my money back. If the rep from that big ticket company would've told me that from the start, we could've avoided that entire situation (especially since he had that info in front of him the entire time).

So the moral of the story is this: insurance matters. And I'd hate to see you go through the same thing if a last-minute change happens with your show. If I hadn't purchased the insurance, I would've never been able to get that money back.

What's more, if I didn't call out the representative who refused to tell me what to do until I read the details from my original purchase to him, I can guarantee I probably would've been out on that money as well. I'm telling you, he really tried to push my request off of getting a refund.

So aside from the insurance, also be ready with all original documentation from the time of purchase with details of that transaction. And do your best to not let them manipulate you into getting you to accept that nothing can be done.