Refund or no refund, that is the question!

Have you ever purchased a ticket for a world famous musician's performance willing to drive 4-5 hours ? That is what I just did.

James Galway is the most famous flutist in the world right now (since the death of Pierre Rampal in 2000). I heard Galway twice in the past and I find his personality fun and his performance absolutely unforgettable. When Galway's fingers move effortlessly, his amazing breathing capacity allows the turbulence of air to create the purest tonal quality to immerse your entire being.

I am willing to drive long for something like that. Actually I drove 7 hours with a few friends two years ago to hear him. Galway and Rampal both bring me back memories of my home city, Nagoya where I spend years learning to play flute. They were in my city at least every other year to perform. But, I could not always afford the ticket. My brother and I treated ourselves to Rampal's concert one year. Galway was young, with dark hair when he came to Nagoya. I never made it to Galways' performance in my youth so it is especially a treat to hear him now that I can afford it. But, Sir Galway canceled his concert due to medical reasons. Dallas Symphony refused to give us a refund.

Sir Galway fractured his arms last year and I knew that he had canceled all the concerts up to the end of February. I waited wondering if he would cancel March concerts as well. Well, at the same time, if he was going to make it, I did not want the tickets to sell out. Everyone who understands who Galway is must be very aware of his age and his medical history, cardiac issues. We must take advantage of the opportunity. So, Finally last night, I went ahead and paid for the tickets for my friend and I, $60 each.

Let me explain this a little bit more. Just for the posterity! Remember I just bought it last night, then today, I received an E mail from Dallas Symphony stating that there is a change to the program artist. Instead of Sir Galway, they have replaced it with a 17 year old violinist, who they claim is excellent. I do not doubt that at all. But, she is not Galway. She does not play the flute either. It is like telling the customer who ordered a 1 carat diamond and paid for it to accept 1/4 carat diamond instead because 1 carat is not available. But my tickets are non refundable, they told me under any circumstance. They also said that I should have seen the note on the screen before I hit the purchase button. I honestly do not remember that but they said I should have seen where it said, 'non refundable".

I called the customer service but they did not change their position about not refunding. I also told them that if I had known about the iffy situation with sir Galway's medical condition I am certain that Dallas Symphony had known it. Other wise, they could not have been able to have the replacement violinist lined up so quickly. I suggested that I have a strong feeling that the moment I clicked the purchase button, they already knew about Galway's cancellation.

The lady said, "oh, no no, it would make us look bad, we just found out today".

Well, if that was true, Dallas Symphony knew about Galway's condition so had the back up planned and secured in advance. But they did not disclose that when they were selling the tickets and expected us to agree to no-refund condition. I am not a lawyer but I do not feel that this is very nice.

Now, they agreed to put the value on my account with dallas symphony so I can use the money value for any future tickets. So, now we are obligated to search for a concert in the future that I would consider worth driving 4-5 hours for; so I can use the money they owe me. But I later learned that the balance is good only until the End of May this year. How Crazy.

My question is, I wonder Dallas Symphony is required to pay Sir Galway big bucks even though he canceled. Is that why they are taking hostage of my money? No,,, I highly doubt that Sir Galway would do that.