Agencies Are Offering Refunds on Tickets for Games 6 and 7

Southland ticket brokers, who were selling World Series tickets for up to $750 because of unprecedented demand, are offering refunds on Games 6 and 7, which weren’t played because the Dodgers won the Series in 5 games.

“If a concert is canceled, we refund 100% and it’s the same with the Series,” said Medina Rosner of VIP Tickets in Sherman Oaks. “You have to refund the money to keep your good reputation.”

Said Mark Simon of Good Times Tickets in Hollywood: “We’re not going to charge them for a game that’s not played.”

All of the ticket agencies surveyed, except for Murray’s, which deducts a 10% “accounting” fee, are offering full refunds.

Dave Adelman, owner of Murray’s, said of the 10% fee: “We have to run your money through in the first place, and then we’ve got to get it back out. On the 10%, they also guaranteed themselves a cheaper price, because if it went to Game 6 or 7, then obviously the prices would have been higher. For 10% they guaranteed themselves a ticket and a better price than if they had waited.”

The ticket agencies didn’t lose money on the Series because they purchased tickets for Games 6 and 7 on speculation.

The brokers paid face value for tickets to the final 2 games of the Series and agreed to pay a premium to the seller if the games were played.

“We didn’t lose anything,” said Joe Miller of Front Row Center Tickets in West Los Angeles. “We had good presale on Game 6 but hardly any on Game 7.”

Getting a refund on tickets bought from an individual through a newspaper classified ad may not be so easy.

A brief random survey of ticket sellers who ran ads in The Times’ classified section for Games 6 and 7 revealed that among those contacted, nobody sold tickets for the final 2 Series games.

“I didn’t get hardly any calls,” said one, who advertised box seat tickets for Game 6 at $600 apiece. “And those who did call said they’d wait until they knew Game 6 was going to be played before they called back.”

For tickets bought through the Dodgers or a licensed ticket outlet, refunds, at face value, will be available at Bank of America branches throughout the state until Nov. 30. Series tickets were priced at $50 and $40.

“I imagine that we’ll be swamped for a week and it will probably drop off after the end of the second week to a trickle,” said Tom Chapman, a bank spokesman.

The Dodgers will handle refunds after Nov. 30. Damaged tickets will also be refunded by the Dodgers, who distributed 112,000 tickets for the final 2 games of the Series.