There have been scam warnings issued over Facebook sites selling tickets for Paw Patrol Live events in the UK, and parents have been taking to social media to warn others against buying tickets from unofficial sites.
The warnings have come over Facebook pages purporting to sell tickets for a Paw Patrol Live UK tour, when at present Nickleodeon have no such tour confirmed. Venues supposed to be hosting the events were telling those enquiring that they had no such event booked to take place.
The 'Paw Patrol Live Uk' page has been removed from Facebook, and we are getting reports that customers enquiring by email are being offered refunds.
Parents have reported the page to police who are making enquiries.
There is an official Paw Patrol Live Tour in the US, Canada and Mexico only at the moment, and should a UK one be announced we would strongly advise booking through a reputable retailer like Ticketmaster*, rather than through a Facebook page, as you can be confident that the events are 100% official.
Have you been affected by this issue, or know anyone who has? Let us know in the comments or over on our Facebook page.
Hi, yes I have been caught by the paw patrol scam.
Do you know how I can get a refund?
Thanks
Caroline
Hey there - has anyone got a contact number or email for these guys?
Thanks!
My name is Waqar an I am the managing director of intu events the company which organised the Paw Patrol party event in Aberdeen and others across the UK.
I am getting in contact as I wanted to set the record straight and make sure you have all the facts about why we cancelled the event and to assure you that everyone is in the process of being refunded via our ticket provider.
Aberdeen Venue
The original venue was booked and confirmed ( you can see a copy of the email here http://pastebin.com/qpRBskgP ) and as soon as we were notified they wanted to cancel the booking yesterday morning due to false alligations by a couple of Facebook users we notfied everyone immediatly to explain we would be chaning the venue and offerign a full refund.
Unfortunately our backup hotel refused our booking as they had heard that the event was fraudulent based on the same false rumor.
We immediately suspended sales and spoke with other venues to host the event. Unfortunately the rumor spread very quickly via event venues and it became apparent we would need to cancel the event.
Our next step was to contact our ticket booking provider Eventbee asking them to cancel all the tickets via a support ticket which can be seen here http://pastebin.com/9bKjZWBx . As you can see by the response we have to cancel every ticket on an individual basis.
The Police Facebook Post
As everyone who purchased a ticket will know the booking website had a big contact us button and showed our name. Unfortunately Aberdeen Police NEVER tried to contact us by email, telephone, web button or in person but decided to post that we were committing FRAUD with absolutely no foundation apart from a couple of people on Facebook who made the claim.
The post received over 2700 shares, hundreds of comments and has lead to threats made against myself and my family including me having to escape physical violence from unhappy customers quoting the Police.
As someone who has been brought up to respect & trust the Police I found it very hard to understand how it is possible for them to post complete lies on Facebook putting myself and my family in danger as well as ruining my business and EVERY other venue cancelling our events.
Earlier this week we contacted the officer leading the investigation (Officer Burns) and she confirmed by telephone she had NO idea who was promoting the event even though it was clearly stated and available via the venues and companies house (the UK government register of companies)
The police also claim Eventbee is a fraudulent company which is again false as they sell millions of tickets a year and have done nothing wrong. I’m sure over the next few days their PR team will clarify this and their legal team will deal with Police Scotland’s claims.
We provided the officer contact details and as yet have heard nothing.
Legal
Our lawyer is currently dealing with the fallout of the Police’s actions along with those of the individuals making untrue claims and threats.
Refunds
As stated during our last email EVERYONE is in the process of being refunded which take a few days to show up in your account which can be confirmed by your bank. This process was again slowed down due to the ticket company blocking our access to the ticket system including everyone's email address.
The Paw Patrol Live Link
We originally based this concept on a company based in London who were featured on TV and run a number of these parties based around Disney, Peppa Pig, Paw Patrol and many others. They have the same model of a small show, games, meet & greets, bouncy castles etc and have never had any trouble. I now understand that there is a tour in the USA which is a theatre style event in big venues called Paw Patrol Live which although completely different could confuse people who knew about it that our Paw Patrol Party Live was connected.
Final Thoughts
On a personal level I want to apologise to everyone for how this turned out and want to assure you my intentions were only ever run a fun family event for all our kids to enjoy. The actions of certain individuals and the Police post have turned my life upside down and I would like to thank my family and business group for helping me over the last 24 hours.
With respect
Waqar
Hi Waqar,
I have yet to receive a refund for the event that was supposed to have taken place on 12th November @ Crowne Plaza Hotel, Manchester. I have sent a couple of emails in relation to this matter and so far have yet to receive a response. I would be grateful if someone from your company could reply and inform me when I will receive a refund.
Regards
Stacey