StubHub cancels thousands of World Cup tickets, leaving fans furious and heartbroken

"Suspicious. Too many things here don't add up."

That’s how Mark Gallagher of West Vancouver feels about ticket resale company StubHub.

He paid $11,380 Cdn months ago for a pair of premium seats to watch Canada play Qatar in a World Cup match in Vancouver last Thursday. They were to be a Christmas gift for family members.

But StubHub never delivered the tickets, despite repeated calls to customer service in the weeks, days and hours before game time.

Gallagher is just one of thousands of furious fans across North America caught in what ticket industry insiders are calling a major breakdown and black eye on World Cup events.

No tickets on game day despite constant assurances from StubHub

"The night before game day, we were panicking. You can imagine how stressful the situation was. We stayed up till 4 a.m. with somebody on the line trying to get this problem solved," Gallagher told CBC News.

"They said, 'Everything's fine. Your tickets are 100 per cent guaranteed. We will get back to you in two to three hours.' That never happened."

StubHub cancelled his order while he was stuck outside the stadium. There was no explanation, no replacement and no refund, he said.

StubHub said in an email that it will look into Gallagher's case in Vancouver and will honour its refund guarantees to fans. The company also reissued a statement first provided to CBC News last week that blamed FIFA's ticketing technology for the problems. But it refused to elaborate.

FIFA, which is staging the 2026 World Cup and is soccer's governing body, referred all questions back to StubHub.

Ticket resale sites for World Cup, concerts face surge of complaints, demands for refunds

"We're witnessing, on a massive scale, one of the biggest collapses in the