‘Big let-down’ as friends miss out on Rod Stewart concert

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Two Gisborne locals are disappointed that organisers of the Mission Estate concert featuring music legends Sir Rod Stewart and Cyndi Lauper in Napier refused to refund or rebook their tickets.

Lesley Turnbull and her friend Sally Raine booked tickets for the show last year. The concert was scheduled for Saturday April 8, with

another the following night in Auckland at the Spark Arena.

But when Cyclone Gabrielle hit, and SH2 to Napier was blocked, the friends contacted Mission Estate in March to see if they could either rebook their tickets to the Auckland concert, or provide a refund.

In an email response, Mission Estate said, “At this stage the promoter has advised us that the concert is proceeding as planned, and that the tickets are non-refundable. The tickets cannot be transferred to another event/venue. You are able to rename your E-Tickets via your Members Area, and pass them on to other people.”

Mrs Turnbull said, “Despite us reasoning with them about closed and bad roads and unavailable flights to Napier, they still refused to budge. They didn’t even want to rebook our tickets to Auckland, where the two were performing on Easter Sunday, since it was booked via them and not Ticketmaster.”

She said locals who went to the Napier concert would have had to do a 12-hour round trip which was tiresome and troubling.

“The organiser’s refusal to help out was annoying. We ended up giving our tickets to friends in Napier. It was a big let-down, to be honest.”

The friends did, however, get a full refund

from their pre-booked Airbnb accommodation in Napier.