Problems from Fight Night

[redietz]

I'll try to provide something semi-useful here -- maybe help the WoV people out a bit with some practical information. I don't know if anyone has posted elsewhere regarding the Mayweather/Pacquaio weekend in LV, but there were many reported issues around town.

First, many supposedly respectable venues, reportedly including a Buffalo Wild Wings and the Blondie's in the Planet Hollywood mall, offered seating and a meal with a fight broadcast for $200-$400 each. I do not know if these events were four-walled (outside promotions company leased the places for the night) or whether these were gaffes by the companies themselves, but they collected payment up front in the days before the fight, then announced hours before the fight that the events were canceled, and that you had to return to the venue to get your refunds. As you can imagine, these turned into mega-ripoffs, as people would then scramble to see the fights elsewhere, and would leave town Sunday without ever getting refunded. I do not know if MGM/Mandalay simply disallowed these properties from showing the fight or if it was a ripoff from Moment One. I was unaware this kind of promotion was this common, and the ensuing rip-off as prevalent as it was.

Also, evidently CET scheduled big drawings for 6 PM at Planet Hollywood and 11 PM at Caesars -- Saturday night!! People were astounded. You could not schedule a worse time -- and you had to be present to win with a one minute window -- on the most packed night of the year. Why would they want people who were gambling to leave their seats for drawings??

Add in the Pacquaio-injured scenario, and it was a bad night for the tourist in LV.

[Alan Mendelson]

My understanding was that early-on MGM would not allow any strip casinos to show the fight. This is why Caesars never scheduled any fight viewing party because they were told they couldn't. I hadn't heard about the "non event" at Planet Hollywood but it would surprise me if it was a casino-sponsored event since Caesars was well aware of the MGM blackout.

I wouldn't make much of the Caesars drawings. It was a "throw away" and they knew they couldn't do anything of substance for the fight. It could have been an "advantage play" for those not interested in the fight.

[redietz]

The Blondie's referenced in the report I read is in the Planet Hollywood wraparound mall, not in the casino itself, so I'm sure it had nothing to do with CET.

[Alan Mendelson]

The Blondie's referenced in the report I read is in the Planet Hollywood wraparound mall, not in the casino itself, so I'm sure it had nothing to do with CET.

And I am going to guess that when Caesars or MGM found out about it the plug was pulled on the event. MGM probably said "Caesars, that's your property," and Caesars probably said to Blondie's "hey MGM says you can't do this and this is our property."

I would really like to know the outcome or additional info. I love these types of legal disputes.

[redietz]

Of course, I have a cynical conspiracy angle. I'm wondering if those "in the know and with some loose change" could have slapped together out-of-state promotional companies and leased these various venues for 10K or 15K for the night, then oversold tickets beyond capacity at $200 to $400 per head, then canceled and skipped town. Ever run into any scams like this?

[Alan Mendelson]

What you describe is a version of the scam known as a "bust out." Obviously someone at the property management office wasn't doing their job OR someone promoting the event lied OR perhaps they were misled? I can't tell where the fault lies. Have there been complaints from consumers filed with anybody over this?

[RoeIncarnate]

Just call your credit card company and reverse the charge. Organizers get nothing and in some cases have to pay a reversal fee. Sucks for the attendee though.

I had something similar happen to me once. I needed a repair on my heating system. The system was under warranty for parts but I had to pay for labour. I called the company that installed it and they sent out a repair guy. He was very good, just like when we originally had it installed. He determined the part had to be replaced under warranty, charged me for the visit, and said he'd return when the part was in. We scheduled the repair. A few weeks later on the repair date I waited for him and he didn't show. I called, no answer. I then checked the website and the site said they'd gone out of business and another company would be handling the work. Called them, and setup an apt but we had to start with another inspect that I had to pay for. So I called the credit card company and reversed the charge for the original inspection.

A few weeks later we got a letter from the original owner of the company explaining he'd built up the company and sold it. The the new owners unbeknownst to him ran it into the ground. He'd arranged for all the warranty paper work to be transferred to the company that would take over the contracts. He was a quality guy when we dealt with him 8years ago and has remained so now. Glad I didn't buy the extended labor warranty as it would now be defunct.

The "bust out".

[Alan Mendelson]

Yes if they paid with a credit or debit card they could dispute the charge. If they paid cash they're out of luck.

[Alan Mendelson]

The classic "bust out" is when a company buys a huge amount of merchandise on credit then blows it out quickly at low prices and closes its doors or files bankruptcy before the supplier or wholesaler knows what hit them.