Hoops

Has anyone been successful getting a refund to WC Melbourne?

What about those that paid up to $4k for court side seats and/or those that booked flights and accommodation.
Might as well fly to the US and watch a game there for the same amount of money.

If you say we shouldn't get a refund then go chomp on an anus. This is a joke and I'm not going to put up with this BS!!

I bet you a lot people spend more the $500 a year on McDonald’s, and are ripped off slowly instead of one large hit. It’s all false advertising, no matter where you look, let’s face it some fat arse who still owes wages to many people in Queensland probably won the last election on BS advertising.

I think you will find the reason they did move (to not clash with FIFA) was so they could have clear air all year without competing with FIFA marketing/advertising/media coverage etc

However rjd Euroleague did not have a break in their schedule for any of the World Cup Qualifying windows.

"If I buy tickets to an AC/DC concert and the Wiggles turn up.....I would expect a refund."

True, but people have bought tickets to see the USA world cup team against the Australian boomers world cup team and that's who they'll see.

It's not like they've cancelled the games and instead they're having Australia v China or something instead.

A lot of the big name Euro guys committed to the European qualifiers too. FIBA leagues typically take the World Cup seriously. They also accommodated the qualifiers mid-season. It's the NBAers that struggle.

FIBA has to realise that if they want the best players in the world to participate in the World Cup, they need to accommodate NBA players. That means not playing it so close to NBA pre-season and separating the Olympics and World Cup by two years to allow some rest time.

I can't think of a single legitimate reason to hold the World Cup in 2019 instead of 2018. The argument that it was avoiding the clash with the FIFA would cup doesn't hold up: the FIFA World Cup ended by mid-July.

(Legit question that was, not rhetorical)

The battle will rage on, but I return to my point that FIBA is largely to blame for this.

Are NBA stars really going to play a World Cup one year, and the Olympics the next?

That would mean, potentially going from say September 2018 through to June 2021 without an extended break from basketball. Without a genuine off season- especially when many of these guys are on teams who can legitimately expect to go deep into the playoffs.

There may be other benefits of having a world cup in 2019, eg: Avoiding the soccer world cup. Maybe the tournament will be more competitive- the US won't dominate. But this is a trade off. Less players making themselves available.

Are Euro players also dropping out? Do their leagues also start in October and run through to June?

Correct RJD. The advertising showed players who have played for Team USA previously and therefore in all likelihood could again. For example the USA team that went to Spain in 2014 had:
Cousins
Curry
Thompson
Davis
Rose
DeRozen
Harden
Irving
Gay
Plumlee
Drummond
Faried

That's a team with some star names. So for the people above who say the USA do not usually send a strong team to the World Cup that is not entirely true

The US squad was announced in June. If the requirement on advertising was to only show photos of US players that were in the World Cup squad, they wouldn't have been able to show anyone until then. If this is a complaint, surely you must have bought tickets after June 11 -- and also neglected to pay attention to basketball news relating to the world cup.

good luck getting a refund for your boxing day test match tickets just because the selectors don't pick a few of your favourite players

The advertising was done before tickets went on sale, like it is always. It’s been this way for years, what you get is what’s available. The US team will all get doctors certificates saying there unavailable same with Simmons, if a legal challenge is mounted, which it won’t that’s life. Next time McDonald’s sell you a burger you had better sue because it does not match the advertising.
I’m not a fan off the system but that’s how it’s been set up for decades, you reap what you sow.

Did the pictures of players say “this bloke is coming”?

I'm no legal expert

But I'd be very surprised if there was any reason they would be required to issue refunds. There's no real mischief here- they advertised based on the USA roster at the time. Perhaps optimistic to think that most of the stars would be there, but not illegally false or anything like that, I would think

Buyer beware.

I've got tickets. I'm looking forward to the game.

And they proved that? Or like 99% of the posts on here, it was a troll.

It’s just another fuck up by BA.

I would believe that they did knowingly make misleading statements inducing people to enter into contracts with them (buying a ticket). Proving that will be the difficult part. Only way would be through a ‘class action’ type of action.

Seriously need the current board and execu to be cleaned out and start again. The CEO is a completely

Paul George was featured on their advertising posters despite never being on the WC squad.

Please give some examples of these illegal misleading statements

Every time a politician opens his mouth it’s miss leading, good luck with that.

There was no way that the organisers would know that so much of USA team would pull out. They had reasonable grounds to expect that the players on their advertising had a good chance of playing. It's not like the teams are resting players. They are fielding their best team available. It is still the World Cup teams of Australia and USA playing, as advertised. It is still arguably the best Boomers team ever playing against the best that USA can offer, all quality NBA players, playing in the front of the largest crowd in a basketball event in Australia.

Expecting a refund is very optimistic. Perhaps if they offered some modest discount it would be a reasonably fair outcome.

Was there anything in the smallprint or T&Cs that guaranteed anything better than the C grade team turning up?

I don't see it happening. Nice thought though. But no, you're probably not getting anything without a class action lawsuit or something.

Was there anything in the smallprint or T&Cs that suggested it was a possibility

No looking forward to it.