A woman who traveled to Seattle for the FIFA World Cup has gone viral after sharing how StubHub quietly swapped her premium tickets for a significantly cheaper tier, leaving her on hold for hours and threatening to derail her entire trip. The story, detailed by BroBible, began circulating after her TikTok account of the experience racked up over 388,000 views.
TikTok user Joyce (@joyce.rezk3) says she purchased two Category 1 tickets for the Belgium v. Egypt match in Seattle two months before the game. Category 1 is the highest seating tier available, placed as close to the pitch as possible. When she arrived in Seattle and finally received her tickets by email, something was off.
Opening her StubHub account, she found Category 3 tickets instead. Category 3 is the second cheapest tier available. “OK, must have been an error. Benefit of the doubt, whatever, whatever,” Joyce says in the video. What followed was four hours of phone calls, multiple hang-ups, and no real answers.
StubHub’s explanation and the refund that followed
StubHub eventually told her the original seller had backed out, and that what she paid now only covered Category 3 seats. Joyce was given two options: a full refund or accept the downgraded tickets. She found neither acceptable. “So, I bought these tickets two months ago on a good deal…Now you’re not able to accommodate me because a seller that you’re responsible for went back on his word? How is that my own fault?” she asked.
She had already taken time off work, booked flights, and paid for a hotel. “I’ve taken time off of work. I’ve booked a plane ticket. I booked a hotel. My friends and I are here to watch. We have a certain expectation of what we’re going in with, and now, you threw our entire trip off, and it’s completely unfair,” she said.
The customer service experience made things worse. She describes the treatment as “extremely rude” and says she was hung up on repeatedly, even after being transferred to supervisors. Joyce was eventually connected with a representative named John, who she describes as “super sweet” and “really helpful,” and who opened a support ticket promising a response the next day. No response came.
She went ahead and bought new Category 1 tickets herself, assuming the refund StubHub promised would cover the difference. When she called back to confirm, the agent seemed unaware of any such arrangement. “(We) came here a couple days early to enjoy the city, to do whatever. Instead of being able to do all these things and like, the stuff that we plan to do, we are on the phone three, four hours every single day trying to figure out this problem,” she said.
She had not flown to Seattle to spend her trip on hold, she came for the viral moments the World Cup has been producing all summer. The video going viral appears to have been what finally moved things forward. StubHub reached out via direct message, confirmed her order details, and agreed to refund both the original amount and the price difference on the new tickets.
“It’s gonna take, obviously, a couple of business days for us to get a refund. But, at least they were able to do that,” Joyce said in a follow-up video. She also confirmed she made it to the game, which she called “awesome.” In a statement, a StubHub spokesperson said the replacement tickets were sourced as required under their FanProtect Guarantee and represented the closest price match to what she originally paid.
The spokesperson acknowledged the experience was frustrating and confirmed that under FanProtect, buyers are never required to accept a replacement. On the question of whether it took a viral video to get results, the company was direct: “On the broader question of whether this outcome required public escalation: it shouldn’t have. The resolution Joyce received, a refund for the price difference, is available through our normal support channels and doesn’t require a viral TikTok to access. We’re truly sorry about that experience.”
Published: Jun 23, 2026 01:15 pm