KEY POINTS:
They came from far and wide, to see their idol in action. They left disappointed - and out of pocket.
Thousands of Christina Aguilera fans were left short-changed yesterday, when the singer cancelled her two Auckland shows at Vector Arena.
Many had already paid for flights and accommodation and taken the day off work to travel to Auckland for the show.
While ticketholders to tonight's concert may be able to recoup some of their losses, last night's fans were left with little recourse, given just hours notice of the cancellation.
Consumers' Institute Adviser Paul Doocey said it was a complicated situation but the concert promoters could be at fault.
"In theory, if the promoter has failed to provide the service that you could reasonably expect, they are liable."
Aguilera cancelled the shows due to a reported illness, which had already seen her cancel two Melbourne concerts last week.
Mr Doocey said it was arguable that the promoters and ticketing agency did not act as quickly as they could have.
However, he said it was very difficult to prove a direct link between their failure and the cost to ticketholders, especially when it involves contracts with third parties, such as airlines.
Last year, Air New Zealand offered refunds and transfers following the postponed U2 concerts.
It remains to be seen whether they will extend a similar offer in this instance but Mr Doocey said they were not obliged to do so.
The incident also highlights the dangers of purchasing scalped tickets through sites such as Trade Me.
Mr Doocey said: "You can take the ticket back to TicketMaster and get the face value but obviously if you've paid over that on Trade Me, you're stuck wearing that cost."
