Olympic Times - Sports Daily

A Canadian tour operator is being sued by a group of Americans for breaking a deal to provide tickets to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

A lawsuit filed in a Texas court alleges that Winnipeg-based Roadtrips Inc. sold tickets for the opening ceremonies as part of their tour packages but failed to deliver them.
“The people that I represent would not have gone to Beijing had they not believed what Roadtrips said and believed that Roadtrips actually had the tickets that they were selling,” Jim Moriarty, the lawyer representing the three Americans who allege they were scammed out of tickets, said Wednesday.
In a statement filed in court Tuesday, the company characterized the lawsuit’s claims as wildly inaccurate and defamatory.
“Roadtrips did not receive a number of Beijing Summer Games opening ceremony tickets from a supplier which, up until this incident, had been a secure and reputable source in North America,” said the statement from company president Dave Guenther.

“All affected clients received full refunds of the purchase price for the undelivered tickets and were also offered additional compensation, complimentary tickets to other events, and provided the balance of their event tickets and tour package services.”
The suit asks that the company be forced to repay the expenses of people who bought travel packages to the Beijing Games with the expectation they included those coveted seats.
Hundreds of people were left stranded by similar incidents at the Beijing Games, having bought tickets through unauthorized resellers only to discover the tickets didn’t exist or were fake.
Roadtrips is offering similar travel packages to the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, but would not disclose the source of their tickets.
The Vancouver organizing committee has warned the public against buying tickets from tour operators.
Many are believed to get their tickets from Olympic family members who are not authorized to resell or give them away.
The 2010 organizers have said if they find tickets from sponsors, athletes or the media in the hands of brokers they will cancel them.
The first phase of ticket sales to the 2010 Games began on Oct. 3 and runs until Nov. 7.

from: eastottawa.ca