China man upset as sales platform refuses to transfer his name to dead sister’s concert ticket despite proof

Wang wanted to attend the Jay Chou concert to honour the memory of his dead sister. Photo: Getty Images

• Sister buys ticket for Taiwan pop king Jay Chou concert, dies in accident, brother wants to honour memory by attending

A leading ticket sales platform in China has triggered a public backlash after it refused to transfer a concert ticket to a dead woman's brother, even after he showed them proof of her death.

The man, surnamed Wang, revealed on mainland social media that his sister had bought a ticket to see Taiwanese pop king Jay Chou on June 1 in Changsha, Hunan province, central China.

She was involved in an accident and died on May 10, Bailu Video reported.

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Wang said he wanted to attend the concert in his sister's memory because seeing Jay Chou perform live was a long-held wish of hers.

He contacted the Damai app where his sister had bought the ticket to change her name on it to his, but the company refused to allow the transfer.

At the company's request, Wang submitted official documents that showed the date of her death, as well as proof that her residential registry had been cancelled by the police authority in Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou province in southwestern China.

"Sorry, we cannot support your appeal," Damai's customer service section told Wang.

Later, the concert organiser, Hunan Zhixin Media Company, agreed they would refund Wang as long as he returned the paper ticket to them.

"We cannot change a spectator's identity in our ticket system," a manager from Zhixin said, pointing out that real-name registration is a requirement when buying a ticket. "We can only assist him to buy a new ticket when there is a vacant seat."

Wang said he would have preferred to be his sister's replacement while watching the concert.

"How dearly I wished my sister could go there to see Jay Chou," he said.

After the incident was viewed 240 million times on Weibo, Damai issued a statement on May 21 to apologise to Wang for its after-sale service.

"We did not correctly understand the brother's intention, nor did we show empathy with his desire to fulfil his late sister's wish. Our process is rigid and non-flexible," Damai admitted.

The company said that after further communication, it went ahead and issued a refund and was trying its best to arrange another ticket for Wang.

"How ridiculous these companies are. The rules are dead, but people are alive. Can't they be flexible and humane?" one online observer said on Weibo.

"Their arrangements made me speechless," said another person.

It's not the first time Damai has come under fire for its controversial ticket policies.

In March, a woman in southern China's Guangdong province complained that the company refused to refund a ticket bought by her father before he died - for a concert by Singaporean singer JJ Lin - even after she showed proof of death.

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