KISS mega fan takes aim at Supercars Rock'n'Race refund policy

The 51-year-old has a load of merchandise, he's seen the band perform live several times and has passed his love of the rock legends on to his family - who have been known to don the famous makeup.

But he says the refund policy for the Supercars concert that the band was due to headline this weekend has left him hundreds of dollars out of pocket.

Tickets for Saturday's cancelled KISS show in Newcastle could only be bought as a package with a Newcastle 500 race event ticket - dubbed the Rock'n'Race deal.

When the gig was scrapped last week because of singer Paul Stanley's bout with the flu, race organisers said they would refund the concert portion of tickets sales.

Mr Stephens bought seven tickets at a cost of a little over $200 each. He will only receive a $115 refund per ticket - the amount Supercars deemed was the cost of entry to the KISS concert.

The Thornton man said he never planned on attending any race days, but the Rock'n'Race tickets were the only way he could see his favourite band with his family in Newcastle.

When he contacted Supercars to ask about the possibility of a refund or an avenue to sell the race day portion of his tickets back to the organisation, he was told there was no such option.

"I work really, really hard for my money. I dead-set am not trying to rip anyone off - I'm not asking for compensation, I just want the money back for the tickets," he said.

"I don't have any interest in going to the race. Just do the right thing, for God's sake."

According to terms and conditions on the Ticketek website, buyers would only be entitled to a refund of the value of the KISS ticket if the concert was cancelled but the race went ahead.

In an email seen by the Newcastle Herald, a Supercars staff member told Mr Stephens the terms and conditions were on display at the ticket office in the race precinct last year.

But Mr Stephens said he did not see the document - and even if he did, he did not believe anyone would take the time to read it and hold-up a queue of more than 50 people who were waiting in line.

"If they've sold you a ticket for the race and rock and the rock part is no longer valid, they can't just say 'we'll only refund you part of it'," he said.

"I said 'here are the tickets, you can still put them back in the pool and re-sell them'.

"It would have been easier if I'd have bought tickets to the Sydney concert and gone down there for the night, but this was in our hometown, it was an outdoor concert - it was just down the road."

Mr Stephens said he wanted to make it clear that he was not opposed to the Supercars event in Newcastle, he simply was not interested in attending.

"It's really good for the city, the pictures look amazing that get sent around the world - I'm not trying to bag out the race," he said.

In response to questions about the issue, a Supercars spokesperson said: "We understand the frustrations of fans who are disappointed with the cancellation of the concert, and we've put a process in place to ensure that fans who purchased the concert component of our Newcastle event receive prompt refunds".

"The Newcastle 500 event will otherwise go ahead and all tickets to the event will be honoured on entry," the spokesperson said.

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