A British couple have demanded a refund for their comedy club tickets after claiming Russia's invasion of Ukraine has made it 'too unsafe' to travel.
Staff at the Comedy Station Comedy Club in Blackpool have shared screenshots of the alleged emails from the pensioners, who were refusing to travel from Hull due to the ongoing events in Ukraine, which is almost 2,000 miles away.
It appears as if the couple had planned a weekend in Blackpool and were willing to lose out on train fare and the cost of their hotel, but were insistent on a refund for their tickets at the Comedy Station.
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"Due to events in Russia and Ukrayne [sic] it is not safe for us to travel from Hull as we are both retired. Due to this it's safer that we say nearer to home until it is sorted," the pensioner wrote in the lengthy email.
After staff member Rob refused to refund them, the pair threatened to report the comedy club to trading standards and their solicitor, and even accused them of 'scamming people during a war'.
The club have since accused the customers of threatening to find out where Rob lives and asked if he 'masturbates to Putin'.
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Ryan Gleeson, the owner of Comedy Station Comedy Club, said the customer first contacted the club two weeks ago via Facebook requesting a refund due to a positive COVID test.
They then messaged again this last week asking for a refund as they wanted to stay home because of 'what’s going on in Russia'.
"She was advised again, that we couldn’t refund her as the show was going ahead, but we’d hold her tickets and transfer to another date.
"She then started calling Rob a scam artist, etc. Rob even offered to hold her tickets for an unlimited time, for when she wanted to re-book and if that wasn’t satisfactory, he’d escalate to his manager to see if anything else could be done, above his level.
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"This was when threats to find out where he lived started, suggestions of being in cahoots with other businesses, calling him awful names and swearing at him."
The customer then spammed the club's Facebook account, sending a whopping 17 more messages before deciding to then send another email, in which they bemoaned the company for not offering refunds 'for a war' and said it was 'disgusting' that the club were refusing to issue one.
In response to this, the club wrote: "Despite offering multiple solutions to you problem, you persisted in calling him a liar, asking him if he masturbates to posters of Putin (he doesn't by the way. I have a rule that he's only allowed to do that to posters of me).
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"At this point he quite rightly advised you that he was not going to continue the conversation and gave you our email address.
"As Rob mentioned, you are not entitled to a refund, simply because you live closer to Russia than we do."
The club has since shared screenshots of the exchange to Twitter, where users found the exchange hilarious.
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One wrote: "I am currently in Hull & can confirm no sightings of Russian troops. Have just seen a police car go past with lights & sirens on, nothing new here then."
Another said: "As a person of Hull, can confirm war has not arrived here."
Topics: UK News
Isobel Pankhurst