Calgary fans left frustrated after Pemberton Music Festival abruptly cancelled

Calgarians areamong the chorus of music fans left fuming and out of pocket after the Pemberton Music Festival in B.C. was cancelled.

After saving for months, 17-year-oldAnikaRogalski, planned toattend the four-day festival with friends to celebrate graduating from high school.

She plunked down $380 for an early-bird ticket, but was then forced to shell out another $600 for camping thatincluded another ticket, which Rogalski said she was told would be refunded.

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"My friend called me crying and I thought she was trying to pull a joke on me, then I started crying. It was awful, it was devastating," she said.

"I was literally about to quit my job so I could get the time off for this, and oh my god, if I had done that I would have lost my mind."

Event organizers say they are facing a possible cash shortfall of over $10 million so the show has been cancelled due to bankruptcy.

Organizers are not offering automatic refunds.

'It just feels like a scam'

The festival's website, which wasonline and selling tickets until Thursday afternoon, now consists of a single page, confirming the partnership organizing the concert hadfiled for bankruptcy.

Another would-be concert goer from Calgary, 19-year-old Jackson Glimpel, said something doesn't seem right about the way it all unfolded.

"It just feels like a scam, taking our hard-earned money, it's not like I'm rich, so $430 is a lot of money for me," he said.

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The bankruptcy was filed Thursday at 2 p.m. but tickets were still sold online for another two hours until the announcement was made public.

"If they knew anytime earlier that they couldn't perform and they kept taking money, that would have to be proved, that's a very serious matter," said Bruce Cran, thehead of the Consumer's Association of Canada.

Lawyer says ticket sales didn't materialize

William Skelly, the lawyer representing Pemberton organizers said directors made the decision to cancel the festival in the evening ofMay 16.

"Ticket sales did not materialize. After three years of substantial losses it appeared that another substantialdeficit would be incurred in 2017," he said by email.

The weaker Canadian dollar also played a part in the projected deficit, Skelly said, as most of the artists were being paid in U.S. dollars.

Skelly said as soon as Ernst and Young Inc. was appointed a trustee in the bankruptcyon May 18, the company took steps to prevent further ticket sales.

Possible reimbursement through banks

People who purchased tickets using credit cards,like Glimpel and Rogalski, might get reimbursed through their banks.

Otherwise Cran said tickets buyers will have to file a claim with the trustee handling the bankruptcy claim.

The festival was scheduled to take place from July 13 to 16.Organizers announcedChance the Rapper and Muse as this year's headlinersthree weeks ago.

A fact sheet posted byErnst& Youngsaid the festival had budgeted expenses of $22 million, and so far had received $8.2 million in revenue.

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