MANILA – Online retailer Shopee Philippines asserted on Friday that the tickets of some Blackpink fans were revoked due to a system error, contrary to claims that it changed the mechanics on the last day of the promotion.
A total of 119 supposed winners of the Blackpink promo were not allowed entry in the meet-and-greet area last June 7 despite being notified by the online shopping site.
In a statement, Shopee said there were “initial inaccuracies in the automatically generated winner list and 119 incorrectly issued tickets had to be revoked as a result.”
“Shopee’s method for determining the winners of the contest, including the start and end dates, did not change at any point,” it said.
The web retail firm added that the “ticket allocation did not change during or close to the event” after some fans alleged their tickets were given to social media influencers.
“We would like to assure all fans that there was no point at which tickets that were initially allocated for fans were reallocated to celebrities and influencers,” it said.
Shopee said it has offered a full refund to the 119 affected fans, including the amount they spent on the promo, and travel costs if they came from outside of Metro Manila.
“Following this incident, we are reviewing all of our processes and working to ensure that our future campaigns are enjoyable for all participants and Shopee users,” it said.
The Department of Trade and Industry earlier said it had received 148 formal complaints, while Shopee received 114 complaints. (ABS-CBN News)
