Philly bargoers are still waiting on refunds for New Year’s Eve crawl that never happened

Some New Year’s Eve revelers who signed up for a Center City bar crawl that didn’t happen were still waiting to get their money back on Friday.

Eventbrite, an online platform for event listings, told at least one woman that she would be receiving a refund for the $60 she spent on a ticket, while other customers were encouraged to contact the organizer, whom they say they have been unable to reach.

The “Philadelphia NYE Bar Crawl” was billed as the city’s “#1 New Year’s Eve bar crawl the last eight years” on its event page, and advertised no cover charges at at least six bars, drink vouchers, and other perks. But owners and managers of four bars listed as stops on the crawl told The Inquirer this week that they never agreed to participate, or only did so with parameters by which organizer Chris Despres, of Massachusetts, did not abide.

Philadelphia is at least the fourth city where there have been reports of issues with events run by NYE Bar Crawls and Despres. Last New Year’s, ticket holders in Raleigh, N.C., lost as much as $70 each when organizers became unreachable the day of the crawl, and bar owners in Birmingham, Ala., said they had never spoken with event organizers. This year’s St. Louis crawl was canceled after its legitimacy was questioned by a longtime bar owner.

Meanwhile in Philadelphia, more details have emerged this week after The Inquirer’s initial report about the crawl.

Misconduct Tavern’s managing partner Nicholas Mezzina said his Locust Street pub was listed as the crawl’s check-in location, despite managers and public relations staff repeatedly telling Despres they did not want to be the place where participants signed in.

Last month, a package arrived at the bar from Despres, with a return address of Methuen, Mass. It contained wristbands, a large photo backdrop, and other party decor, Mezzina said, and Despres sent a text to Mezzina’s PR person asking for $700 to cover the cost of the materials. In text messages and phone calls, Despres vacillated between saying he was sending people to Misconduct to work at the check-in table, standard practice for third-party bar crawls, and asking if Misconduct had employees who could run it, according to Mezzina and screenshots of text messages reviewed by The Inquirer.

When no one from the crawl showed up on New Year’s Eve, and would-be participants were told their tickets couldn’t get them anything, “all the managers, we were all like, we feel so bad. This is awful,” Mezzina said. “This guy is just robbing people.”

In the days before New Year’s, Regan Young, a 24-year-old teacher from Manayunk, had decided to attend the crawl with some friends, a celebration before a friend deployed to the Middle East.

When they arrived at Misconduct and learned the event wasn’t happening, “we were kind of bummed out,” she said.

But “we made it work,” she added. “We just had to spend a little more than we would have liked to” — about $75 to $100 per person at other nearby bars.

Young was relived on Thursday to receive an email from Eventbrite, saying the refund she requested was approved. The money should be back in her bank account in seven business days, according to the email.

Meanwhile, Madeleine Coutts, 23, of Fairmount, received two emails from Eventbrite Thursday. One, in response to her reporting the event, read in part: “After careful review, we have taken the next steps deemed necessary per our Terms of Service. The event listing has been unpublished and is no longer available on our system.”

Another email, in response to her refund request, instructed her to contact the organizer directly. Coutts said she and her friends have tried contacting Despres via phone and email, and have received no response. They believe he blocked their numbers.

On Tuesday, The Inquirer briefly spoke to Despres, who said he was “affiliated” with the crawl and “trying to figure out exactly what went down.” Since then, he has not returned additional calls, texts, and emails seeking further comment, including whether he will refund customers.

Eventbrite said in a statement Friday that it encourages customers to report any events with which they are concerned.

“In a situation where an event is canceled and consumers are unable to receive a refund directly from the organizer, ticket holders can submit a refund request directly to Eventbrite for review” at eventbrite.com/attendee-refund-request.

At least one bar-crawl ticket holder, 22-year-old Gia Mee, said her group received a refund after reporting the charge as fraudulent to their credit card company.

It was unclear Friday whether the latest incident involving NYE Bar Crawls would result in any additional repercussions: A spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office said it had not received any complaints about the Philadelphia event. The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office did not return requests for comment.

On an already-chaotic night, the New Year’s Eve bar crawl issue presented yet another challenge for bar and restaurant employees. Some owners and managers said their businesses are still reeling from the bad PR that accompanied their unapproved association with the event.

“Any time your name is attached to something and something bad happens, it reflects poorly,” said Joe Crouse, owner of Drinker’s Pub, which was among those listed as a stop on the crawl despite Crouse’s requests not to be involved.

Harry Jamison, general manager of a.kitchen + bar, said he hated having to turn away guests who had seen a.bar on the Eventbrite page and were “understandably upset” that it wasn’t participating.

But Jamison said he would never have signed off on such an event. His small space isn’t conducive to crowds, he said, as staff require every patron to have a seat.

“I can assure that we have never agreed to be part of any bar crawl at a.bar, at least in the three years that I’ve been in my position,” Jamison said in a statement. “To the best of my memory, I’ve never spoken with any organizers about any bar crawls.”

Mezzina, of Misconduct, said he’d advise customers to be wary of bar crawls that aren’t based in the city where the event is occurring. If a group doesn’t need to bar hop, bar owners and managers said, the safest bet is to buy tickets for events being held by a bar or restaurant, not a third party.