festiVOL™ Policies : Reimbursable Tickets

festiVOL offers the ability to sell tickets to program Participants for event entry, and the ability to Reimburse ticket fees for Participants following the event. The features is utilized to protect events from Participant last-minute cancellations and no-shows to shifts, and helps to ensure the event’s ticket entry revenue stream is protected from fraudulent fan labor team sign ups. The process is simple – Participants that complete assigned shifts are awarded with free event entry (aka a Ticket Fee Reimbursement), while Participants that fail to clock in and/or out for one or more assigned shifts are not rewarded with free event entry (no Ticket Fee Reimbursement). This allows the event to weed out non-committed sign ups, and ensures that the number of Participants assigned to a shift is close to the number that show up for the shift – the ideal staffing situation! Learn all about Reimbursable Tickets at the festiVOL™ Knowledge Base.

Event Organizers may choose to turn the sale of Reimbursable Tickets on or off, within Application Controls, in Events Tab. Turning Reimbursable Tickets on creates an additional step in the Steps to Confirm Work, on the worker front end application process: The Reimbursable Ticket step. Included with the additional step are the cancellation dates and fees associated with the Reimbursable Ticket, as well as the cost of the ticket. When a Participant clicks the Purchase button on the Reimbursable Ticket step, they must read through the pertinent ticket reimbursement and cancellation terms, and enter in credit card information to make the purchase. Once the Reimbursable Ticket is purchased, the Participant is listed as Confirmed for the event, and also with Ticket Status = Purchased.

festiVOL takes the Reimbursable Ticket process seriously – the integrity of the software system relies on both the Participant and the Organizer maintaining their side of the agreed terms - Participants that complete assigned shifts must receive their Ticket Fee Reimbursements, as advertised, in a timely manner post-event. The Organizer must maintain only those terms clearly advertised to Participants when making the decision to forfeit the Ticket Fee Reimbursement. As such a Reimbursement hinges on two factors:

a. Participant completes assigned shifts listed in festiVOL and earns the status of Work Obligation Complete within their festiVOL Event Home Page, and

b. Participant follows the event general code of conduct and similar rules which may be stated within the Event Application Terms or FAQ. We provide flexibility for Organizers to post their own policies with respect to their events, so long as they meet the following minimum requirements:

a. All Reimbursement policies and terms must be posted on the Application Terms page and pertinent portions should be repeated and clearly laid out within the FAQ (see Application Terms Policies)

b. “No Reimbursement” policies are not permissible;

c. Reimbursement policies must be in accordance with all applicable local, state, provincial, national and other laws, rules and regulations, including all requirements imposed by Card Schemes or Alternative Form of Payment Frameworks (each as defined in the Merchant Agreement);

d. Reimbursement policies listed in the Application Terms must include all specific requirements for a Participant to qualify for a ticket fee Reimbursement, including what action(s) the Participant must take to secure Reimbursement (See Application Terms Policies);

e. Reimbursement policies must apply to all Participants equally; they must be fair and should not discriminate, and include clear expectations that are reasonably able to be met by all Participants;

f. Reimbursement policies may not be changed with respect to purchases made prior to the date of such change and its posting to the applicable event page;

h. Reimbursement policies must set out a specific time frame within which qualified Reimbursements will be processed following Event, which should not exceed five (5) business days from the event end date;

h. Organizer understands that Participant must be granted reasonable access to all tools, personnel, locations, and information needed to complete assigned shifts and therefore qualify for Reimbursement. Should Organizer fail to provide Participant with adequate access to shift completion requisites, festiVOL, at its sole discretion, may intervene and activate a Setoff claim and reverse Reimbursement forfeitures for applicable Participants

i. Organizer must communicate shift expectations and requirements in advance of event, and must reasonably provide stated expectations to Participants, especially in pertaining to Participant’s ability to perform shift requirements to qualify for a reimbursement. Should a Participant report discrepancies in communicated or published terms and expectations, festiVOL may, at its sole discretion, intervene and activate a Setoff claim and reverse Reimbursement forfeitures for applicable Participants;

j. Force Majeure Event – Organizer agrees to cancel and release from obligation any Participant shift that was affected by, or not able to be reasonably completed because of, a Force Majeure Event, including but not limited to an act of terrorism, riots, fire, flood, hurricane, typhoon, earthquake, lightning, epidemic, explosion, storms, strikes, police or military interference, lockouts, slowdowns, prolonged shortage of energy supplies, and acts of state or governmental action prohibiting or reasonably impeding Participant from completing activity; and

k. Reimbursement policies must include a two-week dispute period.. The two week dispute time period begins on the date of festiVOL-initiated forfeiture notice to the final Participant notified/marked as forfeited. Organizer must respond to all disputes within two (2) business days of first receipt, and follow through with Reimbursements forfeiture reversals when applicable. Organizer agrees to provide any and all claims due process, and adhere to the Organizer posted Application Terms and guidelines in making final forfeiture decisions. Should a Participant report discrepancies in communicated or published terms or expectations, festiVOL may intervene and activate a Setoff claim and reverse Reimbursement forfeitures for applicable Participants.

festiVOL understands the dynamic nature of events, and their fan labor programs, and so allows Event Organizers to choose the price of their ticket fee, and the reimbursement value, which may differ from the fee charged. However, the Event Organizer must ensure that the published terms of the Reimbursement Process are adhered to post-event.

festiVOL contains functionality that assists Event Organizers in the Reimbursable Ticket process, and also assists in safeguarding Participants:

a. Once a Reimbursable Ticket is purchased, a Participant’s Confirm Status changes to Confirmed. This ensures they are marked as ready-to-schedule for the Event Organizer, and the Participant can clearly view within their Event Home Page, when logged in, that they are a Confirmed Participant and will be allowed event entry.

b. Shift Completion Status is linked to Obligation Status, which is linked to Ticket Fee Reimbursement post-event. The Obligation Status is Complete when a Participant has been clocked in and out for all assigned shifts. When the Obligation Status is Complete, for a Participant, their Reimbursable Ticket fee is ready to be reimbursed, and they are listed in the Completed Obligation Refunds section of the Post-Event Reimbursements tab, in Events Tab, Reimbursements. All Participants with Obligation Complete may be reimbursed at the same time, simply by selecting all and clicking the Refund Ticket Fees Button.

c. Post Event Process – Reimbursements & Forfeitures
festiVOL wants to ensure that Participants that are marked as Obligation Incomplete, or do not have all assigned shifts clocked in / out, are notified in a timely manner following the event, and that the notification includes a timeframe and process for resolution dispute. For this reason, the Refund Ticket Fees button will not activate untie the Event Organizer has completed all post-event accounting, indicating that they have reviewed each Participant account with an Incomplete Obligation Status, to ensure the Organizer does in fact wish to Forfeit their Ticket Fee Reimbursement.

a. Complete Post-Event Accounting.
The process for this is made simple, as festiVOL groups any Participants that are Obligation Incomplete within section 1 : Forfeit Ticket Fee Reimbursements, within the Post-Event Reimbursements tab. When this section is expanded, all of the Participants missing shift clock in / clock out are listed here. Event Organizers may click on the name of any Participant in the list to navigate to their Worker Record and view their schedule, add in time clock details, or view notes. Completing the time clock details on any shift missing them will mark that shifts as complete – and completing time clock details for all shifts assigned will mark the Participant as Work Obligation Complete. Alternatively, a shift may be removed from a Participant’s schedule. Once a Participant has time clock values for all assigned shifts, their status updates to Obligation Complete, and they are removed from the Forfeit Ticket Fee Reimbursements list.

i. Note that removing all assigned shifts will not produce a Completed Work Obligation. If there is reason to process a Ticket Fee Reimbursement and remove all assigned shifts, this should be processed separately as an Admin Cancellation in the Single Transaction Refund manager, not in Post-Event Reimbursements. The Single Transaction Refund manager is set up to handle one-off exceptions to the program rules and cancelation fees, on an ad hoc basis as determined by Event Organizers.

b. Forfeit Ticket Fee Reimbursements.
Once the Forfeit Ticket Fee Reimbursements list has been combed through by Event Organizers, and Organizers are certain that the list contains only Participants they wish to forfeit ticket fee reimbursements for, the next step is to update their ticket statuses to Forfeited. Simply select all in list and click the Forfeit Ticket Reimbursement button. This action will update their ticket status to forfeited and also send an email to each forfeited Participant alerting them of their forfeited status, the two week dispute timeframe, and the contact email of the Event Organizers (Contact Email field in Event Controls)

c. Refund Completed Obligations.
When ALL Confirmed Participants have either a ticket status of Ticket Purchased + a Completed Work Obligation OR a ticket status of Forfeited (with an Incomplete Work Obligation), the Refund Ticket Fees button will activate within Section 2: Refund Completed Obligations. All Confirmed Participants with a ticket status of Purchased and a Complete Work Obligation will populate in this list – simply select all and click Refund Ticket Fees to process all refunds.

i. Note that as default, the ticket fee reimbursement is the same value as the ticket price entered into the associated Fee field in Application Controls.

ii. At the time of refund, the Event Organizer may edit the refund value to a lesser value than the original ticket purchase price, but may do so only if the original terms agreed by the Participants in the Application and Ticket terms clearly explained the Ticket Fee Reimbursement inequity.

iii. festiVOL may have added a non-reimbursable credit card transaction fee to the original ticket price, based on the selections of the Event Organizer when setting up their event.

d. Reversing a Ticket Fee Reimbursement Forfeiture
In the case that a Forfeited Reimbursement Participant contacts Event Organizers via the dispute protocol, and Event Organizers validate the dispute and find that the forfeiture was in error, the forfeit status must be reversed before any other actions can be taken. Select the Participant in question in the Forfeit Ticket Fee Reimbursements list and click the Reverse Ticket Fee Forfeiture button. This will reverse the ticket status of Forfeited back to a Ticket Status of Purchased. However, the Participant will still have an Incomplete Work Obligation, and so Event Organizers will need to follow the above procedures and complete their Work Obligation within their Worker Record. Once their status is Obligation Complete, they will populate in the Refund Completed Obligations section, where their reimbursement may then be processed.

e. Workers in Limbo.
festiVOL provides a last status check to assist Organizers in locating any Participant that may have purchased a Reimbursable Ticket and not been marked as Forfeited or received a Fee Refund, for whatever reason. Any such workers will be listed in Workers in Limbo and will need to be sorted out by Event Organizers.

f. Close Out Event.
Once the two week dispute time period has ended (a full two weeks from the time Participants were marked as forfeited and the forfeiture notice was sent), the Organizer may close out their event. This effectually closes down all transactional functions of the event, so that no more transactions may occur, and festiVOL may complete post-event accounting and process and remit event revenues.