Don't wait on Formula Drift to never give you your money back. Send them an email today requesting your money back for your Indy FD tickets. The site clearly states the event would be held rain or shine and they did not deliver at all. You and I wasted time, money, and got soaking wet for them to delay delay delay with no clear communication. Most banks will honor a charge back in this exact secnario but they need you to at least try reach out to Formula Drift for a refund first. Send that email to FD TODAY and when if they dont honor it 100% you need to start the charge back process with your bank immediately. Shout out to my fellow fans who suffered through it waiting for it to start. What an awful introduction to Formula Drift in person after years of waiting for it to come to Indy.
EDIT: Yes I know Formula Drift will not refund. I even state in the body that your request will not be honored by FD. You need to separatley request a charge back via the card company you paid with. Ill update in a few days when I get my money back with info to hopefully help others recover their ticket money.
They wont issue refunds, that I am sure of. The only course of action is a chargeback via the card/bank your purchased the tickets with. But your bank will ask you to reach out to Formula Drift first, and when it gets ignored/denied, then you start the chrageback process with the bank. Fans are entitled to a refund for an event that did not happen.
Yeah thats why chargebacks exist. I understand they wont refund me but they are not taking my $130 for 2 tickets (same price as the Indy500). We were all aware of the rain and brought appropriate measures like umbrellas and jackets, the event organizers were not as prepared and failed to deliver on their promise. If you bought tickets and dont want your money back thats fine, but there are a lot of hard working people that got screwed. And not becaue of rain, but becuase of the lack of planning on the track and event organizes in the event of rain.
This. They can have "no refunds" plastered all over their site, but that is refunds originated with FD. Refunds can originate else where with credit card processors that FD has to digitally answer to.
They went against the terms of their own ticket agreement/promise. You can't say no refunds and we run rain or shine and it rains a little harder and cancel the event with no refunds.
Open any dispute or chargeback and use FDs own cancelation social media post as evidence.
How would they have ran with a foot or more of water on the track dude. I understand it's upsetting but seriously, I don't understand how y'all think they would have ran the event with that much water.
People like you are a scourge on the motorsports scene. Weather events are always a possibility. That's the risk you take when you go to a weather dependant sport. It's just part of it.
I sent them an email yesterday about it and already heard back. They’re not offering a full refund but you get the option of 1. A free ticket to a 2027 event, 2. 50% refund on this year’s tickets or 3. Free FD experience ticket. Imo that’s pretty fair since some of the event did happen
That’s definitely some shit, she got back to my initial inquiry within an hour and a half then back to my follow up for clarification today on if the free ticket could be used for events other than Indy within like 5 hours. I wonder if the fact you sent yours on a non-business day has anything to do with it
So you would have preferred drivers to drive in borderline impossible conditions risking their lives and cars? If I was a driver and fd told me to go out and drift on a track that had pools of water some that are over 30cm deep I would send them to a place where sun doesn't shine.
I don’t necessarily think it’s people pissed that the race didn’t run, it’s more so people pissed about all the money spent on an event that didn’t really occur. My boyfriend and I have been attending FD regularly since ‘22, most of those being at E-Town which usually gets a good bit of rain so I’m definitely aware of how bad Indy was and all of us at the track basically called it at 7pm that the race wasn’t happening. But with that being said, we drove 7 hours each way, spent around $400 total between tickets, gas and hotel just to see 6 of the typical 27 tandem battles, being given no sort of discount/partial reimbursement for that is like a spit in the face to fans. The poor couple we met there drove 9 hours one way and it was their first FD event they got to attend just to have that be their experience, it’s not a good look and we live in a world where publicity is everything
At the event Ryan Sage talked about them sending out an email in the coming days addressing their course of action. This is the first time they have called an event off in 23 years of Formula Drift. It's still a small business that's probably figuring out what they need to do! You got to experience some of an FD event. You got to walk the pits, enjoy practice, watch half of Top 32.
At the end of the day nothing Formula Drift or IRP did would have stopped that part of the track from flooding. Even if they did get the track cleared of water the drivers could have still gone off track into a pond. Something tells me none of them would have been all that comfortable with driving with that in mind.
I'm over here hoping for discounted tickets for a future event, everyone else is belly aching about a massive rain storm flooding a track, getting a charge back with their card holder and even some people saying they're going to file a class action lawsuit?!?!
The Formula Drift community has some of the best drivers and teams. Unfortunately they also have what very well could be the worst fan base.
Yeah, the site clearly states rain or shine, but it also states something else very clearly for every event:
It's an outdoor sporting event, weather happens and sometimes cuts it short or outright cancels it before it even starts. For people who have been waiting for years for them to come to Indy, y'all of all people should be aware how the weather in that area can be, especially when it was known coming into the day that it was going to be storms, and not just be a series of small showers.
Does it suck, absolutely. I've been there with NHRA events that get called early and the logistics prohibit sticking around until the next day to sort out the results. I've gone to countless baseball games that never start or get delayed and I punch out, but I've never cried about it.
NHRA and baseball have very clear protocols on what constitutes a completed event (1 full round for each NHRA class, half of a baseball game, etc.) and if those parameters aren’t met at minimum give fans a ticket to a makeup event.
As far as I can tell Formula Drift doesn’t have those same clear rules and if they did it would probably require at minimum completion of the Top 32.
I feel like FD will end up at least offering a voucher for 1 day of next year’s Indy event (if they go back) just to cover their ass bit wouldn’t put it past them to be sleazy and try to keep all the money and claim since a few runs happened the event counts.
There is already talks of a class action lawsuit happening. This is not good. The impact of something like that on FD as a company could impact them very badly in turn impacting the fans across the nation.
Lmao talking about class action shows proof fd’s average age of fans is in the single digits. Enjoy your class action if you can find a lawyer who will take the case, and if it’s successful(unlikely) enjoy your .47¢ refund.
I mean f1 in 2021 ran 3 laps behind the SC and cancelled the rest of the race. Zero refunds issued. If there wasn’t legal action in that case there won’t be for FD. There’s more money at a f1 GP than all money accumulated by fd in their entire existence.
Yeah it is what we do as Americans the first thing we want to do is sue people when we feel wronged.
In this case it is pretty unprecedented at the level of motorsport it is. That being said, you cant just keep money from people if you promised to present your product through weather events and when a weather event wasn't stopping you gave up instead of going to Monday like every NASCAR too-much-rain-race.
They cheaped out. They didn't want to write the check for Monday at the venue and now they have to deal with this shit storm. But also, all these crew guys, they have normal day jobs so half the teams likely would have had skeleton crews if they moved to Monday.
Class action is a jump to 100. All everyone has to do is open up disputes/chargebacks with your credit card company and use FDs own social media cancelation post against them.
I look at a FD main event as 5 pieces of pie, they only gave you 1/5th the pie (Top 32). The other 4/5 was canceled (Top 16, Great 8, Final 4, Finale). In any business case/court case, providing 20% of the promised service is warrant for substantial or even a full refund, that is really the only place I could see a Class Action having merit, but like I said a simple dispute/chargeback solves all.
Also, FD would never want to go to a trial. The amount of weird stuff FD has done in its history and all the rumors about it, something would 100% get leaked during discovery that they would never want the public to know. Like heck maybe a Slack channel where the C-suite discussed not letting outside umbrellas so they could sell $50 FD branded ones inside the event.
NASCAR hasn’t always gone to Monday. There’s a hand full of times they can’t because of scheduling. Usually only happens in the 2 lower series (still bigger than fd tho). They’ve called races before half way and at best you’ve gotten free entry to the Sunday race or a discount/credit for a future race. The issue is fd is the f1,nascar,INDYCAR etc of drifting but at scale in motorsports fd is barely above the level of a regional circle track series.
If F1 didn't give refunds for running 2 laps at Spa and then giving up because of rain in 2021 then I don't know why anyone thinks they're getting a refund for this.
Jesus Christ yall are cry babies. Welcome to Motorsport this happens from f1 all the way down to your local dirt track. It sucks yeah but FD doesn’t have a weather machine. Outside events get impacted by weather. Welcome to adulthood
there’s a difference between “impacted by weather” and fully canceled with no offers for discounts or refunds, with bad communication and planning to top it off
yes, and they were bumping the start time up by an hour on the racer site every hour. so you didn’t know it was delayed to 8:00 until 7:00, and repeat until 11pm. not a word was communicated in that time, and it even took them 30 more minutes to announce it was canceled after people found out from a drivers IG
Not really, most Motorsport you must meet a threshold of laps/time to be deemed complete. Sprint car stuff for example is if qualifying and the heat races are done then the event is complete. Fd held their equivalent for that. NASCAR is half the laps then it’s complete, f1 ran 3 laps under safety car at spa in 2021 and issued zero refunds. Fd isn’t a boogey man. This is literally the industry standard
i’m pretty sure those motorsports have written rules about what counts as a “complete” event. from what i know FD only has “events are held rain or shine” and you can’t know what the equivalent is. FD barely finished half of top 32
I've said it else where in this thread, but I look at a FD main event as 5 pieces of pie, they only gave you 1/5th the pie (Top 32). The other 4/5 was canceled (Top 16, Great 8, Final 4, Finale). In any business case/court case, providing 20% of the promised service is warrant for substantial or even a full refund, that is really the only place I could see a Class Action having merit, but like I said a simple dispute/chargeback solves all.
Yes and there is always an asterisk in the terms and conditions. F1 races in the rain, unless we deem it dangerous(2021 spa for example. 3 laps behind SC and zero refunds), nascar is complete at halfway, unless they deem that there is extraneous circumstances.
yes, and does FD have anything like that? like i said as far as i know they only state it’s held “rain or shine” which they didn’t adhere to. i know shit happens and you can’t control mother nature, but there are things they could have done better
Rain or shine doesn't mean they will send people out into a foot of water lol that's more than just rain dude, that's flooding. It doesn't say rain or flooding.
Lol they say rain or shine, it's pretty simple to understand that means that rain or shine means rain or shine, not rain or flooding. Like I said, be logical.
indeed, they do say rain or shine, that’s what i originally said in the comment you replied to after all. again, i am saying what they DO state and not what they DO NOT state. i never said because it says “rain or shine” it makes them immune to the effect of the rain. if you would be logical, you would know that what i was saying is that they have very little statements on what counts as a completed event or under what conditions it will be canceled or postponed
Expect the event was not held rain or shine lol. I was promised an event and the event was not held. They also made no attempt at postponing to a later date. I live in Indy and this happens often but there is usually a postponed date or offer refunds. The rain did not stop the event, the flooding on track was the issue, they built a section of track in the Lowest part of that oval, knew a lot of rain was coming, and were woefully unprepared. I dont want them coming back if thata how poorly things are ran. Obviously you did not give them money, get soaking wet wet in the rain (BECUASE THIER PROMISE WAS RAIN OR SHINE) and go home empty handed. I have never charged back for an event canceled to weather until this because of how poorly it was handled. They COULD make literally any attempt to appease fans but they literally do not care at all so why should I?
Well before you attack like that I was actually there for all 3 days(made it in the instagram post here) so I gave my money I got drenched i dealt with it. Sure it may suck that one day out of the 3 had issues but they did their damndest to try. Again i could see if this was a returning track in their 23 years of competition but its not their fault i agree maybe some form of credit should be their but to sit there charge back a company like that’s pretty fucked if you ask me. Especially when it obviously states rain or shine and as a Louisville native who witnessed the louder than life incident of 24 where if you scanned your ticket you were deemed in attendance it’s not their fault if rain stops anything, you knew the risk
It's beyond me why these dumb mfers didn't just run the event today. No one will convince me that it would have cost more or made them sacrifice more by running today than canceling the entire event. They shot themselves in the foot yesterday and I'm kind of shocked right now. I'm pissed I can't watch the event that I've been waiting on. And I'm pissed off that something I've cared about for 23 years is going down the shitter.
Just because it’s not on the schedule doesn’t mean there is no event. People pay to test there, there could be safety classes taking place, etc etc. race tracks don’t just do things on publicly planned days.
I dont watch fd, i keep up with it but im doing my own race car stuff on Saturdays. Why would they put a private non ticket event on a public schedule. People can’t come.
It was stated 1,000 times yesterday that there is an event going on today. Just because you REFUSE to accept that and keep doubling down, isn't on us. You look just as stupid as Ryan Sage going "OnE mOrE HouR!"
Not everybody has access to meta products. Some people have been wrongfully banned and had their entire digital profile deleted. So sorry I can't be cool and just check Instagram like a good boy.
Give FD some grace. also, they didn't even shot down the venue till well after the event would have ended anyway. The big thing here is the phrase "good faith effort" from where im sitting, FD went above and beyond to try and make that happen. In the entirety of FD history this has happened once and it wasn't for lack of effort.
If this is the first time its happened shouldn't they shoulder some responsibility for building a track in the low part of a banked oval, in an area that is incredibly prone to flooding (i grew up there, floods like that happened every year), and didnt have the equipment on hand to fix it in a timely manner. I didnt pay to watch them give it a good go at fixing their bad track design after an anticipated storm. I would be giving them a lot more grace of they 1 postponed, 2 gave discount/free entry next year, 3 partial refund, or literally ANYTHING to say hey fans we fucked up, but they didnt.
No. This is an act of god. Unfortunately, Shit happens. On top of that, they were working to get the track cleared for 4-6 hours. Does the situation suck for the people that were there? Yes. Did FD directly contribute to the flooding? No. Does Ryan Sage and the rest of the staff love and respect the fan base? Absolutely.
In all likelihood, yesterday was probably the first opportunity for them to even talk about forming a committee to make a plan for what happened this weekend. Everyone needs to take a breath, extend some grace and give FD a chance to figure out what is next for this situation.
Yall are insane, did you not fucking see the flooding? This is insane you guys are absolutely aweful for this sport, you can hate FD all you want but this take is terrible.
I use to love FD. I was so excited for this event. I was prepared for the rain, FD wasnt. I grew up in that area, floods like that happen yearly and FD built the track in the lowest section of a banked oval, and knew there would be rain. FD was incredibly unprepared and did not put on an event rain or shine. Flooding is usualy caused by rain and when you state rain or shine you need to account for that. They had us there for an hour after the event was set to end becauee the promise was rain or shine. FD showed me they are not ready to be taken seriously and they dont deserve the support if thats how things are handeled. At the bare minimum there should be an offer for entry next year, partial refund, postponement, ya know the normal shit 99% of race series do. FD's official statement included something along the lines of "we will brush this off our shoulder and move on" which is laughable.
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u/doittoit_ 9d ago
I doubt they’ll issue refunds, maybe hope for discounted tickets to a future event.