By Tina Makuto
Some first-year Ryerson students are awaiting refunds after an all-ages event at Orchid Nightclub was changed to 19+.
Frosh Festival 2019 was initially organized as a club event for those aged 17 and over on Friday, Sept. 6, by student events organization International Student Festival (ISF).
ISF promoted the event through their Facebook page where over 1,000 students from across the city showed interest in attending.
“[Frosh Festival 2019 is] the legendary annual frosh party in Toronto that sells out every single year!” said the ISF on a Facebook page.
But post-secondary students in Toronto started noticing that the age requirement had changed from 17 to 19 and over on the same week of the event.
Granite Rrafshi, a first-year biology student, said that he heard from other students that the event was a “scam.”
Despite double-checking the Facebook page when purchasing his ticket, Rrafshi said he saw “absolutely nothing” indicating a 19+ restriction.
“I’ll do everything in my power and use all my connections to make sure you will be held accountable”
He said that once he heard the minimum age of entry had changed, he went to check the Facebook page description again, where he saw an entirely new paragraph stating that the event was now for those 19 and older.
According to emails, Adam Krausz, online marketing manager at NC&C Limited, a music experience company, was the representative who pitched and discussed ISF hosting the Frosh Festival at Orchid.
Nadin Kara, Orchid’s marketing partner, emailed Krausz on July 22 stating that the club is “a strictly 19+ venue on Fridays,” according to emails obtained by The Eyeopener.
In response, Krausz said that ISF “indicated the age limit in the event description [on Facebook]” and that from their side, “guests are being notified about the venue being 19+.”
In a separate email thread obtained by The Eye from Sept. 6, Jozef Baiden, event manager at NC&C Limited said that they apologize for the inconvenience.
“We apologize to the students that are under 19”
“We are planning to refund everyone under the age of 19,” Baiden states in the email.
First-year professional communications student Khiara Ali said that she and a friend emailed ISF and have not yet received a response.
“We don’t know if we’re getting a refund [or] getting our money back,” said Ali.
In the same email thread, Kara said that ISF was “unprofessional” and “disappointing.”
“If I was aware of your tactics beforehand I would have never booked your event or I would have cancelled it weeks ago,” Kara states in the email. “If I hear that one person did not get a full refund, I will do everything in my power and use all my connections to make sure you will be held accountable.”
In a Facebook post published Friday afternoon, Orchid stated that the venue was “not aware that the promoter was advertising the event as 17+.”
“We apologize to the students that are under 19…the promoter has changed all the information and will be refunding everyone who has purchased tickets wrongfully.”
Leave a Reply