Samara resident secures refund for canceled 'Nutcracker' ice show

For two months, many residents of Samara and Tolyatti have been unable to get refunds for tickets to the ice show «Nutcracker on Ice with Symphony Orchestra», postponed for a whole year. Our reader, however, after several unsuccessful attempts, managed to get a full refund. He decided to share his story with everyone who also wants to refund tickets to the show.

«I wanted to treat myself and my family before the New Year»

The organizer of the show «Nutcracker on Ice with Symphony Orchestra» was LLC «Ice Seasons». According to the creators, their performance combines ballet, figure skating, and symphonic music. The parts were to be performed by Olympic champion Alexei Yagudin and two-time world champion Evgenia Medvedeva.

For 2025, the organizers planned a large-scale tour to 29 cities in Russia. The show was scheduled to take place in Samara on 15 and 16 December 2025 at the Vysotsky Sports Palace. In Tolyatti, the performance was to be shown three times in one day: on 18 December at 11:00, 15:00, and 19:00 at «Lada-Arena». One of the many who wanted to see the show was Danil from Samara:

— I bought the tickets well in advance: in August–September. Famous skaters, a good quality performance, a big tour… I wanted to treat myself and my family before the New Year. I purchased four tickets through the website Kassir.ru — for myself, my wife, my mother-in-law, and my wife«s aunt. As I later saw, sales in all cities were handled through different agents: Kassir.ru, Yandex, MTS. Including the service fee, I paid 4,200 rubles (about $42 at current rates), the man said.

However, three days before the show, Samara residents were informed that everything was being postponed, and for a very long period — more than a year. The new dates for the show in Samara are 19 and 20 December 2026. Simultaneously with the postponement, the organizers suspended ticket sales. Soon, the same misfortune befell residents of Tolyatti. At the same time, performances began to be postponed and canceled across the country.

— We bought tickets for 16 December, the second day. And on the 13th or 14th, I received an email from Kassir that the show was being postponed. At first, I didn«t even notice for how long. I thought it was postponed for about a week. But it turns out it»s to the end of 2026, Danil told us.

The show organizers published an appeal to viewers on their website:

«Dear viewers! Unfortunately, it is not possible to hold several events of the show »Nutcracker on Ice with Symphony Orchestra« on the announced dates due to organizational and technical reasons. The show sessions will be postponed to new dates. The session times will remain unchanged. All tickets are valid! Information about new dates and the procedure for refunding money in case they are inconvenient for you will be published on this page by 25 December 2025. We apologize for the inconvenience caused by the change of plans during such a busy New Year period.»

«New Year»s Eve arrived, and there was no response«

Of course, not everyone liked the idea of waiting a whole year. Samara residents began to return tickets en masse. And here the problems started. The services through which people purchased tickets began to behave differently. For example, Yandex Afisha suddenly announced that the refund conditions had changed and now it was necessary to contact the show organizer directly.

With Kassir.ru, it was different. At first, everything was going well: in the email about the postponement, there was a note that tickets could be returned via a link. It was necessary to write an application to the service«s general director requesting a refund, specify the reasons, details, and the bank account from which the purchase was paid, as well as attach the electronic receipt and tickets.

— I sent everything, I received a notification that they had begun reviewing the application. New Year«s Eve arrived, and there was no response. I found the Kassir.ru Telegram channel and asked in the comments when the refund would be or at least some response, Danil recounts.

From the service«s official account came a response asking to wait longer. This was explained by the fact that very many refund applications had been received. After Danil, other people began to join the discussion in the comments, including from other cities:

— One woman was writing very actively that she also didn«t know how to get her money back. And after a brief correspondence, we were simply blocked on the channel. We could no longer write in the comments or in the organization»s private messages, Danil said.

It became clear that other ways needed to be found. Danil began actively researching on news portals how things were in other cities. It turned out that in Yekaterinburg, Rospotrebnadzor, Russia«s consumer protection agency, became interested in the situation. But the solution offered was the same — to write to the show organizers directly or through the service where the tickets were purchased.

Which method proved effective

In the end, Danil decided to get the money back through the bank via a chargeback procedure. This is a consumer protection mechanism that allows a bank card holder to dispute a transaction when it«s not possible to agree directly with the seller.

— I went into my payment history in T-Bank, found the transaction, and there was a button «dispute transaction». An application is created, you attach all the documents. Plus, I described the whole situation in words and attached screenshots of the correspondence with Kassir in email and Telegram, Danil said.

Soon, the bank responded that Kassir.ru refused to refund the money. The payment system will evaluate the situation.

— Finally, a push notification came about the refund from the dispute. The money was transferred to the card in full, Danil said.