When he called the company to get a refund, he was referred by TM to Mondial Assistance, the company that offers the event insurance on the Ticketmaster site. There, he was told by a representative that he did in fact click “yes” for the offer and had been sent an e-mail confirmation of the order (which reportedly ended up in his spam folder). When the fan asked for a refund, Mondial denied the request on the basis that the 10-day time limit for refunds had already expired.

Exhausted yet? Sounds like a case for the New York Times’ Haggler.

The Haggler column (penned by consumer reporter David Segal) recently looked into fan Joseph Stokes’ complaint.

Executives at Mondial explained that if Stokes had declined the offer, the company would not have his credit card information.

But Stokes provided the paper with a screen shot of his checkout page from the Ticketmaster purchase, which listed building, convenience and order processing charges, but no insurance charge.

Still, that apparently didn’t prove Stokes declined to buy the insurance.

“We’re two different companies selling two different things,” Mondial spokesman Daniel Durazo told the Times. “That’s the reason you don’t see our products in the final checkout process. The order goes directly to us, it’s billed by us, and the confirmation comes from us.”

There is a happy ending to this story. While the company still claimed Stokes was at fault, they refunded his $42.

“Well, that’s nice of them,” Stokes told the Times. “Once you click ‘no’ there is nothing in the transaction that confirms your ‘no.’ So if Mondial says you clicked ‘yes’ there is no way to prove it. At minimum, it’s irritating.”

A Ticketmaster spokeswoman did not return request for comment at press time.

Click here to read the complete New York Times / The Haggler article.