Why is his opinion any less worthy than yours?
If he didn't receive what he paid for (in his experience) then he is entitled to seek a refund. It's that simple. It's the consumer apathy which you advocate that gives rise to such bad customer service by so many service providers and tradesmen these days.
But to add some balance here, from what I've read it would appear that the 'middle men' in this case maywell have been acting in good faith.
That said, when you buy a ticket for an event through an 'agent' your contract is with the agent, not the venue. It is the ticket agency that has the contract with the venue. Therefore, saying that "we were only ticket agents" doesn't alter the position. If people feel they didn't receive what was advertised then their recourse is with the ticket agent, not the venue.
As I say, not taking sides here just highlighting consumer law and all that jazz.