Exclusive: Rio 2016 insist all ticketing refunds will be paid by January 10 as concerns grow over late payments

Rio 2016 have set a deadline of Tuesday (January 10) to pay refunds still owed for Olympic and Paralympic ticket exchanges which should have been paid in November.

It comes as concerns grow from Authorised Ticket Resellers (ATR), as well as from sponsors and National Olympic Committees, that they will not be repaid money amid ongoing financial chaos following the Games.

Under International Olympic Committee (IOC) rules, any tickets which Games vendors want to return must be done so through the official Organising Committee portal rather than via a bilateral exchange within another company.

Rio 2016 have, therefore, received money paid by companies in order to re-buy refunded tickets, but without yet returning the initial money paid before they were refunded.

Each company has been told that they will receive the refunds in one lump sum when they are eventually paid.

However, Andrada claims that the reason all the payments were not made was because the data had not been entered in the correct forms and digits.

"All those formatted properly should be made by Tuesday," he promised.

ATR representatives deny having entered payments incorrectly.

"None of us have yet received our money," one figure, who did not want their name to be mentioned, told insidethegames.

"We are worried that we will be ever be paid.

"We plan to write a letter to the IOC if we are not paid soon.

"The ticketing process for Pyeongchang 2018 is due to be opened next month [to coincide with one-year-to-go on February 9] but none of us can yet close our Rio accounts."

Rio 2016 communications director Mario Andrada has insisted that payments will be made by December 10 ©Getty Images

According to an ATR contract, one of several documents about the process seen by insidethegames, the balance of such refunded monies should have been paid "within 45 days of the end of the Games".

If the end of the Games is taken to mean the Closing Ceremony of the Paralympics rather than the Olympics, this means that all the money should have been paid by November 4.

But a generic email sent to all re-sellers on November 2 explained that there would be delays.

"Firstly, we would like to apologise for the delay in our reconciliation and refund process," the email said.

"We would like to reassure you that this is due to other pending processes within the Committee and that your reconciliation details will be shared with you shortly.

"Our team is still working on finalising all numbers for our clients accounts and we expect to be able to trigger all refunds by the end of this month."

But more delays followed and, in additional emails, Rio's ticketing department blamed the IOC for not having paid money vital for the refunds to be completed.

They were also supposedly awaiting payments from different levels of the Brazilian Government.

"Please rest assured our financial department is making the best efforts to proceed with the refunds as soon as possible," an email dated December 9 explained.

"Notwithstanding, the Rio 2016 Organising Committee still has funds to receive from the IOC and is waiting for the confirmation of these funds to be able to proceed with the ticketing reimbursement.

"Our expectation is to have this matter solved on the beginning of 2017."

Andrada has now reiterated that this is "old news" because the IOC money has been received.

He insisted the delays are not now due to a shortage of available money.

This comes less than a month before the start of the ticketing process for Pyeongchang 2018 ©Getty Images

This comes as Rio 2016 face unprecedented problems in paying suppliers and staff members still owed money from the Games.

Of the 20,000 suppliers who money was still owed to after the Paralympics ended, it was claimed in late November that 700 deals remain yet to be finalised.

Andrada insists that timings for making repayments in December, January and February was made with each supplier and that they are currently still maintaining this timetable.

The IOC have so far resisted opportunities to step-in and make specific payments themselves.

However, they have promised that all money will be paid.

"The IOC has contributed immensely to the success of the Olympic and Paralympic Games," said Christophe Dubi, the IOC executive director for the Olympic Games, late last year.

"We have also accommodated some cash flow needs for the Organising Committee.

"More importantly, we have contributed to the effort towards budget maximisation in which things were done differently but still with very functional services and beautiful venues.

"This contribution we are very proud of."