Not refunded booking fee?

Haggisman said:
I wonder what measures are actually in place to stop agencies doing this to generate a few extra £££?

What's to stop me setting up a ticket website, selling cheap tickets with massive booking fees, and then cancelling and only refunding the ticket price?
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Exactly my thought. Ticket £35, inc £34 booking fee.

Cancel event, refund a quid.

I'd do a chargeback personally.
 
Chargeback. Reason why I always buy tickets on credit card.

Usually if it's a proper place Like an O2 Academy, you get everything back no problems asked. Usually just dodgy nightclubs run as a front for a criminal gang that have problems giving refunds.
 
It's hardly a scam! Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's fair or unfair, but surely the booking fee was their charge for facilitating the purchase of the ticket? The cost of the payment merchant they use, staff etc plus a small profit. They did what they charged for, the tickets were bought. They didn't cancel the gig. If it was booked through the venue, whose responsibility it is to ensure events they advertise actually happen then that would be different.

Having said all that if it was me I'd probably still be complaining to them about it! Just playing devil's advocat. Fair points don't you think? Discuss!

Edit: Rereading it, not sure if the tickets were booked through a third party so may not apply!
 
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Contact the promoter. Tell them YOUR out of pocket because THEY cancelled and you want your booking fee back.

If not Moneyclaim.

Seems OTT but the promoter should know there are repercussions for cancelling
 
I had something similar with flights. Airline cancelled the flight and then offered me a refund, minus the credit card fees, which were £65. How can they cancel something and not give you a FULL refund?

I managed to get them to book me on another flight they weren't offering but if I cancelled they certainly weren't going to keep the credit card fee!
 
mattyg said:
Contact the promoter. Tell them YOUR out of pocket because THEY cancelled and you want your booking fee back.

If not Moneyclaim.

Seems OTT but the promoter should know there are repercussions for cancelling
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Exactly. If it were the other way round the company would have no quarms in making sure you paid every last penny if you cancelled.
 
Aedus said:
Should have read them before agreeing to them then.
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And if the Ts and Cs give the promoter the right to sleep with your wife/gf/chihuahua in the event of the cancellation then would you consider this to be binding?


Go go gadget OFT667
Guidance on unfair terms in consumer entertainment contracts said:
6.10 Where fairness requires a refund of the face value of a ticket (for example on cancellation, rescheduling or a material change) any booking fees charged should also be refunded.
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Aedus said:
Tickets? Yes. Because I know how crafty they can be. For general products? No, because there's no point.




If you write such an absurd thing of course it's going to never go to court. But you can exaggerate anything to make a point go in your favour, doesn't make you right.

Fact of the matter is it's in the T&C's, it's a pretty standard thing for ticket companies, therefore T&C's should be read, and not bought if OP was unhappy with said T&C's.
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Fact of the matter is T&Cs are easily trumped by consumer protection laws. So let's not pretend T&Cs are the be-all and end-all.

You can read all the T&Cs you like, but maybe knowing a bit about consumer law would be more helpful and less time-consuming?
 
So can I just email them back quoting OFT667?

The whole of that part in the document seems relevant....

Booking fees for tickets for
entertainment
6.10 Where fairness requires a
refund of the face value of a
ticket (for example on
cancellation, rescheduling or a
material change) any booking
fees charged should also
be refunded.

6.11 Who is legally responsible
for providing or obtaining the
refund of the booking fee in
such cases will depend on all
the circumstances of that and
any related contracts.

6.12 As suppliers generally, including
ticket agencies and event
promoters etc, are in a better
position to insure against these
losses; we consider it unfair that
the consumer should bear them.

6.13 OFT will look carefully at
the contract(s) involving the
consumer to assess whether
in the given circumstances
suppliers should bear legal
responsibility for obtaining the
refund on behalf of the consumer
from any third parties involved.

6.14 In addition, in its contracts with
the consumer a supplier cannot
fairly exclude/restrict liability for
losses, including those relating
to booking/administrative fees,
where caused by its own
negligence or breach of contract.
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Dis86 said:
That's the bad boy bit of legislation I was thinking of! Good find.
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Bear in mind that it isn't legislation - it is guidance. The OFT believe their guidance to be correct and it should be compelling (especially in a lower court) but courts can always disagree. It would only become binding if a higher court set down some case law.

That said, if you start quoting the OFT at most people, the reaction is usually "Hnnnnngggggg, have your money back and please don't make me bend over."
 
I've just emailed them drawing their attention to it. Like I said its not a lot of money in the slightest, it's the principle!
 
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What was the booking fee amount btw?

If it's 10% of face value, I don't mind. E.g. Slinky in Bristol (going back 13 years now) was £10 and booking fee if booking in advance thru agency was £1 which made it £11.

Atomic Jam in Birmingham in 2004, however, was £14 face value, but Ticketmaster wanted an extra £4.50 for their so-called "admin fees" which bumped the amount up to £18.50. Takes the ****.
 
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