Help! - Scammed by Muse ticket site?

0netrack

I purchased some tickets from a website a couple of weeks ago for a Muse gig in Devon, however now I've looked into it I think it may be a scam site - I'd be grateful for anyone's advice on what to do next.

The website in question is museboxoffice.com, at the time I just went on to the tickets section, selected two tickets, then filled in my address and card details. I started to worry when I did not receive a confirmation email or follow up, even though my card was charged around £99 under 'TICKETS BUDAPEST' a day or two later (a figure which is also worrying, being just below the credit card chargeback threshold of £100). I did eventually get a confirmation email about 3 days following the purchase. After investigating further around the internet, there are several people (including Muse Live on facebook) suggesting this is a scam (search google for museboxoffice.com for examples, I am too much of a newbie to post links!).

On the website there are no contact details other than an email address - again suspicious. I sent them an email, asking when I could expect to receive them and I did get a response, telling me that 'tickets will be sent once they have been printed by our suppliers', they would be sent special delivery, and that I had already paid for this service when I bought them. I was also told to expect them 'no later than 1 week before the gig'.

So I waited, and get to today where the gig is less than 5 days away. I emailed them again, and they now tell me: 'Our suppliers have told us that any tickets that have not been delivered will be made available for collection from the venue on the day of the show', and that there is a collection point for them at the venue and I will be meeting with a member of their staff. Surprisingly, they also offered to issue a refund of all money if I was not able to attend the show, or they would contact me later this week with the staff member's name and telephone number. Given that I have paid extra for special delivery, I don't understand why they wouldn't post them to me the day before the gig (when surely they must have them) which would get them to me for the next day - having to meet someone is making me more suspicious (although it does say they reserve the right to do this in their T&C's). It also seems odd that their T&C's say that refunds will only be given in the event of a cancellation, yet I have been offered a refund unprompted.

So I have several options available to me now. Firstly, I could ignore the links above and assume this is all still genuine, and go ahead to the concert on the day and try to pick up the tickets (assuming I get any phone number sent through). However, it is not the easiest journey for me to get to Devon, so I don't really want to arrive only to find that there is nothing there for me.

Still assuming they're genuine, I could request the refund and see where that gets me. However, I'd rather go and see Muse if the tickets are genuinely available, so I'd be more inclined to take the first route!

Alternatively, I could forget all about it and retire to a corner to lick my wounds - however, given that they are still playing ball and no crime has yet been committed, if I wanted to take this to the police they could reasonably say - 'well we offered you a refund or the tickets on the day and you never replied', so I'd still have to follow the above routes.

I have contacted the local police advice line, and they have told me that if I get to the concert and there are no tickets, or if they do not give me a refund having now offered it, then a crime would have been committed and I should contact the police again, however at present there is nothing that can be done.

So, feeling a bit of an idiot I turn to the MSE forums for sage wisdom and advice! If anyone has had positive/negative dealings with this company or a similar one, I'd be grateful for your response. I will keep this thread updated with my progress, than at least worst case it will serve as a warning to others.

eamon

You have been scammed. Why are they priced in Euros? I know you don't want to look stupid etc but didn't this not ring any bells? Granted the site does look good. I think they rely on resellers as is the case on many other sites. But if you had read their T & C's then you would have saved yourself money. The official Muse site only has seetickets & ticketmaster as official sellers. Ticketmaster have sold out. Seetickets may have some left for the Friday show.
For the future though unless you can get to the venue and buy in person then Seetickets & Ticketmaster have between them "on line" ticket selling largely sown up. Interestingly venues that do their own selling such as O2 Academies let the customer print their own ticket. Lastly beware of ticket sellers that aren't mentioned by the bands official site. the venue/event organiser.

KevPar

Hi,
Snap, exactly the same has happened to me. I have done some research and it does indeed seem that this is a scam website. There are other people talking about this on Muse.mu website. If you google 'muse ticket scam' you will see the forum. There is someone on there who has had more money taken from his bank so I would contact your bank if I were you and report the fraud.
I am certainly not prepared to travel to Devon to meet a non existant company rep.
Looks like we have been had this time, lesson learned I guess. The annoying thing is that that company still come up at the top if you search muse tickets, so other people are being conned all the time.
Let me know your thoughts.
Kev

jinxjinx

i have tickets if you want them http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1920647

proof of purchase

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg318/gsmcq/IMG00023-20090902-1426.jpg

bomandi

I too have been a victim of this scandal. I got the usual fob off emails about my tickets so I sent museboxoffice an email telling them I had informed my bank of the fraud and demanded my money back. They have just replied to me saying they will wait to hear from my bank! Unfortunately I paid by debit card too, which means it's going to be hard for me to get my money back, but I am going to give it a good try. I just feel for all those people that think they are going to be met by a rep at the gig!! It is going to cause mayhem when people realise they cannot get in, especially those who have travelled. If anyone reading this has paid by debit card and can help with any tips on getting my money back I would appreciate it. Also keep checking your account as on the muse forum it says that museboxoffice are known to have taken out a second load of money a few weeks later!!

suec71

I've also "bought" tickets from museboxoffice. After about 10 mins of not receiving a confrimation email (still not received) I did a bit of research on museboxoffice.com and decided it might be a scam. I rang my creditcard co who assured me no payment had been processed and they confirmed they would not allow the transaction. I checked with them about 4 times that they would not allow the transaction and yet today I received a call from museboxoffice to meet their courier tomorrow eve after 7pm. I have a name and mob number for the courier but of course when I call there is just a message saying it has not been possible to connect my call.
I haven't yet decided what to do. I am only about 30 miles from Teignmouth but if I can't get through to the alleged courier by phone then I see little point in turning up to look for him.
I'd be interested to know if anyone else has received a call from museboxoffice about collecting their tickets.
I will of course be having a friendly chat with my credit card company!

sb65

Hate to say this but there will be no company rep at the gates to give you your tickets. If you want to get in, try and get a refund now and buy elsewhere from seatwave, etc

Companies like this tried the same trick for Reading / Leeds 2008 with a rep re-distributing the tickets to buyers of scam websites (sosmastertickets.com, etc). There was huge uproar and this made it into many London papers.

This seems like the work of Michael Rangos. A renowned charlatan. Type his name in Google as an example.

sb65

one last thing. Someone mentioned this 'add' still comes up 1st on the Google ads when you search

Well, the company pays a high price 'per click through' to have its add at the top of the list. Everytime you click it, Museboxoffice has to pay google a fee.

Sounds ridiculous but if you had a few hours to spend, you could continue to click that add each time and it could become somewhat expensive for Museboxoffice....lol

suec71

Ok so it's 3.15pm and still unable to contact alleged courier from whom I'm meant to collect tickets.
Spoken to my creditcard co and they tell me they know of the site and it is a scam. Wonder why they let the transactions go through? They have agreed to refund my money though which is good.
Be good to hear how others have got on.

Caroline73_2

sb65 wrote: »

one last thing. Someone mentioned this 'add' still comes up 1st on the Google ads when you search

Well, the company pays a high price 'per click through' to have its add at the top of the list. Everytime you click it, Museboxoffice has to pay google a fee.

Sounds ridiculous but if you had a few hours to spend, you could continue to click that add each time and it could become somewhat expensive for Museboxoffice....lol

You get billed in arrears though with google accounts so they probably won't pay that bill.

suec71

Got a call from Museboxoffice at 5pm and they said my tickets had not been delivered to their courier. They offered me a refund and said something about still being able to get tickets. I said I'd have the refund. I will wait a few days to see what happens and then update again.
Would be interested to see how others have got on.