Seatwave - grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

knuckledragger

A friend of mine is having a nightmare with Seatwave at the moment. They purchased two tickets in January for a concert next week. The price they paid was HUGE (including Seatwave's fee).

Last week they got a call from Seatwave saying that the seller couldn't now provide the tickets that they had promised, offering alternative seats with a poorer view. These were declined by my friend.

Now Seatwave have unilaterally cancelled the transaction and are refunding my friend. They are absolutely fuming over this.

Seatwave's own T&C state that when a seller accepts an offer to purchase from a buyer, then a binding contract is made between the two. Excerpts from these are shown below:

4.1. Listing: As a Seller, the first step to selling your tickets on Seatwave is to list your tickets, so any Buyers out there can see what’s available. When you list your tickets you are required to enter all the relevant information about each ticket you are listing, including the name of the event, the date, the face value of the ticket, the section, seat, row and so on, all in accordance with the information requested during the listing process – don’t forget the price you want for your ticket! You agree to supply the fullest possible information about any ticket you list. When signing up as a Member you must provide a valid credit card or debit card, which should be considered security against the accuracy and completeness of the information you provide about the ticket you list, as well as against any failure to supply a ticket after a Buyer makes an offer to buy that ticket (see "Commitment to Supply", below). If for any reason the ticket is not as you have listed or you are otherwise in breach of this Agreement, there may be circumstances in which we can debit money (either 100% of the price you listed for the ticket or the costs of replacing that ticket with a similar or better one) from your credit card or debit card, for example if you list a ticket that doesn’t exist, list a counterfeit ticket or one that you do not own. The credit card or debit card you submit to us must not expire before the date of the event for which you are selling a ticket. For example, if you are selling a ticket for a gig next June, your card must be valid at least until after that gig.

4.6. Commitment to Supply: By listing a ticket with us, you are committing to supply that ticket; which means that you are making and communicating an offer to sell that ticket. When a Buyer agrees to buy the ticket, he or she is accepting your offer, and the transaction is binding on the parties and you are required to supply a ticket to the Buyer. If, for any reason, you fail to fulfil on the contract you have entered into in respect of the sale of your ticket to the Buyer, you agree that we can deduct payment from your credit card or debit card, up to the amount it costs us to replace the ticket for the Buyer or 100% of the price you listed for the ticket as well as any other expenses or charges that we incur in finding a replacement ticket. We also reserve the right to cancel a sale if we attempt but are unable to contact you via email and telephone and do not receive a response from you within 72 hours. You further agree that we can set off any amount you owe us against any monies owing to you that we hold at any time.

4.7. Acceptance of Your Offer to Sell: A Buyer accepting to buy one of your tickets has an enforceable contract to buy that exact same ticket (and no other!). You are then required to send the ticket to the Buyer as soon as possible after receiving your tickets.

7.1. Listing Tickets You Don’t Have: Please remember that when a Buyer accepts your offer to sell a ticket listed through the Seatwave Services, you’re required to provide that ticket to the Buyer. As a result, we strongly discourage you from listing your tickets on the Seatwave Services and elsewhere simultaneously. If you list tickets for sale that you don’t then supply to a Buyer, we will take measures that could include you being restricted from using the Seatwave Services, as well as charging you for the cost of our replacing those tickets. Seatwave takes this stuff really seriously – if you list tickets for sale and then can’t make good on that contractual commitment, we won’t welcome you back!

My friend is seriously considering a Small Claims Court action against the seller. Seatwave's T&C appear to conveniently absolve them of any responsibility. Unless, of course, THEY were the "seller"...
Any thoughts? Anyone else had this problem?

nexuss

They cannot do much other than refund the price they paid.Seatwave are the middleman in all this and cannot control if the seller sells the tickets to a higher bidder..

gordikin

Your friend is having their money refunded and therefore they are not out of pocket. What would they be claiming for through the Court?

susi_sunshine

I don't think your friends can claim since they got a refund but obviously they much rather wanted to go and see the band. Very disappointing. Go and have a look at viagogo and you might find the same or better tickets there even cheaper. I have used them before and got tickets to see James Morrison at the Royal Albert Hall at face value!

Susi

dinglebert

They can claim for loss of bargain

knuckledragger

nexuss wrote: »

They cannot do much other than refund the price they paid.Seatwave are the middleman in all this and cannot control if the seller sells the tickets to a higher bidder..

nexuss,
I think I disagree with your thoughts- Their T&C 4.6 seem to say that they can source the ticket then bill the original seller for any costs incurred?

Freddie_Snowbits

I won the pools years back, getting all eight score draws correctly. Only to find that the coupon went through an agent!

knuckledragger

gordikin wrote: »

Your friend is having their money refunded and therefore they are not out of pocket. What would they be claiming for through the Court?

gordikin,
if an enforceable contract is created between the seller and buyer and that is then breached perhaps they could claim for loss of interest on the monies that were kept for nine months, a token sum I'll grant you! Can a person be sued for causing loss of pleasure/enjoyment? The stress of the last week?

nexuss

What i am saying is obviously it looks like the seller would have had a buyer offering more who for example is not on the internet.The seller could come up with numerous excuses why he did not sell and seatwave would never pursue it.

knuckledragger

nexuss,
Agreed. But Seatwave seem quite explicit about what can be done in these circumstances. If they don't pursue this sort of situation, and buyers cannot be confident of the service, will their business ultimately suffer?