Ticketmaster

Roseanne1

Hi. I am new to the site but a long time lurker and something has happened and I am looking for advice.

Last night (really, it was this morning because the order went through just after midnight), I ordered tickets over the telephone from ticketmaster for the Dublin Super Cup on July 30th and 31st this year.

As I was only interested in the matches involving my football club, I asked the agent if it was possible just to get tickets for the two games involving my team. I was told this was not possible and that the only option was to buy a package.

I have since found out that I can in fact get tickets for just my club's games through my club, who's e-ticket web site is powered by ticketmaster. As I feel I have been misled, I phoned ticketmaster this morning to request a refund. I know their policy is only to refund if the event is cancelled or rescheduled but, as I was not told there were other avenues of getting single tickets involving my team, I have a right to cancel the transaction.

I paid using my mastercard so I phoned them today and they are raising a dispute for me but have made no promises as regards whether it will succeed. They advised me to write to ticketmaster explaining the situation, which I have now done, so that I have something in print.

I'm trying not to worry until I hear something back from Mastercard but I thought I'd post here and see if anyone else had any suggestions that I could try if Mastercard can't get the refund for me.

Thanks in advance.

mo786uk

Well I would start with misdescription as you have done so (I think it would fall under the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 as tickets are services not goods, I think)

Failing that you could consider Section 75 of The Consumer Credit ACt which covers breach of contract - so will include misdescription. The item has to cost over £100 though - there is some debate over whether each TICKET has to cost £100 though or whether 2 tickets over £100 together will count.

I would wait and see what TM say before pursuing Mastercard.

Roseanne1

mo786uk wrote: »

Well I would start with misdescription as you have done so (I think it would fall under the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 as tickets are services not goods, I think)

Failing that you could consider Section 75 of The Consumer Credit ACt which covers breach of contract - so will include misdescription. The item has to cost over £100 though - there is some debate over whether each TICKET has to cost £100 though or whether 2 tickets over £100 together will count.

I would wait and see what TM say before pursuing Mastercard.

Thanks for the reply.

The tickets were €120 each (I bought three). :eek: So there is no ambiguity about what they cost. The first thing I done this morning was call ticketmaster and I got a straight no refunds, case closed. The guy at Mastercard didn't make any promises but did fill in a dispute form and told me they'll get back to me within a week and a half to two weeks or maybe even sooner than that and, as he advised, I wrote to ticketmaster so I'd have a written record of the complaint.

I've decided to hold off until Mastercard get back to me but have been searching around for information about my rights. According to the Consumer Direct site, you don't have a right to cancel tickets bought on the internet in the same way as you have the right to cancel other orders but it didn't say anything about the same being true of phone orders. I also read the stuff on this site about Distance Selling Regulations.

I had another idea as well. I saw on the purchase policy page of the ticketmaster site that they are sometimes prohibited from giving refunds because they are selling on behalf of promoters. Well, I have found out who the promoters are of this event so, if I don't get any joy from Mastercard, I wonder if it would be worth taking it up with them. :think: There was a website set up for the event and the only link on that was to ticketmaster for buying tickets, nothing at all about getting them via clubs.

Thanks again for the reply.

mo786uk

The Distance Selling Regulations apply to internet and telephone orders. For most things you can cancel the order with 7 days. Tickets are excluded from this so I wouldn't bother thinking about the Distance Selling Regulations. They apply to situation where you change your mind. You don;t have an automatic right to cancel tickets no matter which way you bought them.

Your angle is that you were missold them. If Mastercard don;t help your only other course of action is to keep pursuing Ticketmaster or take them to small claims court.


Your contract is with Ticketmaster so you won't have much luck via the promoters. They probably do not deal with consumers direct anyway.

Gavin83

Would the ticket site through the club website actually be part of ticketmaster or are they purely providing some form of 3rd party software assistance? If they don't actually manage the site then I doubt you'll have little comeback as Ticketmaster don't have to advise you of competitors offers. Even ignoring this unless Ticketmaster admit telling you this it's your word against theres a I think you might have difficulty getting your money back.

I'd be amazed if you receive your money back through Mastercard but its worth a try.

mountainofdebt

Roseanne1 wrote: »

As I was only interested in the matches involving my football club, I asked the agent if it was possible just to get tickets for the two games involving my team. I was told this was not possible and that the only option was to buy a package.

I have since found out that I can in fact get tickets for just my club's games through my club, who's e-ticket web site is powered by ticketmaster. As I feel I have been misled, I phoned ticketmaster this morning to request a refund. I know their policy is only to refund if the event is cancelled or rescheduled but, as I was not told there were other avenues of getting single tickets involving my team, (I feel) I have a right to cancel the transaction.

In fairness it may have been that, as far as Ticketmaster are concerned, there weren't any packages for matches just involving your team, if you ordered directly.

I've added the words highlighted in bold to your originaly post as - as it stands - the situation is dubious at best. I feel that I have a right to a lot of things but my legal position is very much different!

I do have to ask though why didn't you look at your club's website first as I would have though this was the most logical place to look first - this doesn't alter the postion you now find yourself in ...I'm just curious - especially as you wanted your team matches only.

Roseanne1

Thanks again folks for the replies.

mo786uk, I didn't know that about the distance selling regulations. I saw the list of exceptions (fresh food and flowers, computer software etc). The only thing I saw anywhere about tickets was on the Consumer Direct site but I'm holding onto some hope as it didn't mention telephone orders when it said you couldn't cancel.

Gavin83, they said on the phone today (ticketmaster) that they didn't know about these tickets being available through my club and I explained this to the guy from Mastercard. The site is powered by ticketmaster apparently, which I also explained to the guy from Mastercard. Our ticket call centre was outsourced to ticketmaster as well so I can't see how someone there wouldn't know something about these tickets and the guy from Mastercard thought this was strange.

mountainofdebt, you make some valid points. I just find it incredible that we get this protection for a whole lot of purchases by credit card but things like tickets can be excluded. Pretty much every other purchase has a cooling off period if, for whatever reason, you come to the conclusion that the product/service ordered wasn't suitable and that is the line I'm taking because I did feel forced into buying these tickets for games involving other clubs as it was the only way I could get tickets for my team. To me, the more I think about it, the promoter should be making it clear there is other avenues from which tickets can be bought because they are promoting the event, they don't care who you buy the tickets from as long as the event makes money. I (maybe wrongly) am assuming the promoter would have some hand in the web site that was produced. BTW all this actually is is a web site saying "Web site coming soon" and a link to ticketmaster for buying tickets.

I agree it would have been logical to check my club's site. It's a mistake I won't be repeating, that's for sure. I didn't even see it on there at first, I went out today and bought my club magazine and saw it on there. Then I went on the web site and there were the tickets in all their glory.

Keep the advice coming folks, it is much appreciated. I'll let you all know how I go. Hopefully, Mastercard will get back to me with some positive news. Even if it was a partial refund with me paying a nominal cost for my own club's games (even if that worked out slightly more expensive than my club's site), I would accept that.

Thanks again.

wealdroam

Roseanne1 wrote: »

I didn't know that about the distance selling regulations. I saw the list of exceptions (fresh food and flowers, computer software etc). The only thing I saw anywhere about tickets was on the Consumer Direct site but I'm holding onto some hope as it didn't mention telephone orders when it said you couldn't cancel.

The OFT's guide to the Distance Selling Regulations may help with your doubts.

Page 5 helps with telephone orders...

When do the DSRs apply?
2.8 The DSRs apply to your business if you sell goods or services without face-to-face contact with your consumer using an organised distance sale or service provision scheme for instance via:
. the internet
. text messaging
. phone calls
. faxing
. interactive TV, or
. mail order – via catalogues, mail order advertising in newspapers or magazines.

Page 9 we deals with tickets...

Contracts to which only part of the DSRs apply (Regulation 6)
2.20 The requirements to provide pre-contractual information, written and additional information, the right to cancel and the obligation on the supplier to carry out the contract within a maximum of 30 days do not apply to the following types of contract...
Contracts to provide accommodation, transport, catering or leisure services (for example hotel accommodation; plane, train, or concert tickets; car hire; or sporting events) where you agree to provide the service on a specific date or within a specific period.

Roseanne1

wealdroam wrote: »

Page 5 helps with telephone orders...

Page 9 we deals with tickets...

Thanks for that, I hadn't seen it before.

It looks like I might have to go down the route that I felt coerced into buying matches I didn't want to get those I did. It is true they didn't hold a gun to my head and force me to buy but the impression I got was that, if I wanted to see my team, I had to buy the full package, something which clearly was not the case.

I noticed something interesting tonight. I clicked back into my club's e-ticket site. The format of the link was e-ticketing.co.uk/ followed by the club name. I took that out so was just left with e-tickets.co.uk and this redirects me to the Ticketmaster UK site. Now, I know the event is in Ireland but I ordered through the UK customer service. To me, the redirection to this site indicates that our ticket sales site is connected to ticketmaster somehow although I may be wrong about this. If there is a connection then I cannot understand why they would not know at ticketmaster's customer services of the existence of these tickets. Unless someone has not given the agents all the information.

Another thing I noticed on the receipt relating to my order is that the ticket was a full price one yet there was supposed to be a €10 discount for ordering in February. I checked the site and it did not specify the order had to be online or anything so that is another thing that is not clear. I done a quick google today and ticketmaster are not a popular company. There are a lot of folk who don't like their attitude towards customers.

Anyway, this turned into a bit of a rambling spree. Thanks again for the link, it was really helpful.

geordieracer

Roseanne1 wrote: »

Thanks for that, I hadn't seen it before.

It looks like I might have to go down the route that I felt coerced into buying matches I didn't want to get those I did. It is true they didn't hold a gun to my head and force me to buy but the impression I got was that, if I wanted to see my team, I had to buy the full package, something which clearly was not the case.

But the company you went through was only selling tickets as a package. Whatever anyone else was doing is irrelevant i think.

Roseanne1

Well I never got the refund so am stuck with the tickets. My mood has improved a bit though since I booked the accommodation. We are going for a week and making it a bit of a sightseeing trip too. I managed to get nearly €100 knocked off what would have been the internet price because I am a regular at the B&B I booked with. :j:j

As for ticketmaster, well I'll be avoiding them wherever possible from now on. I have to use them soon to book a ticket for the Republic of Ireland matches coming up but, next season, I'm going to try and get a season ticket from the FAI direct. The only reason I didn't this year is because I ran out of holidays so couldn't make all the games.

Anyway, thanks again everyone for the help and advice, it is much appreciated and I'll certainly not be letting ticketmaster spoil my enjoyment of what I think will be some pretty good matches.