Refund for cancelled event - 'admin fees'

lasvegaschris

I recently purchased 6 tickets through TicketMaster for an event which has been cancelled. I paid £204.25 in total once i'd been stung by 'admin fees' and postage.

The show was cancelled and customers have been offered a refund, but surprise surprise, Ticketmaster only refund the value of the ticket, and not the other fees.

Tickets were priced £29.50 each (x6 = £177) so that makes a ridiculous £27.25 in booking fee's and postage costs. Now I have to post the tickets back via Special Delivery (out of my own pocket) in order to get a refund as I am unable to attend the rearranged dates.

Now I can understand the postage not being refundable, but I am £25 down for a concert I won't even attend due to poxy admin fees. I fully appreciate what admin fee's are, and although we consumers feel they are enormously exaggerated they are part and parcel of the service.

Why am I liable when the cancellation of the concert was totally out of my hands? Surely the event organiser and the ticket seller has something in their contract to say should a cancellation occur, the event organiser is liable for such charges?

It seems highly unfair (and I guess it's just tough luck - not much we can do) but Ticketmaster are going to make quite literally thousands of pounds in admin fees for an event which is not even taking place.

Can anyone offer any advice on claiming this money back? Has anyone had any joy with similar cases...perhaps through small claims?

p00hsticks

lasvegaschris wrote: »

It seems highly unfair (and I guess it's just tough luck - not much we can do) but Ticketmaster are going to make quite literally thousands of pounds in admin fees for an event which is not even taking place.

I do understand your point of view, and sympathise, but unless TicketMaster are also the event organisers (which I suspect not), then they are as blameless for the cancellation as you are. I imagine that their admin expenses will presumably be considerably more as a result of having to now process multiple exhanges and refunds, so they may not actually be making much of a profit on this one - and they have provided the service that they were obligated to, by first providing (and then refunding / exchanging) the tickets.

I'm not aware of whether you are legally entitled to get your admin fees refunded, and will follow this with interest to see if someone more knowledgable can supply the answer.

As you say, the key point is probably what is in the contract between the event organiser and the ticket agency to cover what happens in the event of a cancellation.