consumer advice on discounted tickets

nelsons_column

Hi all,

Assume this would be the best forum to post in.

I bought some tickets for a winter Ball. Found a discount code online, whacked it in, accepted, and bought a few tickets at the cheaper price. Received confirmation emails etc. All fine, happy with my thrifty purchase.

Received a voicemail today from the company, saying they don't know how I bought the tickets at the cheap price and that I've only paid the total amount of money for 5 tickets and not 7, so either I pay up the full price or they send me fewer tickets.

I have yet to phone them back - where do I stand on this? It might be that the discount code is out of date (e.g. for last years event, or whatever), but it is still searchable online and accepted by their systems. I've also got the confirmation emails of the transactions.

So where do I stand legally on this? Are they within their rights to withhold two of the tickets?

Cheers for any advice

zahariel

Hmmm... what does their website say about when a transaction is complete? If it is like most companies and they say it is once the goods have been dispatched then I would have to say that they can cancel the transaction at any point up to that point.

Was the code you used valid? or was it out of date?

Eydon

What were the conditions associated with the discount voucher. Was it only to be used by certain people for example. The fact that something can be "found" on the internet is neither here nor there if you have breached the conditions of the voucher.

Also, remember that Google archives every page of the internet so even stuff that has been removed from the web is still found by a Google search (unless it has been replaced by another page of the same name). It took me a while to realise this when I kept getting emails from recruitment agents long after I removed my CV from the web. Turned out that Google still had a copy of the webpage and it was showing up when the agents searched for people with my skills.

nelsons_column

Can't immediately find the code used now, it did take some finding (almost by accident).

This is the event, and their website http://www.theblackandwhiteballs.co.uk/?page=8964

See the very bottom of the page for the small print. Is this the key point there?
"The management of the Black Ball and The Pavilion reserve the right to refuse any tickets purchased and admission to the event."

nelsons_column

Sorry Eydon, just seen your post.

It wasn't a cached page (as far as I remember), it was for some party website that was advertising the Ball, and had something along the lines of 'For a £6.00 discount on tickets, quote xxxxx at time of booking'.

Or some such wording. But my post above explains a bit more about the T&C, seems they might be within their rights to not accept the booking?

arcon5

It would seem to me your booking was the point the contract was formed, as per their terms:

Your booking is a contract with 'Utopia' and the lead name only.

However, correct in their terms also states:

The management of the Black Ball and The Pavilion reserve the right to refuse any tickets purchased and admission to the event.

The first part for example could be used to reject the booking and rescind from the contract (obviously provide a full refund). However the second bit seems rather open and imo would cause a significant imbalance in the contract in their favour & therefore unlawful. For example, you turn up, present your ticket, according to them they can refuse you entry if they decide they want to overbook and you are last to show up - this isn't 'fair'.

nelsons_column

arcon5 wrote: »

However the second bit seems rather open and imo would cause a significant imbalance in the contract in their favour & therefore unlawful.

Interesting, is there any relevant part of a consumer act I could quote at them that mentions something like this?

Seeing as we bought the tickets in good faith, their systems were at fault for allowing a code through that (presumably) they weren't expecting (not at all difficult to remove the functionality of the discount code if they so desire) and the transaction has been completed with money taken and confirmation emails sent, it seems to me that morally we are in the right, even if there is a legal technicality that may plausibly block all this. We don't have the tickets themselves yet, so keen to lean on them as much as possible.

Thing is, it's not *that big a deal*, but it's hassle of speaking to 6 other people and asking if they mind paying a few quid extra, it's the behaviour of the company for challenging what is essentially their error/oversight, and it's also a decent learning curve for me

somethingcorporate

I don't think you'll win this one.

I agree with Arcon that the term is ambiguous and would likely be "unfair" but it has absolutely no impact on your situation which is an argument around when the contract was formed. If the company were to rely on this term in court it could be ignored but it does not invalidate the rest of the contract.

It appears you chanced your arm with a code and just because it was accepted automatically does not mean it is valid. There have been a number of companies that released codes to individuals who recycled them via HUKD for example and they became so widespread and abused then the company refused to honour them because they were specific to individuals or certain communities. We don't know whether this was the case with your code but it is a possibility.

At the end of the day they hold the cards (by still having the tickets) and unless you are willing to take expensive legal action and argue the requirement for "specific performance" under the contract (very hard to do) I think you'll be left with fewer tickets or a full refund.