Music concert rescheduled - booking fees?

paddyrg

earthstorm wrote: »

But the entertainment is still being provided they just resheduled the date.

Rolling Stones tickets are just £10 + £100 booking fees from me for the 25th December 2013. In the event they cannot play 25th December, the event will be postponed until January 1st 2023.

Here's your tenner back, the ton is mine (under that logic). Clearly flawed.

halibut2209

Assuming the Rolling Stones will still be playing that date, and your ticket is valid of course. Your argument is equally flawed

paddyrg

halibut2209 wrote: »

Assuming the Rolling Stones will still be playing that date, and your ticket is valid of course. Your argument is equally flawed

If they can't play that rescheduled date 10 years hence, I'm dragging their corpses up for 2033. My point is that under the Earthstorm rules 'it was delayed, they are still playing, therefore the ticketing agency should keep the fee' my proposal is fair game. Of course it isn't, it's clearly unreasonable, so where is the reasonable/unreasonable line?

I personally believe ANY date move would invalidate the contract and so the booking fees be due for return, otherwise you're not comparing like with like. The offer of a new date should be a fresh agreement to my mind, or we end up with unfair deals like the one I'm offering.

And don't think ticketing is a kind and benevolent industry being hard done by, most agencies have very tight exclusive deals with promoters (to the point where major ones are wholly owned - ticketmaster UK is owned by Live Nation for instance, and also owns GetMeIn) so the booking fee is non-optional and paid to the very same company that are doing the promotion. They may as well sell direct, add a tenner to the ticket price, and no booking fee - it would be more straightforward for the consumer. Just to really rub it in, the promoters also own the secondary sales companies, so they can release tickets at scalper prices directly through secondary agents. Really, the industry stinks.

Valli

If an event has been rescheduled the ticket purchaser is entitled to a refund of the FACE VALUE of the tickets if the new date is not convenient.

On occasion it is also possible to be refunded the booking fees but not always

see here

However, given the way booking fees are applied to tickets (ie applied per ticket and not per booking) I totally agree with paddyrg and it's about time this was investigated by TS

Valli

earthstorm wrote: »

I think if they had canceled the even then you would be entitled to all monies back including booking fee, but they have rescheduled the event and given new dates. It is not their fault you cannot attend on the new date. But look at the tickets agents T&C to see what they say.

earthstorm wrote: »

they have no broken contract they reschedule the event, so the event is still going ahead which would be in the T&C which no doubt if they are taking about ticketmaster then they would have had their Terms legally checked.

Are you for real? If I book a concert advertised for a specific date it's NOT for the promoters to assume I can attend at any date they choose, at their whim, should they decided to reschedule the concert and therefore I lose my money?

It's a contract to put on performance at a specific venue at a specific time on a specific date. If it's changed then OF COURSE they have broken their contract and should any customer not be able to make the new date, for whatever reason then, they should be entitled to theit money back. In an ideal world this should be the booking fee too, because it's not actually a booking fee, it's a further levy on each ticket.

MillyMolly01

Thanks everyone. Just a quick update for those who are interested...

I sent a strongly worded email to the customer services department. They replied saying that the booking fee will be refunded as a gesture of goodwill within 10 days. Fingers crossed!

I still think it totally stinks though, I wonder how many people are too scared to complain and lose money...

halibut2209

A good result, and it shows that perseverance can pay off

But as has been shown before, this IS a gesture of goodwill and although it sucks, there is no legal recourse to get any extra fees back apart from the face value of the ticket.