Very annoyed with Leeds First Direct Arena.

the_devil_made_me_do_it

Due to my disability, a require a carer to attend any events I plan to go to. My partner is my carer, so I asked him to contact the Arena regarding disabled & carer tickets.

He telephoned them a couple of days ago to find out whether they offered a concession for carers. He was given another number to call to speak to the correct person. They said "yes", however, the tickets were not on sale until today. He was told to use the same telephone number after 9.30am to order tickets.

So, he telephoned them and waited...waited...waited. Overall, he was on the telephone over 45 mins without speaking to anyone.

In the end, he decided to use the ticket line number on the website. Within 5 mins he got through to a customer service person. He explained what had happened. She said that she could order the tickets. My other half was fuming, especially since he had be told to phone a different number.

I dread to think what the call charges are going to be. It's to an 0844 number. Would I be able to invoice them for the call charges?

lincroft1710

the_devil_made_me_do_it wrote: »

I dread to think what the call charges are going to be. It's to an 0844 number. Would I be able to invoice them for the call charges?

Of course you can invoice them. But as (a) you have no contract with them regarding reimbursement of your telephone calls to them (b) they will either deny telling your OH to phone the other number or say he misunderstood, you will probably at best get an acknowledgement of your letter, or at worst no response whatsoever.

McKneff

If you ever have one of these numbers or similar, see the site saynoto0870, you can invariably get a generic number, even a Freephone sometimes.


Don't hold your breath about the refund, don't think you have much chance.

theforumking

I would give this a SCAM RATING of: Low/Medium

spacey2012

All due respects, but tickets for these shows are very expensive, they are certainly not in the price range someone worried about a phone call cost should be worried about.

the_devil_made_me_do_it

Forumking..I'm unsure of whether your calling my thread a scam or the arena?

Mckneff...I checked out saynoto0870, but there wasn't an alternative number on there or I would've used it.

lincroft..the arena will have a call log of the conversation. Also, it was the person who he spoke to who give him the telephone number to start off with. So, no chance of the advice been misunderstood by anyone.

spacey..the tickets to this concert weren't too expensive to be honest. The add ons of postage, handling costs ect..were the expensive bit. Also, it isn't the point, the number I was told to phone wasn't answered & also cut off after ten minutes. So each time, they were clocking 15p connection charge aswell. When he tried the general phone number for the ticket line, someone answered after just 5 mins.

It matters not how much the tickets cost, it's the fact that we were told to ring a dedicated telephone number for disabled concert goers. We wouldn't have this number if it wasn't given to us.

jacques_chirac

But would you have got through to the normal number in five minutes at 9.30?

lincroft1710

the_devil_made_me_do_it wrote: »

the arena will have a call log of the conversation.

Do you know this for certain, and if they do log conversations, for how long do they retain them?

Even if they have a log of the conversation, they have no legal obligation to pay for your call charges, which would probably be £3 from a BT landline.

If you are determined to try to recoup these charges, then rather than send an invoice, send a brief, to the point letter, outlining the problem and a copy of the relevant phone bill.

I still doubt you will get a favourable response.

the_devil_made_me_do_it

jacques...initally tried at 9.30, but gave in and decided to try a couple of hours later. Same problem..noone answering the telephone.

Then decided to telephone the regular ticket line number and got through within 5 minutes. Told the person who answered the phone about what had happened, only to find she could book the disabled tickets.

lincroft...when you telephone it does say calls will be recorded. Also, the number I was given initially will show on my phone bill. I trusted that the number they had given me for disabled tickets was the number I needed to call.

I have been to other arenas and you always need to speak to the person who deals with disabled tickets. Sometimes you get transferred, other times they give you the correct number to call.

the_devil_made_me_do_it

In total..the cost of calls was £8.19.

fozmcfc

Perhaps the correct procedure, is to go via the number given, but as you explain what happened, the girl using good customer service, decided not to cause any more hassles and book them for you, even though it shouldn't be booked that way.

I know I have helped customers before, who have had trouble making enquiries with the correct department and even though it isn't necessarily my job, I've assisted, rather than caused them further inconvenience.