Tickets changed seating to standing - no refund

FairConsumer_2

Hi Guys


I bought and paid for two seats at the up and coming Madness concert (at Englefield, near Reading in July this year), from ViaGogo.


On facebook, my partner noticed (a few days later) , that the venue had changed to all standing , i.e. no seats. This is no good for me, so I asked ViaGoGo for a refund, and they refused. (Full wording below, but in a nutshell, they say they have no control over the seating/standing). I got in touch with the promoters (Cuffe and Taylor : full wording below), who said they could only refund the purchaser of the tickets (i.e. ViaGoGo), and also gave me a lecture about only using authorised ticket sites.


Where do I stand. It seems no-one wants to refund ?


Any help much appreciated - Thanks in Advance


Mark


ViaGoGo Response
Thank you for contacting us.


As viagogo is a ticket marketplace and not the event organiser, we cannot control the seating arrangements or the layout of a venue.

Therefore, in this instance we are unable to offer you any compensation.

Kind regards,
Gabriel


Cuffe and Taylor (Promoter) Response:

Viagogo is not an official agent of ours, they or those that use the site, buy tickets from the official agent in this case Ticketmaster and then sell them at highly inflated prices.

Your contract will be with Viagogo and not our official agent or ourselves.

We would of course refund the face value of the ticket to the person who originally purchased the tickets that you have bought, but you will understand we cannot make a refund to you direct as you did not purchase the tickets direct from us or our agent or refund the huge mark-up that has been put onto the face value of the ticket.

Please always buy tickets through official agents, it protects you and helps stops unscrupulous people taking advantage of music fans. Technically, if someone buys a ticket who then sells it on, breaks our terms and conditions and the ticket becomes invalid.

However, in this instance, we will of course honour your tickets and you will be able to use them, but we are unable to refund you any monies. We will refund the original purchaser of the tickets, but for the face value only.

If you have any further questions, please do hesitate to email us direct.

Kind regards
Cuffe & Taylor

pinkshoes

Cuffenand Taylor is correct.

Your contract is with Viagogo. If the tickets you purchased were specified as seated, then you are entitled to a refund from Viagogo.

How did you pay for them?

lammy82

Do you have the email/copy of the actual wording that was stated when you bought the ticket? Which clearly shows that it was a seated ticket?

I would try again with viagogo and make it very simple for them.

Their website states that

Buyers are guaranteed to receive valid tickets in time for the event. If a problem arises, viagogo will step in to provide comparable replacement tickets or a refund.

You bought and paid for a seated ticket. The ticket you have received is not valid for a seat. It's for standing only. You would like a refund.


Failing that, you'll just have to relist it on viagogo, hopefully without making a loss. They apparently charge no listing fees if you relist a ticket you bought through them.

FairConsumer_2

Hi guys, thanks for reply.


I paid on debit card.


Just checked my transaction on ViaGogo and it says "Tickets 2 , Section C2 , Row Y" so - doesn't specifically say the seat numbers, but it's obvious that "Row Y" means seating.


So ... Think I'll put a polite but firm response to viagogo


Many Thanks All

Les79

FairConsumer wrote: »

Hi guys, thanks for reply.


I paid on debit card.


Just checked my transaction on ViaGogo and it says "Tickets 2 , Section C2 , Row Y" so - doesn't specifically say the seat numbers, but it's obvious that "Row Y" means seating.


So ... Think I'll put a polite but firm response to viagogo


Many Thanks All

It isn't obvious at all... Could be in rows in which the seats have been removed.

That being said, just done a dummy purchase and it is rather vague "section C3" with no mention of seating/standing. On the same page it has a blurb about the venue which says that it has "comfortable seats" - not strictly part of your contract, but a big hint that you'll probably be seated (more so when there is nothing to differentiate which sections have seats and which don't).

Good luck with viagogo, but I think they've missold in the past and only really addressed the issues when a lot of pressure is put on them (not just from 1 consumer). So you may get brickwalled.

Selling them on could be an option though.

Castle

According to the Englefield website, you're allowed to bring a folding chair:-
http://www.englefieldestate.co.uk/the-estate/location-event-hire/summer-concerts/madness

mscroft

I’m in the same boat - bought tickets for madness, Northumberland in July. Paid £220 for 2 tickets, best seats, unrestricted views etc, front of stage. I’ve no idea what the face value of the tickets are but almost passed out when I realised I’d been charged £220. There was no breakdown of costs. The following day I received an email from viagogo stating that the venue had changed to standing room only. I would never have purchased standing tickets, supposing they were a pound. My husband had a disc out and will never stand for that long.

Whats the chances of getting my money back? Slim to none I would imagine!

FairConsumer_2

I'm minded to pursue this.


It's like ordering a dishwasher online, and getting a delivery of a box of tomatoes (if you see what I mean).


Basically - paid for seat, not getting seat.


Let's see who else is in this boat ?

mscroft

It seems very fishy that the same concert at 2 different venues both sold seats then changed to standing only. I chose the section, right in front of the stage as these seats were the best apparently. I chose the section, seat row and seat numbers. I would never have purchased a standing ticket, not ever.

cjrach

I have spoken to my Credit card company this morning as my husband purchased tickets last night, its normally my job but it was a present for me, not being used to doing these things he didn't realise who he was buying from and he has paid £356 for two basic tickets to see Tom Jones, we could have had full hospitality for less than that.
Anyway I have been told that I have a 24hr cooling off period and I should contact them to request a refund, I have emailed them but I'm not holding my breath, has anyone else heard this before.
Jill

mscroft

I!!!8217;m doing some online research today to find out the best way to approach this. I!!!8217;ve contacted no one as of yet. There!!!8217;s a Facebook page, viaNogo which I!!!8217;ve joined and some of the stories on there are horrific. I!!!8217;m wading my way thru it and most seem to be about massive fees, being charged for tickets never purchased and fake tickets. The advice appears to be mostly about claims after being refused entry but my biggest issue is purchasing a seat that doesn!!!8217;t exist.