carefully read terms of the theatre royal bath

ROBH_2

Hi, due to the severe weather my wife and I are unable to travel and attend a play at the Theatre Royal Bath. I contacted the theatre who told me my ticket were non refundable. However I was told that was not totally the case if the show was in high demand and they could sell the ticket again then a refund was possible, I could not find any reference to this scenario in their blurb. Anyway that was irrelevant because the show was not fully booked and so they could not sell my ticket.
I then looked at the full terms and conditions and it seems all the rights are on one side, the side of the management of the theatre. It appears they don't refund in cases of severe weather when you cannot travel or when public advice etc is not to travel, they can cancel any event , they can change your seat, on and on… and you as a ticket purchaser have little right to anything except turn up whatever and do what they decide....their terms and conditions are unbalanced and just unfair.
You don't think things will happen, like getting snowed in, and I am sorry now I did not read the terms fully because then I would have probably not purchased the tickets so far in advance. But it is also the other terms and conditions you need to be aware of.
as pensioners £60 is a lot to lose, that said even a credit for another performance or show would have been the decent thing to do??
regards
Robert Bennett

giraffelady

Hi we too have the same problem. Purchased tickets to go see Bill Bailey tonight in October 2017, due to the snow we are unable to get onto a main road from our village, we have no buses running so can't get into town, trains are not running the Nottingham from Lincoln so we have no way of getting there and they have said they can't give a refund unless the show is cancelled. It won't be cancelled as there is very little snow in Nottingham and their public transport is running as normal. I can't claim off my credit card company as the purchase is less than £100 and there was no option to purchase insurance against cancellation when I booked the tickets. Do I have any comeback?

martindow

giraffelady wrote: »

I can't claim off my credit card company as the purchase is less than £100 and there was no option to purchase insurance against cancellation when I booked the tickets. Do I have any comeback?

Surely you can't claim anyway if the theatre is open and the show is going ahead? S75 protection only pays out if the merchant has not fulfilled their side of the contract.

Maybe the theatre will cancel the performance and then you would be due a refund or tickets for a rescheduled performance.

TBagpuss

It's fairly standard for theatres to have these kind of conditions. I know when I needed to return a ticket for the Cumberbatch Hamlet, they did explain that they could only offer a refund if they resold the ticket (even though there were queues of people waiting for returns!) It's one of the perks for the 'friends' or subscribers at lots of theatres that membership will let you return tickets if you need to.

I've always found the Theatre Royal very accommodating.

A few years back I was unable to get into Bath due to snow, they were happy to let me change my ticket to a different night,
Only this week I discovered that I'd booked tickets for the same play twice because I'd forgotten about the first booking, and they've had no issue with me returning one ticket for a credit voucher. In neither case was the show fully booked.

Did you ask about exchanging the tickets for a different day? It's unusual for theatres to grant refunds unless they can resell, but they will often allow you to rebook or have a credit note.

lisyloo

I'm sorry you didn't get to travel, but the snow was not the theatre's fault either, so why do you expect them to take the hit when they have to pay for the actors, heating, front of house staff etc. If you live somewhere remote from public transport and can't walk then that is a choice you made right?

I go to the theatre a lot (in London) and in general theatres will exchange for a different date if you give them enough notice to re-sell the tickets (last time I asked that was 48 hours but in London on a saturday night for a sold-out show).

I do have sympathy that something bad has happened but I'm not sure why you would expect the theatre to take the hit for something outside of their control and the distance you live from the theatre and/or public transport was a matter of your choice.