Alton Towers Promo - Mobile Vs Pc Browser

uktivo

Hi All,
Firstly, I'm a long time lurker and this is my first post that I thought would be worth sharing with the community, just in case anyone else is having the same or similar issue.

On July the 6th, I logged into Alton Towers website USING MY PHONE (this bit is important, hence the shouting, lol) to purchase four of their "Season pass tickets for the price of one days entry". I went through the purchase process and paid the £220. Super excited to tell my children, the following day, we set up the PC and all sat at the large monitor to work out when we would go and which hotels to book etc. We logged into Alton Towers and the advert for the tickets popped onto the screen. Something was different......
The advert on the screen had a VERY long list of restrictions to the ticket on the page where the buy button was.. When I say restrictions, I mean:
You can't use the ticket for any Friday / Saturday / Sunday in August.
You can't use the ticket for any day during Scarefest
You can't use the ticket for any day during Bonfire week
and a few others......

I asked myself... how did I not see this information when i purchased the tickets on my phone?

The answer is simple. The restrictions of the ticket doesn't show on a mobile browser, you have to click a page called "Info" where it redirects you to another page and it shows the information there.

I kicked myself.. the season was for 68 days but 37 of those days I couldn't use the tickets. They were not valid.

I complained to Alton Towers and provided screen grabs both from the PC and the mobile browser showing the huge differences to the buying process. I even pointed them to a ruling on the ASA website where a test case for exactly the same thing had been upheld.
Alton towers refused to refund and actually refused to even have a conversation with me. They emailed me to say that if I insisted to take advise from the ASA or Citizens Advice, they would cease all communications with me. In fact, this is exactly what they did and they have refused to answer any of my emails since.

Long story short... the ASA ruled on a test case in 2013 - that any restrictions to tickets MUST be advertised on the same page and made obvious to the purchaser BEFORE the buy button is clicked. Alton Towers has failed to do this on a mobile browser. They go on to say that they understand that some medium may have restrictions of space and they would consider a side page or link acceptable so long as it was clear you had to read it, but they then advise that they wouldn't consider space restricted if the offer is on the companies own website as they should allow sufficient space to advise about the main restrictions.

I've received an email today from the ASA where they say;
"We think your complaint raises a valid point and have instructed the advertiser to ensure these dates and any other exclusions that apply to the offer are made clear next to the main headline claims on the page, so that consumers are made aware of these before they are able to click through to buy the ticket".
"If the advertisers don’t co-operate with us, we may have to think about other ways to resolve your complaint, including conducting a formal investigation that involves the ASA Council. If that happens, we’ll contact you again".

This post really is just a heads up for anyone else who has ran into the same or similar problem.
I've now emailed Alton Towers Directors office again, giving them a copy of the ASA email and asking them for a full, immediate refund otherwise I will take this to the small claims court and also claim costs. They have not responded.......

Aylesbury_Duck

Although I think you have a valid point, you've had a lucky escape. Any visits to Alton Towers during the restriction periods is a complete waste of time. It gets so busy that you are lucky to be able to do more than three big rides in an entire day. Many years ago we had Merlin passes and soon learned to avoid their parks during those events and during the school holidays. Alton Towers is particularly bad because it's so spread out so walking 10-15 minutes across the park to a ride to find the ride queue is two hours long is typical.

Fosterdog

Are you sure you didn't just miss the restrictions on the page?

I've just looked and copied this from the season pass page * Excludes Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays in August. 1st & 2nd September. Scarefest (6th - 7th, 13th - 14th, 19th October - 2nd November) & Fireworks (3rd & 4th November)

Along with the full T&Cs if you scroll to the bottom of the page. I thought maybe they have changed it because of your contact with them but looked at a cached version of the page for 8th January 2018 and that also had all of the restrictions and T&Cs listed so it seems strange that they were missing when you purchased.

ETA: I've just checked on two apple mobile devices and one android mobile device and they all show the same for me. Could it be your phone that is limiting what you see on your screen rather than their mobile site missing details?

uktivo

I hear you. Likewise we were long time Merlin season passes when we lived very near by, but moved into Cheshire about three years ago and since then we've been doing day visits and overnight hotel with tickets stays.. this offer, at first sight, looked good for us.. hence why we purchased. We wouldn't have purchased if we had known the restrictions....

uktivo

Absolutely 100% sure. If you are using a PC, the restrictions are clear and visible on the buy page, if you use a mobile browser (phone), the restrictions are NOT there. I've submitted all the screen shots and video evidence to Trading Standards, Citizens Advice, the ASA and Alton Towers. (Unfortunately, I can't post links or pictures as I'm a new user, otherwise I would show you)
Trading standards are investigating, Citizens advice referred the case to Trading Standards and as I said in the main email, the ASA have replied today saying they agree with me. Trust me, they wouldn't do that if they could see the restrictions on the same page as the buy button.... and to be honest, I wouldn't be pursuing it either if that were the case.

uktivo

I've just logged into my browser again, I'm using edge browser on android Note and there are no restrictions advertised on the page where the buy button is. You have to click the buy button, then the info button. I've also just used my wife's iphone X and its the same for her.

Fosterdog

uktivo wrote: »

Absolutely 100% sure. If you are using a PC, the restrictions are clear and visible on the buy page, if you use a mobile browser (phone), the restrictions are NOT there. I've submitted all the screen shots and video evidence to Trading Standards, Citizens Advice, the ASA and Alton Towers. (Unfortunately, I can't post links or pictures as I'm a new user, otherwise I would show you)
Trading standards are investigating, Citizens advice referred the case to Trading Standards and as I said in the main email, the ASA have replied today saying they agree with me. Trust me, they wouldn't do that if they could see the restrictions on the same page as the buy button.... and to be honest, I wouldn't be pursuing it either if that were the case.

I just edited my original post, I originally only checked on my iPhone but then checked on my apad and then an android device and they all show the same info so it could be your phone that's restricted what is shown if the browser is not good enough rather than AT not making the info available.

Older and lower end android devices do often use very rudimentary browsers and it's impossible for websites to be 100% compatible with all devices and the older/lower level of technology they are the more you miss out on.

Fosterdog

uktivo wrote: »

I've just logged into my browser again, I'm using edge browser on android Note and there are no restrictions advertised on the page where the buy button is. You have to click the buy button, then the info button. I've also just used my wife's iphone X and its the same for her.

Very strange then, your wife has a newer phone than me (iPhone 7) and I can see everything I quoted above and the full T&Cs when using the built in safari browser.

k3lvc

uktivo wrote: »

Absolutely 100% sure. If you are using a PC, the restrictions are clear and visible on the buy page, if you use a mobile browser (phone), the restrictions are NOT there.

So out of interest what phone are you using ? On my iPhone (a mere 6S) it clearly shows me that exclusions apply and as I scroll down page 1 tells me clearly which dates are excluded.

I suspect whilst ASA might make encouraging or placatory noises I'm not imagining that Alton Towers won't be able to show that they've made reasonable efforts to ensure all info is available. I've not gone through the full purchase process but I'd assume there's also a box to confirm you're read all T&C's before finalising purchase

uktivo

Thanks. Unfortunately, the phone I use is top of the range, latest option from Samsung so I can assure it it isn't that.

I've just ran the same test using Chrome Browser, Edge Browser and the native Samsung browser. All three are the same.

Fosterdog

I've also just clicked on the buy now to see what that shows and it gives the restrictions again, so they are in three places over two pages