See Tickets - Partial Refund

Aylesbury_Duck

So the transaction fees are almost a quarter of the face value of the tickets?  To be honest that does seem unreasonable.  Whilst you don't have a route through small claims (it would be viewed as frivolous), a well-worded letter to them might get a formal response and if it's not positive, some shaming on social media channels might be appropriate.

A reasonable transaction fee is ok, but adding another quarter onto the face value seems unreasonable.

Edited to address my mistaken maths.  I mis-read your pricing as combined face value plus fees, rather than combined face value.

DoaM

So the transaction charges were ~25% of the tickets value, or ~20% of the overall transaction amount. IMHO that's an amount worth pursuing.

The no-cost option (other than the price of a stamp) is to send them a Letter Before Action to reclaim the £25, on the basis that term 21 is an unfair contract term as it penalises the consumer for an event outwith the consumer's control, given that the consumer has no control over where tickets can be bought from. The next action would be an MCOL claim ... a claim for £25 I think costs £25 filing fee and then £25 hearing fee (if it got that far). You'd mention that in your LBA ... they either refund you £25 or you pursue them through court for £25 plus £50 court fees plus other expenses pursuant to the court claim (e.g. mileage to court plus parking fees, or public transport fares).

To Mr. Duck's post (that crossed with mine) ... I believe you're thinking about the De Minimis rule. It might apply, but given the stated facts I think a claim for £25 plus costs would still be accepted. However the LBA stage may do the trick as there's no way they'd defend a court claim - the cost of doing so wouldn't be worth the time and effort.

Aylesbury_Duck

^^  excellent point.

JJFGB

Yeah, sadly is was for several seperate low cost tickets, so the fees soon add up.  I couldn't afford more expensive tickets.  I have contacted them and asked them to reconsider.  Fingers crossed, they have a heart.

Aylesbury_Duck

It doesn't matter how many tickets you bought, by the figures you've given us the transaction fee per ticket is around 25% of the face value of each ticket.  That's unreasonable.

e.g. 100 tickets costing a pound each with £25 overall transaction fee means that each ticket has a 25p fee attached.  Not a lot in itself, but still 25% of the face value.

Manxman_in_exile

That's a ridiculous amount to be paying as a transacton fee.

My wife and I attend a lot of UK Athletics (or whatever they are now called) events, and if See Tickets are the official and sole vendor of tickets for British Swimming's events, then I'd be making a formal complaint to British Swimming about the unfair selling practices of their "chosen partner" and suggest that they ought to be choosing another partner.  Kick up a fuss about how you're a carer; you're low paid and have been saving for months; coronavirus is making things even more stressful for you; and British Swimming's ticket selling partner appears to be unfairly profiteering on the current pandemic etc etc.  There's no way their retaining the transaction fee should be allowed.  You may want to point this out again to See Ticket before complaining to British Swimming.

Are there any British Swimming Forums or newsletters etc where you can complain?

(NB - I'm actally impressed you are getting a refund at all as I'm surprised British Swimming can afford it and I'm uncertain myself - see my earlier thread - how far pushing for refunds is going to endanger the financial survival of some of these sorts of bodies.  But the amount of the transaction fee their "partner" is retaining is ridiculous.  In fact charging that much in the first place is taking the p155 - I wonder if British Swimming know their patrons are being charged that much?  I'd expect to pay no more than 5% or at most a £10 flat fee.)

spursliz

Well, at least you got a refund! I have spent over £150 on two different lots of tickets for Queen's tennis, sponsored by LTA, and tickets only available through See. They told me 2 weeks ago, having had my money since February, that they will not refund any money until the end of July. Emails to both CEOs have produced nothing but silence. And, of course, face value of tickets only, so I've lost over £12 per lot of tickets. A real rip off, buying tickets online. No other choice and who is to say that See will actually pay up, and not go into liquidation. Do I have any rights?

Concertgoer

See tickets robbed me exactly the same to me - Michael Kiwanuka concert was cancelled as Kiwanuka was diagnosed with acute viral Laryngitis (not COVID!). 11 days after the concert date, see tickets informed that the event was moved to 5th sept. On 9th July I wrote to see tickets informing that regardless if the event was postponed they are in breach of contract and their terms and conditions are unfair and under a common law we are entitled to a full refund. See tickets had to take responsibility for the cancelled event on the agreed date and COULD NOT deduct any fees, regardless what their terms and conditions state. See tickets responded with nonsense - confirming that the event was not cancelled but postponed and asking me if I wanted to receive a face value refund. I responded to read my email carefully and copied & pasted my email again of 9th July. I then received an automated response they processed a face value refund which is unacceptable!! I responded that I did not request a face value refund and requested a full refund again. In case see tickets do not respond, we will be taking them to court as we are entitled to have all of our money back. The amount of people they have robbed so far is enormous and they should pay for their dodgy actions regardless how small amount they unlawfully deducted.

Citizens Advice Bureau told me that the more people complain, the more see tickets is reported to Trading Standards, the more likely Trading Standards will take action against these cheaters. The more people will take this dodgy company to court, the more problems see tickets will face and hopefully will go bust. Online claim fee is £35 at money claim online for the claim amount up to £300. I encourage everyone who has been robbed by see tickets to seek justice at money claim online.

JamoLew

The devil will be in the detail.
You have paid a processing fee (or whatever they call it) -- they have processed the booking and therefore are entitled to be paid for their work/service -- HOWEVER the magnitude of this fee may be the questionable factor
The concert or event being cancelled is also not their fault

Concertgoer

It is not our fault the event got cancelled / postponed either. I have full trust to what advisors at Citizens Advice Bureau are saying and I have spoken to three of them.