Viagogo - Ticket sale for re-scheduled date

Poundersssss

I bought tickets in late 2020 for a gig which was due to take place in 2021.
Due to commitments I soon discovered that I would be unable to attend the event.

Not wanting to lose out financially, I posted the tickets for sale on Viagogo, where they sold very quickly. 

Within 24 hours, Covid restrictions cancelled my other commitment, which would enable me to attend after all. I contacted Viagogo to withdraw from the sale. I was told this was ok & that there would be a small admin charge for them to find replacement tickets for the buyer. Case closed. 

Scroll on a few months. This week the 2021 gig has been moved to 2022. Which is great.

However, I received an email from Viagogo telling me that as I had originally sold the tickets that my commitment was to honour the sale to the buyer for the 2022 event?!?!?  

What the actual....
I've tried to contact Viagogo customer service on the phone but its constantly engaged. 
Honestly, I can't see what Viagogo can do as I have the original tickets, still in my name & have never uploaded or forwarded them to any buyer. So only I can get in with these tickets. 

but I am concerned that I now have this message displayed on my Viagogo page: 

The 48-hour confirmation period has expired. We’re now actively looking to replace your tickets for the buyer.

Should we replace your order, we reserve the right to charge you the cost of replacing the tickets for your buyer.

In order to avoid this charge, and receive payment for your sale, confirm the sale immediately and provide the buyer with the exact tickets as listed for sale.

Just wondered what my rights were in this situation. 

Aylesbury_Duck

Poundersssss said:

I bought tickets in late 2020 for a gig which was due to take place in 2021.
Due to commitments I soon discovered that I would be unable to attend the event.

Not wanting to lose out financially, I posted the tickets for sale on Viagogo, where they sold very quickly. 

Within 24 hours, Covid restrictions cancelled my other commitment, which would enable me to attend after all. I contacted Viagogo to withdraw from the sale. I was told this was ok & that there would be a small admin charge for them to find replacement tickets for the buyer. Case closed. 

Scroll on a few months. This week the 2021 gig has been moved to 2022. Which is great.

However, I received an email from Viagogo telling me that as I had originally sold the tickets that my commitment was to honour the sale to the buyer for the 2022 event?!?!?  

What the actual....
I've tried to contact Viagogo customer service on the phone but its constantly engaged. 
Honestly, I can't see what Viagogo can do as I have the original tickets, still in my name & have never uploaded or forwarded them to any buyer. So only I can get in with these tickets. 

but I am concerned that I now have this message displayed on my Viagogo page: 

The 48-hour confirmation period has expired. We’re now actively looking to replace your tickets for the buyer.

Should we replace your order, we reserve the right to charge you the cost of replacing the tickets for your buyer.

In order to avoid this charge, and receive payment for your sale, confirm the sale immediately and provide the buyer with the exact tickets as listed for sale.

Just wondered what my rights were in this situation. 

"there would be a small admin charge for them to find replacement tickets for the buyer. Case closed."

Were you charged this fee?  And who said the case was closed, or was that your assumption?  What emails/records have you got for this?


It seems to me that something's gone awry with your withdrawal.  If the cancellation of your sale was never enacted, Viagogo are correct that you have to honour the sale to the person who bought them from you.  You may hold the tickets, but it seems that Viagogo believe you entered into a contract with them and the third party to sell them.  You will be able to get into the gig, but that doesn't absolve you of your contractual commitment, and they appear to be saying that they will now buy replacement tickets for the third party and pass those costs onto you.

It sounds a bit of a mess, and I'm afraid to say that that's what you get when you deal with ticket touts.  Were you even permitted to sell the tickets on in the first place?

I'd be continuing to try and contact them.  It may be as simple as them realising the sale was originally cancelled and correcting the records, but if that cancellation didn't happen, you're on the hook as far as I can see.

Poundersssss

Hey Aylesbury_Duck,

I have looked on my bank statement and no, I have been charged a fee from what I can see. 

My concern is that it is a very small, exclusive gig and that tickets are non existent so trying to find replacements could become extortionate. I explained this on the phone to them in January and was assured by Victor, that this would not be the case. only a small admin charge would be made. 

On 13th Jan when I cancelled the original Viagogo sale, they emailed me this: 
We just spoke on the phone regarding your issue and I'm glad I was able to be of assistance to you today.
As just discussed, 

We are sorry to hear that you are unable to fulfil your order, we will start trying to find replacement tickets for the buyer. We reserve the right to charge you any additional costs that we may incur, and please also note that you will not be paid for this sale.

Where possible, we will try to find replacements that are of the same type as the buyer ordered.

The cost of doing this depends on the cost of similar tickets on our website. We have no control over this – if it costs us more to replace the order, we will charge you more as a result. If there are no comparable tickets, we will offer the buyer a choice of alternatives, which again will depend on market prices, and may require compensation to the buyer if they are not as good as the original tickets.

Kind regards,
Victor

Aylesbury_Duck

Poundersssss said:

Hey Aylesbury_Duck,

I have looked on my bank statement and no, I have been charged a fee from what I can see. 

My concern is that it is a very small, exclusive gig and that tickets are non existent so trying to find replacements could become extortionate. I explained this on the phone to them in January and was assured by Victor, that this would not be the case. only a small admin charge would be made. 

On 13th Jan when I cancelled the original Viagogo sale, they emailed me this: 
We just spoke on the phone regarding your issue and I'm glad I was able to be of assistance to you today.
As just discussed, 

We are sorry to hear that you are unable to fulfil your order, we will start trying to find replacement tickets for the buyer. We reserve the right to charge you any additional costs that we may incur, and please also note that you will not be paid for this sale.

Where possible, we will try to find replacements that are of the same type as the buyer ordered.

The cost of doing this depends on the cost of similar tickets on our website. We have no control over this – if it costs us more to replace the order, we will charge you more as a result. If there are no comparable tickets, we will offer the buyer a choice of alternatives, which again will depend on market prices, and may require compensation to the buyer if they are not as good as the original tickets.

Kind regards,
Victor

No you have been charged a fee, or no you haven't?

Anyway, from the rest of the post, it looks a slam-dunk to me.  They confirm that they reserve the right to charge you any additional costs that they incur if the replacement tickets they have to source for your disappointed buyer are more expensive than the ones you sold.  That seems reasonable to me, and I suspect you agreed to those terms and conditions when you put your tickets up for sale.

From that, my conclusion is that you are liable for the excess cost of the replacement tickets, which arose from you withdrawing from a contract that had been made.

Poundersssss

No I haven't received any charges from them.

What if they are unable to source replacements?

Aylesbury_Duck

Poundersssss said:

No I haven't received any charges from them.

What if they are unable to source replacements?

Well, you know of tickets that are available, for a start.  I guess the buyer/Viagogo can insist you supply the tickets you have, to them, and if you refuse, charge you the value the buyer originally paid for them.

Ultimately, you agreed to sell them, entered into a contract to do so, then breached that contract.  In my view that makes you liable for costs arising from that breach, but who knows how it will play out because you're in the murky world of touts.

Poundersssss

Aylesbury_Duck said:

Poundersssss said:

No I haven't received any charges from them.

What if they are unable to source replacements?

Well, you know of tickets that are available, for a start.  I guess the buyer/Viagogo can insist you supply the tickets you have, to them, and if you refuse, charge you the value the buyer originally paid for them.

Ultimately, you agreed to sell them, entered into a contract to do so, then breached that contract.  In my view that makes you liable for costs arising from that breach, but who knows how it will play out because you're in the murky world of touts.

Yeah I guess so.
Thanks for your helpful input Aylesbury_Duck 

Ultimately possession is 9/10ths of the law ;o)
So I'll be going in 2022.
If they wan to try charge me then so be it.
Lets hope it won't come to that. 

Aylesbury_Duck

Poundersssss said:

Just seen David713 comment. 

He's entitled to his opinion, however unhelpful and argumentative they may be.... 

Maybe he's the one person on the planet who has decided to sell something and after circumstances beyond his control have changed, decided to retract on the sale.....

I thought his point was a fair one.  The changed circumstances don't make your attendance at the gig compulsory.  Had you physically sent the tickets you wouldn't be able to attend the event anyway.  That's the point: the sale was completed.  You didn't withdraw from the sale, you breached the contract.

You could, for example, fulfil the contract and if you really must attend the gig, source new tickets for yourself.

You can glibly say that possession is 9/10ths of the law.  But it isn't, and you may find yourself on the wrong side of the law, albeit with tickets in hand.

Poundersssss

Aylesbury_Duck said:

Poundersssss said:

Just seen David713 comment. 

He's entitled to his opinion, however unhelpful and argumentative they may be.... 

Maybe he's the one person on the planet who has decided to sell something and after circumstances beyond his control have changed, decided to retract on the sale.....

I thought his point was a fair one.  The changed circumstances don't make your attendance at the gig compulsory.  Had you physically sent the tickets you wouldn't be able to attend the event anyway.  That's the point: the sale was completed.  You didn't withdraw from the sale, you breached the contract.

You could, for example, fulfil the contract and if you really must attend the gig, source new tickets for yourself.

You can glibly say that possession is 9/10ths of the law.  But it isn't, and you may find yourself on the wrong side of the law, albeit with tickets in hand.

Maybe. 

What will be will be. 

I still have a recording of the conversation with them. Which they quote the transaction was "cancelled". So hopefully, they will honour this. 

Manxman_in_exile

You may have a recording of your conversation with them, but weren't you concerned that their subsequent email to you seemed to show a different interpretation of that conversation?

Poundersssss said:

 

On 13th Jan when I cancelled the original Viagogo sale, they emailed me this:

We just spoke on the phone regarding your issue and I'm glad I was able to be of assistance to you today.

As just discussed, We are sorry to hear that you are unable to fulfil your order, we will start trying to find replacement tickets for the buyer. We reserve the right to charge you any additional costs that we may incur, and please also note that you will not be paid for this sale.

Where possible, we will try to find replacements that are of the same type as the buyer ordered.

The cost of doing this depends on the cost of similar tickets on our website. We have no control over this – if it costs us more to replace the order, we will charge you more as a result. If there are no comparable tickets, we will offer the buyer a choice of alternatives, which again will depend on market prices, and may require compensation to the buyer if they are not as good as the original tickets.
Kind regards,
Victor

Did you query this as soon as you received it on 13 January?  It doesn't sound to me like they think your sale was cancelled - in fact it reads like they've already sold them...

mattyprice4004

Poundersssss said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

Poundersssss said:

Just seen David713 comment. 

He's entitled to his opinion, however unhelpful and argumentative they may be.... 

Maybe he's the one person on the planet who has decided to sell something and after circumstances beyond his control have changed, decided to retract on the sale.....

I thought his point was a fair one.  The changed circumstances don't make your attendance at the gig compulsory.  Had you physically sent the tickets you wouldn't be able to attend the event anyway.  That's the point: the sale was completed.  You didn't withdraw from the sale, you breached the contract.

You could, for example, fulfil the contract and if you really must attend the gig, source new tickets for yourself.

You can glibly say that possession is 9/10ths of the law.  But it isn't, and you may find yourself on the wrong side of the law, albeit with tickets in hand.

Maybe. 

What will be will be. 

I still have a recording of the conversation with them. Which they quote the transaction was "cancelled". So hopefully, they will honour this. 

The passing of your tickets to the buyer was cancelled, but that email suggests that they’ll source tickets elsewhere for them and charge you the difference. 

There’s been a few threads on this, and none have ended particularly cheaply! 

At the end of the day if they do charge you it’s fair enough, you pulled out of an agreed sale.