Chargeback Rules - COVID-Delayed Event

dan10k

I bought tickets to an event in Belgium back in March 2021. The event was originally meant to take place on 10-11 July 2022, but due to COVID was postponed a couple of times.

The last postponement put it back to 23-24 September 2023, which would be fine but for the fact that the company entered radio silence and hasn’t updated their website or any socials since March 2023. They have blocked off all forms of communication including being able to login to accounts on their website, and they have disabled commenting on their social media pages. To make matters more suspicious a fellow attendee has supposedly had word from the venue that there is no booking for the event for the weekend in question.

I’ve tried to find out if the company has declared insolvency but there appears to be no indication of this (I believe they are a Spanish-registered company).

I have called my bank as I no longer feel confident that the event is going to go ahead and I was concerned with how long had passed since purchasing the ticket. I also have no desire to book flights/accommodation at the very real risk of the event not taking place. The bank at first indicated I should be okay given that the event booking was so far in the future, but after speaking to a second agent I was told that the 540 day chargeback period was definitive from the date of the transaction. This I can see on the MSE website, but the page also suggests that:

“Visa and Mastercard have confirmed that in the case of future-dated items, such as airline tickets or sport matches, the 120 day time limit begins once you were due to receive the goods or service.”

As I see it, the event itself is the goods/service, and that date has not yet passed. The fact that COVID delayed the event is not my fault and I was surprised to hear that no allowances were being made for chargeback timescales due to it.

The sympathetic gentleman at my bank suggested contacting Trading Standards, but I’m not sure how much they will be able to help with the transaction sitting with an overseas company. Unless my bank are misadvising me and the above quotation takes precedent over the 540 day time limit?

Can anyone provide advice?

Many thanks,
Dan

tightauldgit

Hopefully someone more expert will come along soon to advise but my sense on it is that until now there hasn't been a breach of contract so any claim you made now would be rejected. You would have to wait for an actual breach before you claim. 

Given that, I assume that your chargeback rights would apply from the point an actual breach of contract occurs but others can probably advise better. 

eskbanker

dan10k said:

The bank at first indicated I should be okay given that the event booking was so far in the future, but after speaking to a second agent I was told that the 540 day chargeback period was definitive from the date of the transaction. This I can see on the MSE website, but the page also suggests that:

“Visa and Mastercard have confirmed that in the case of future-dated items, such as airline tickets or sport matches, the 120 day time limit begins once you were due to receive the goods or service.”

As I see it, the event itself is the goods/service, and that date has not yet passed.

[...]

Unless my bank are misadvising me and the above quotation takes precedent over the 540 day time limit?

The 540 days from transaction date is the absolute backstop, even if the 120 days from scheduled delivery/event date hasn't passed, as highlighted elsewhere in that MSE article:

Some claims CAN be made after 120 days, but the longest cut-off period is 540 days from the date of the initial transaction.

So, if your payment was made more than 540 days ago, you no longer have any chargeback rights, but if you paid by credit card (for an item exceeding £100) then section 75 may be viable if the event doesn't go ahead and there's therefore a breach of contract....

born_again

As @eskbanker
Bank are correct. (not all front line reps will know this) 

540 days from debit date is the maximum timescale. That is set by Visa/Mastercard & can not be over ridden.
Credit card may have S75 (depends on price of each ticket), but as yet there is no breech, as you do not know if it is still going ahead or not.
Maybe try social media to see if there is anything about the event, other than seller.