The Taylor Swift Lead Booker Debacle

starkraving

Hi. In case you were not aware, Ticketmaster have imposed a "lead booker" policy on all of the Taylor Swift tickets. This means that the person who booked the tickets has to attend or nobody gets in. I understand why they are doing this, however it has been imposed after tickets were sold, and many of us bought tickets for other people (e.g. my daughter and her friends). At the moment, this now means that I have to take a day off work, and one poor girl will not be able to go as I will have her ticket.   I would like to know if Ticketmaster can enforce this seeing as this restriction was only introduced a few days after I bought the tickets.  What are my consumer rights on this?

Aylesbury_Duck

If the condition was imposed after sale, then your rights are to return the tickets for a full refund.

PHK

This is a tricky one and I think you'll need professional advice.

It will depend on lots of factors including but not only

Exactly what the terms and conditions say
Whether you are buying tickets for named individuals or unnamed
The reason behind the change
What the terms say about alterations
The point at which the contract was formed relative to the change
A reasonableness test
How many you bought might be a consideration depending on the above.

Loza2016

Just thinking out loud but if they do admit they’ve broken the contract could they just offer full refund then nobody goes? 

pinkshoes

starkraving said:

Hi. In case you were not aware, Ticketmaster have imposed a "lead booker" policy on all of the Taylor Swift tickets. This means that the person who booked the tickets has to attend or nobody gets in. I understand why they are doing this, however it has been imposed after tickets were sold, and many of us bought tickets for other people (e.g. my daughter and her friends). At the moment, this now means that I have to take a day off work, and one poor girl will not be able to go as I will have her ticket.   I would like to know if Ticketmaster can enforce this seeing as this restriction was only introduced a few days after I bought the tickets.  What are my consumer rights on this?

To be fair this is nothing new, and I'm pretty sure that this has been the case for a long time on popular/sell out events to prevent ticket touts reselling for vastly inflated prices. It was requested by the fans...

Can you not just either go along to get them in (then go for a relaxing evening elsewhere) or give your card to your daughter?

Aylesbury_Duck

Loza2016 said:

Just thinking out loud but if they do admit they’ve broken the contract could they just offer full refund then nobody goes? 

Exactly this.  From OP's description it seems clear that they've effectively changed the product, so OP can insist on a full refund.  Then OP has to hope that one of the attendees can buy all the tickets again.

PHK

It's not clear whether they have broken the contract  

photome

Will they check ?

I have been to hundreds of gigs and never had ID checked to match name on ticket , It would take security ages to do it

Aylesbury_Duck

photome said:

Will they check ?

I have been to hundreds of gigs and never had ID checked to match name on ticket , It would take security ages to do it

The trouble is, with several people spending probably a lot of money on travel and possibly accommodation, on top of tickets that are well over £100 each, would you take the risk of not being admitted?

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Generally speaking any changes should be agreed by both sides.

The problem here is that arguing about legal technicalities at the entrance probably isn't going to see someone getting in if the gig is enforcing the policy.

They can't simply refund and everything be hunky dory, parties are entitled to be in the position they would have been in had the breach not occurred, rather than where they started from.

Possible loss of enjoyment for not going, possible claim for costs suffered by having the named purchaser going along, although would have to be mitigated so time off work perhaps might need to be a holiday day/swapped with a colleague if possible.  

Too lazy to check, are Ticketmaster just an agent with the contract being with the event provider? 

screech_78

Are you sure this was changed? 

I’m fairly sure it was always sold as a lead booker event. It’s only became more publicised now that people know about it and have been sharing it. 

In any event, I’ll be amazed if it’s actually enforced.