Administration Charge when booking Cinema and other tickets online

Fozzie_Bear

I've just booked some cinema tickets online and been charged an extra £4,(£1 per ticket) for the privilege of doing so!!
Has this ever been challenged before?
We are pushed to book online as it saves on staff at the venue taking money and are then charged an admin fee for doing so. Cinemas are not the only trade that do this, its creeping in to other online bookings like Theme Parks, Theatres, Celebrity and sports events, and even museums. In my mind this is yet another hidden cost which is extra to the cost of the ticket.

born_again

Online systems cost money to run. So you are paying for the service to run them.

This has been going on for years on concert tickets which are bought via 3rd parties such as ticketmaster...

Fozzie_Bear

born_again said:

Online systems cost money to run. So you are paying for the service to run them.

I agree these systems cost money to run but that should be factored in to their overall running costs and reflected in ticket price rather than an "administration Charge". They have chosen to push customers to online systems in order to cut staff costs. The same principle could be applied for a service charge to cover window cleaning added to payments made at the cinema ticket office which would clearly be seen as nonsense.

SiliconChip

My local cinema charges £1 less for tickets booked online (Omniplex, an Irish chain that bought part of the Empire chain when it went into administration).

lincroft1710

Fozzie_Bear said:

born_again said:

Online systems cost money to run. So you are paying for the service to run them.

I agree these systems cost money to run but that should be factored in to their overall running costs and reflected in ticket price rather than an "administration Charge". They have chosen to push customers to online systems in order to cut staff costs. The same principle could be applied for a service charge to cover window cleaning added to payments made at the cinema ticket office which would clearly be seen as nonsense.

Whether factored in to the ticket price or shown as a separate admin charge, you would still end up paying them the same amount of money.

Fozzie_Bear

lincroft1710 said:

Whether factored in to the ticket price or shown as a separate admin charge, you would still end up paying them the same amount of money.

Quite possibly but you would more easily be able to compare with other ticket prices from other venues.

flaneurs_lobster

Fozzie_Bear said:

lincroft1710 said:

Whether factored in to the ticket price or shown as a separate admin charge, you would still end up paying them the same amount of money.

Quite possibly but you would more easily be able to compare with other ticket prices from other venues.

It's the sheer irritation factor that gets me.

Just bought some International Rugby tickets, cost an (outrageous) £165 each. To which is added a £1.50 "processing fee". For each ticket. Even though buying 2 tickets is one transaction. 

No paper tickets, no postage. Just an extra 3 quid's-worth of annoyance.