FA Cup Semi Final Tickets - Cardiff £10 Charge

finbar

Hi - last week I went onto Cardiff City's website (http://www.cardiffcityfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/TicketsHome/0,,10335,00.html) and followed the Buy tickets online link to try and buy FA Cup Semi final tickets - I noticed a link for FA Cup final tickets, and followed the sale through (No mention of needing to be a season ticket holder) - £60 pounds for 2 tickets.

The next day I got a phone call asking if I was a season ticket holder, and said I was not - the guy said only season ticket holders could buy tickets, and as such he would need to refund the money to my credit card - this was annoying, but he also said there would be a £10 administration charge - I said this was ridiculous, and he said he would speak to his manager. I never heard anything back, and looking at my credit card statement I can see that only £50 has been refunded - is this legal ? I checked the terms and conditions on the website and could see no mention of any 10 pounds fee, nor any mention of needing to be a season ticket holder.

What should I do next ? I have phoned the club asking someone to phone me back, but I suspect I won't hear anything more from them.

nellytheelephant

I can't see the link about Cup Final tickets? Whereabouts is it?

jennybear

No idea about the admin fee but the club made it very clear the order of priority who could buy tickets - ambassadors, then season ticket holders, then away travel members and then people with stubs from the Hull home game. (http://www.cardiffcityfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10335~1263350,00.html)When the tickets went on sale this was all over the site and in the press releases about it. Im guessing there is nothing on the site now because the tickets are sold out and all the information is redundant unlesss you go back through the archives.

finbar

The link to buy the FA Cup Semi final tickets has now been removed - however, as I stated, there was no mention of needing to be a season ticket holder when purchasing the tickets, if there had been I would not have attempted to buy the tickets.

The question is whether you can charge a £10 admin fee when it is not stated anywhere - I was told over the phone it was listed in the terms and conditions, but looking at this link I can see no mnetion of a £10 admin fee.

nellytheelephant

Have you got a link to the terms and conditions then?

finbar

http://62.128.199.187/acatalog/info.html

nellytheelephant

Yeah, it doesn't say anything on there. But most clubs have different terms when it comes to tickets like these. They probably would have been when you went through to buy the tickets in the first place x
.

finbar

I can assure you they weren't - as such, any idea where I stand legally ? I assume if a shop offered something for sale to you through a website, then phoned you the next day to say you couldn't have the item and there was a £10 pound charge (Even if hidden somewhere on their website), this would be illegal. Just because it is a football club, I doubt different rules apply.

nellytheelephant

Right, I just googled 'Cardiff City semi final tickets terms' and I got this page http://www.cardiffcityfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10335~1267746,00.html

Midway down it says this...

If you try to purchase tickets online via our secure ticketing system and are not an Ambassador or Season Ticket holder you will be liable to a £10 administration fee due to level of work needed to correct you impatience.

We would like to ask all our supporters to be patient during this busy period and please once again remember Ambassadors have five days to purchase their tickets for this historic game.

Sorry!!

Mark7799

It's still on the website (under 'news archive') http://www.cardiffcityfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10335~1267746,00.html

and was featured in quite a few stories on the site. The order of preference for buying tickets was also mentioned prominently.

finbar

I still doubt that stands legally - just because it's on a news item on their webpage - it should have been stated in their terms and conditions.