Viagogo void tickets & lack of customer service

janem241 · 20 March 2017 at 1:35AM

Please can anyone advise? I bought 2 tickets for my daughter & friend to go to see the weekend in manchester on 5 March. They are only young & this was their first concert. The tickets were overpriced at £179 for 2, I figured that at least they had tickets.
The tickets were void at the event & my daughter was distraught. She phoned their helpline & I did.. they were very apologetic... We spent ages on the phone & they agreed a full refund & my daughter & her friend came home upset & angry. I waited for the refund, sent 3 emails & even messgaged them on facebook. You cannot get through to them on the phone as it directs you back to the email only help. I am loosing the will to live!! no sign of any refund.. can anyone help please?

molerat · 20 March 2017 at 9:24AM

How did you pay ?

By card - chargeback with your card issuer.

janem241 · 20 March 2017 at 12:01PM

I paid by debit card....back in november...\i've contacted the Halifax... they are going to dispute it for me.... hoping that works...

Thank you

ed11e · 21 March 2017 at 3:44PM

If you get nowhere with the bank (You should do) you can take action with them with your consumer rights.

They have breached there own guarantee which says "Buyers are guaranteed to receive valid tickets in time for the event. If a problem arises, viagogo will step in to provide comparable replacement tickets or a refund."
This is grounds for action under your consumer rights. Have a read of the citizens advice consumer pages and look for the somethings gone wrong with a purchase and events and tickets sections.

I'm still waiting for a refund from Viagogo. My credit card company are still arguing with them. Viagogo say they've paid it (they haven't). Hope you get your money back soon!

Oakdene · 21 March 2017 at 3:46PM

Seem to be more & more occasions of tickets being void or unusable at events.

ed11e · 21 March 2017 at 5:13PM

Oakdene wrote: »

Seem to be more & more occasions of tickets being void or unusable at events.

With this system they have of uploading a PDF of tickets to the site, sellers can still sell the tickets and still use them. This means that one person isn't getting in. Slightly different with physical tickets, but they have no way of knowing if the tickets are genuine. If you're going to buy from viagogo or a similar site, I'd always recommend getting physical tickets, not PDF ones. At lease then your protected from someone else using the tickets!

martindow · 22 March 2017 at 11:46AM

It does seem that some action is going to be taken to control ticket touting sites. Viagogo seems to be one to avoid and they did themselves no favours by not bothering to turn up to be questioned by a parliamentary committee

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/mar/21/viagogo-snubs-mps-inquiry-into-online-ticket-reselling

It seems that artists are trying their best to cancel any tickets they find being resold so it's an increasingly risky and expensive business buying tickets this way.

For the OP, getting money back from your card company is the best bet. Credit cards offer the best protection with S75 claims but even with a debit card a charge back can be made.

Sharon87 · 25 March 2017 at 8:29PM

FYI See tickets will be releasing a new website soon called Fan to Fan to so people can resell tickets - but at face value or less. Just a tip for the future if you're looking for tickets that are sold out.

The person you should blame is the tout - they are the worst, people making money on people's desperation to go see their favourite bands.

Hope you get your refund

Vaughnb · 1 April 2017 at 9:28AM

Can anyone help? I sold a ticket to Scotland vs Italy at Murrayfield a few weeks back through viagogo. Last Friday I got an email saying I would be paid in 3/5 working days not received anything yet

Tuesday_Tenor · 2 April 2017 at 4:59PM

Edit: I will just post correction here, to close off, and will use the Theatre....Events Tickers Forum to get better informed and explore my concern if appropriate.

The band's own tour website does link to the BST Festival's official Agency Axa.
At some point I must have exited from my enquiries, gone back in with a new search, and found the Viagogo site. But I only went with it as it had OFFICIAL claims on it. Very confusing for an inexperienced ticket-buyer like myself. So they make their money from suckers like me ....! I've been looking again this evening: sometimes the Viagogo site doesn't come up at all ( other ad instead!), sometimes it come up with an OFFICIAL label, sometimes not. Surely they can't claim that! I was so excited about booking this rare treat yesterday, now I'm going to be worried until I actually get the tickets which might not be until a few days before.

Original post:

I don't buy tickets to major events very often; last time was via Ticketmaster about 5 years ago.

Yesterday I bought 2 tickets through Viagogo; it was the first time I'd heard of them. As far as I was concerned I thought I'd done the right thing by going through the American band's official site to book tickets, which led to Viagogo.

I later found the same tickets slightly cheaper elsewhere. It's one of the events at the week-long British Summer Time festival in Hyde Park in July. The BST site has a different agency as its official site where the tickets are a bit cheaper. I was at first confused by two official sites but realised one is the band's official site and the other is the festival's official site. The BST festival is sponsored differently to the rest of the band's tour, so that possibly explains the difference in price.

So I was slightly kicking myself for not researching a bit more before buying, but thought I WAS using the official mechanism; but mistakes happen, and the difference is not a lot of money.

Now I'm reading about these other issues with Viagogo and wonder whether I need to be concerned. Are they not a genuine agency, only re-sellers? If so, how did I get directed to them through the band's tour's website? Do I need to be concerned that the tickets won't arrive, or won't be valid?

FurryB · 19 June 2017 at 1:42PM

I got ripped for £122.99 on Viagogo. First page asked how many tkts do you want (2) next page asked for bank details. On the final page they give you the very inflated price & ask "Do you want to go ahead with this transaction" I pressed the NO button but they took my money anyway! I then contacted them via their web site & got what looked like a non-personal reply quoting their non-refund rules etc. No mention about the "glitch" I contated them again, slightly differant reply but still ignoring the fact that I did not purchase the tkts. I sent a 3rd mail asking "who is responsible for the upkeep of the site" It's looking like they have blocked me as it came back as a "system error" Has anyone else had this same problem & if so did you get it sorted satifactually?
I contacted citizens advice about this & was told I should write to them & send it recorded delivery.
They advised that Viagogo are in breach of contract if they don't put things right.
Also it may help to ask your bank about a Chargeback if you paid by Debit card.

Viagogo void tickets & lack of customer service

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