Ticketmaster not refunding service fees

Zardoz · 07-05-2020 12:13pm

rubadub wrote: »

It is up to €7.15 now. If somebody with a large family had bought 8 tickets for the spouse & kids you are looking at €57.20 in fees for a single button press, which is ridiculous seeing as its pretty much all automated and they force you into printing your own tickets for many gigs.

Its actually up to 7.75 which is a lot don't get me wrong but Ticketmasters fees here are capped at that amount. (Albeit I can see this being reevaluated )

Ticketmaster's Service Charge is 12.5% of the ticket cost with a minimum of €1.65 (Republic Of Ireland) or £1.00 (Northern Ireland) up to a maximum of €7.75 (Republic Of Ireland excl. Packages) or £6.00 (Northern Ireland excl. packages) including VAT. Occasionally, there may also be a facility fee.

In the UK the service charge isn't capped so it tends to be much higher on expensive tickets .
For example, Guns and Roses in London .
On a £130 face value ticket the service charge is a whopping £14.75 per ticket and a handling fee of £2.75 per order.

In the US the service fee is a percentage of the ticket price and isn't capped so it could be huge money on an expensive ticket ,often 35-50 dollars.

The whole idea that the service fee varies as a percentage of the face value was a concept introduced by Ticketmaster in the US .
Its crazy when you think about it ,why should the fee be based on the face value .

rubadub · 07-05-2020 12:44pm

Zardoz wrote: »

Its actually up to 7.75.

This has come up before, I think that is a typo, I have never seen a charge of 7.75 on any tickets, only on that page.

It went up when the vat did, vat was 9% and went to 13.5%.

The previous cap was €6.85, so the VAT would bring it to €7.13 so rounded to €7.15

phantom_lord · 08-05-2020 12:21pm

There's no alternative to TM agents is there?

okidoki987 · 08-05-2020 4:27pm

TM B&M agents and direct from the box office (depending on venue) are the cheapest places to buy tickets, online T/M dearest.

Zardoz · 13-05-2020 4:17pm

okidoki987 wrote: »

I sent them a mail about a postponed gig that I bought the tickets for but now deffo won't be able to make the new date.
Asked for refund for the 2 tickets and get back a mail a week later saying
"we are really busy but have a look in our Q&A's to see if your query can be answered, if not send us another mail".
No mention of refund on their email either which was a bit sneaky.

Yes ,I have encountered something similar.
I've only asked for 1 request .
I requested a refund on the 17th of April and received the following email back on the 20th.

Thank you for your email.

Our Fan Support teams are incredibly busy at the moment, so we’ve put together the below information to answer the vast majority of questions we’re getting. If it does not answer your query, please reply to reopen your ticket. If you want to know if your event is taking place, you can find a list of cancelled or rescheduled events at http://bit.ly/33ciJ1z . We’ll update you as soon as we have any information but with decisions being made quickly at this time, we advise also keeping an eye on our social channels as well as those for the artist, event or venue for the latest updates.

If you are looking for information about a show that has been rescheduled, we will confirm new dates for those shows as soon as we can. If we have already confirmed a new date, your tickets are valid for that new date so keep hold of them.

We hope this answers your query and thank you very much for your patience.

So I replied back asking for the refund and 2 days later I get an email saying

We'd love to hear what you think of our customer service. Please take a moment to answer one simple question by clicking either link below:

How would you rate the support you received?

It looks like they closed the case so on the 30th of April I requested the same refund again .

Just got a reply now ,the same generic rubbish

Thank you for your email.

Our Fan Support teams are incredibly busy at the moment, so we’ve put together the below information to answer the vast majority of questions we’re getting. If it does not answer your query, please reply to reopen your ticket. If you want to know if your event is taking place, you can find a list of cancelled or rescheduled events at http://bit.ly/33ciJ1z . We’ll update you as soon as we have any information but with decisions being made quickly at this time, we advise also keeping an eye on our social channels as well as those for the artist, event or venue for the latest updates.

If you are looking for information about a show that has been rescheduled, we will confirm new dates for those shows as soon as we can. If we have already confirmed a new date, your tickets are valid for that new date so keep hold of them.

We hope this answers your query and thank you very much for your patience.

It looks like they are being deliberately evasive.

okidoki987 · 13-05-2020 4:49pm

Quote:
Yes ,I have encountered something similar.
I've only asked for 1 request .
I requested a refund on the 17th of April and received the following email back on the 20th.
Quote:
Thank you for your email.

Our Fan Support teams are incredibly busy at the moment, so we’ve put together the below information to answer the vast majority of questions we’re getting. If it does not answer your query, please reply to reopen your ticket. If you want to know if your event is taking place, you can find a list of cancelled or rescheduled events at http://bit.ly/33ciJ1z . We’ll update you as soon as we have any information but with decisions being made quickly at this time, we advise also keeping an eye on our social channels as well as those for the artist, event or venue for the latest updates.
If you are looking for information about a show that has been rescheduled, we will confirm new dates for those shows as soon as we can. If we have already confirmed a new date, your tickets are valid for that new date so keep hold of them.
We hope this answers your query and thank you very much for your patience.

So I replied back asking for the refund and 2 days later I get an email saying
Quote:
We'd love to hear what you think of our customer service. Please take a moment to answer one simple question by clicking either link below:

How would you rate the support you received?
It looks like they closed the case so on the 30th of April I requested the same refund again .

Just got a reply now ,the same generic rubbish

Quote:
Thank you for your email.

Our Fan Support ....... for that new date so keep hold of them.

We hope this answers your query and thank you very much for your patience.

It looks like they are being deliberately evasive.

I got same up to in bold so sent them a mail saying new date didn't suit so could I get a refund with the reference number in subject line.
Got mail 2 days after from person not generic, saying tickets were now cancelled and would be refunded.
Just checked my bank account and refund is now there 5 days later for the full amount of the tickets including service fee

Did you reply back to their email with their reference number in subject line?
I'd guess if you don't and and send a reply back, a new number will be generated and you'll be a lot lower down in queue.
Didn't get the customer review mail.

Zardoz · 13-05-2020 5:07pm

okidoki987 wrote: »

Did you reply back to their email with their reference number in subject line?
I'd guess if you don't and and send a reply back, a new number will be generated and you'll be a lot lower down in queue.
Didn't get the customer review mail.

Yes I replied back to their email .
I've replied to their latest response just now too.
Are you saying I should create a new email and put the reference number in the subject ?

fafy · 13-05-2020 5:50pm

I’m actually lost with this thread, i have had a number of TM refunds, and they were including ALL charges, so have others, so are the new t & c’s only for future refunds on tickets sold from now ?

Zardoz · 13-05-2020 7:02pm

fafy wrote: »

I’m actually lost with this thread, i have had a number of TM refunds, and they were including ALL charges, so have others, so are the new t & c’s only for future refunds on tickets sold from now ?

Yes, you cannot change terms and conditions retrospectively.

okidoki987 · 14-05-2020 12:17am

Zardoz wrote: »

Yes I replied back to their email .
I've replied to their latest response just now too.
Are you saying I should create a new email and put the reference number in the subject ?

No don't open a new case as you'll go to the back of the queue.
Once you have a case number keep it in subject line.
If you replied back the 1st time, you should be getting your refund.

dinneenp · 14-05-2020 8:33am

They did correspond with me for a while, their last reply being-
"Thanks for your reply. We must wait for the new dates to be confirmed before issuing a refund. We have no problem refunding you after the new dates have been announced. We'll let you know by email when everything is confirmed by the event organiser"

I replied-
"Please confirm what was the policy when I bought & paid for my ticket.

They stated that I am entitled to a refund if an event is postponed, even if no rescheduled date is set yet. It is therefore my right to a full refund."

No reply from them.
- I replied again- no reply again.
- I replied again today with the ticket number in the subject line-
"Please respond to this email, you have failed to respond to my 2 previous emails.
It is illegal to change and apply terms and conditions retrospectively. Therefore I am requesting again my full refund."

okidoki987 · 14-05-2020 6:24pm

dinneenp wrote: »

They did correspond with me for a while, their last reply being-
"Thanks for your reply. We must wait for the new dates to be confirmed before issuing a refund. We have no problem refunding you after the new dates have been announced. We'll let you know by email when everything is confirmed by the event organiser"

I replied-
"Please confirm what was the policy when I bought & paid for my ticket.

They stated that I am entitled to a refund if an event is postponed, even if no rescheduled date is set yet. It is therefore my right to a full refund."

No reply from them.
- I replied again- no reply again.
- I replied again today with the ticket number in the subject line-
"Please respond to this email, you have failed to respond to my 2 previous emails.
It is illegal to change and apply terms and conditions retrospectively. Therefore I am requesting again my full refund."

It's looking now like it may only be for tickets bought after they changed the refund policy whatever date that was and only applies to postponed concerts.
By the looks and responses, everybody has got the sc refunded so far.
It looks like they have said when a new date is set, you will get your refund then so you should be okay.

fafy · 15-05-2020 10:12am

TM Ireland just sent out an email this morning, asking for people to complete a survey.

Most of these are multi choice, but there are some fields where you can free type anything.

Its a good to highlight ones dissapointment with recent T & C changes, and an opportunity to voice some protest, on the issue- i know i did.

Zardoz · 15-05-2020 2:35pm

okidoki987 wrote: »

No don't open a new case as you'll go to the back of the queue.
Once you have a case number keep it in subject line.
If you replied back the 1st time, you should be getting your refund.

Thanks .
They replied back today to say that they have cancelled the tickets so job done.

Smell the glove · 28-05-2020 7:05pm

Did anyone get a refund for a cancelled event on tickets they didn't buy online? As in an outlet bought ticket? The outlet is telling me that Ticketmaster will not issue refunds for these tickets yet. Even though the gig has been cancelled for weeks now.

ConcertKing · 28-05-2020 7:20pm

Smell the glove wrote: »

Did anyone get a refund for a cancelled event on tickets they didn't buy online? As in an outlet bought ticket? The outlet is telling me that Ticketmaster will not issue refunds for these tickets yet. Even though the gig has been cancelled for weeks now.

Not for cancelled events but I do for a few rescheduled ones that I can't make that I bought with cash at the Ticketmaster Outlet in Cork and am being told that once they reopen I can bring them back for a refund but I have huge doubts about that being honest.

LillySV · 28-05-2020 7:30pm

My wife booked tickets for concert which has now been rescheduled .... emailed to enquire about how to get refund and what the refund cost would be... a few days later she got response saying they very busy, here’s a link to our faqs, if that still doesn’t suit u, reply and we will re open your ticket!! Replied and no word since, that’s over a week ago, put in complaint online half a week ago... still no response!!! So basically two weeks tryin to find out about refund and no word from them!!! Disgraceful

And in regard to lads going on about poor ticketmaster and they deserving the service fees, the actual tickets including Booking fees were 53 each from the promoter... wife bought tickets for us as treat and thought tickets just on sale from ticketmaster so bought them there at a cost of 57.35 per ticket... and then the charged an extra 7.15 per ticket service charge!!! So in reality they charged over a tenner more per ticket than the venue!! They are crooks

okidoki987 · 28-05-2020 11:09pm

LillySV wrote: »

My wife booked tickets for concert which has now been rescheduled .... emailed to enquire about how to get refund and what the refund cost would be... a few days later she got response saying they very busy, here’s a link to our faqs, if that still doesn’t suit u, reply and we will re open your ticket!! Replied and no word since, that’s over a week ago, put in complaint online half a week ago... still no response!!! So basically two weeks tryin to find out about refund and no word from them!!! Disgraceful

In fairness they are dealing with bucket loads of refunds so you will get refunded but will have to wait a while, every cancelled event is a minimum of around 5k people so that's a lot of refunds to be done by the staff at home I'd presume.

And in regard to lads going on about poor ticketmaster and they deserving the service fees, the actual tickets including Booking fees were 53 each from the promoter... wife bought tickets for us as treat and thought tickets just on sale from ticketmaster so bought them there at a cost of 57.35 per ticket... and then the charged an extra 7.15 per ticket service charge!!! So in reality they charged over a tenner more per ticket than the venue!! They are crooks

Won't be too many on here who would disagree with you there.
Going forward now you won't get refunded the s.c. and that all adds up.

Irishphotodesk · 29-05-2020 8:58am

okidoki987 wrote: »

In fairness they are dealing with bucket loads of refunds so you will get refunded but will have to wait a while, every cancelled event is a minimum of around 5k people so that's a lot of refunds to be done by the staff at home I'd presume.

They have little problem dealing with around 5k people (often a lot more....some stadiums have over 30k capacity) when they are selling tickets, they should be capable of issuing refunds within a week, to say I’m annoyed by their actions would be an understatement.

the gig cannot happen this year, people will need to be refunded, the sooner the better in my opinion, if the gig is rescheduled those refunded can try again, given that it has not sold out prior to this pandemic, I doubt any rescheduled gig will be difficult to get tickets. (I purchased mine as a Christmas present for my wife, I would prefer the money in my account than Ticketmaster’s)

29-05-2020 9:40am

Irishphotodesk wrote: »

They have little problem dealing with around 5k people (often a lot more....some stadiums have over 30k capacity) when they are selling tickets, they should be capable of issuing refunds within a week, to say I’m annoyed by their actions would be an understatement.

the gig cannot happen this year, people will need to be refunded, the sooner the better in my opinion, if the gig is rescheduled those refunded can try again, given that it has not sold out prior to this pandemic, I doubt any rescheduled gig will be difficult to get tickets. (I purchased mine as a Christmas present for my wife, I would prefer the money in my account than Ticketmaster’s)

They don't have to deal with 5k people when they sell tickets for a gig with 5k capacity, they only have to deal with the small minority of those 5k who have issues, want a refund etc.

Now though for these rescheduled events they have to deal with a much larger fraction of these people. That plus the fact they are likely currently short-staffed and also have to deal with rescheduling many events all at once means you are not comparing like-for-like.

If it's only been a week, I wouldn't stress too much. Many companies take much longer to issue a refund with or without a pandemic. While I'm completely on the bandwagon for hating Ticketmaster for not refunding service fees, I'm not judging them too harshly in terms of the speed of refunds as I think they're doing fine in that regard given the current circumstances.

PTH2009 · 29-05-2020 7:02pm

applied for a refund today

Id prefer my money back and then buy a ticket newer to the new date if i feel arsed going

Irishphotodesk · 30-05-2020 9:35am

Deleted User wrote: »

They don't have to deal with 5k people when they sell tickets for a gig with 5k capacity, they only have to deal with the small minority of those 5k who have issues, want a refund etc.

Now though for these rescheduled events they have to deal with a much larger fraction of these people. That plus the fact they are likely currently short-staffed and also have to deal with rescheduling many events all at once means you are not comparing like-for-like.

If it's only been a week, I wouldn't stress too much. Many companies take much longer to issue a refund with or without a pandemic. While I'm completely on the bandwagon for hating Ticketmaster for not refunding service fees, I'm not judging them too harshly in terms of the speed of refunds as I think they're doing fine in that regard given the current circumstances.

Maybe I didn’t make my point clearer..... when they are selling tickets, there isn’t an orderly queue, there’s usually over 5000 people (mainly online) trying to get tickets at the same time....hence my comment about them being able to deal with over 5k people when it comes to ticket sales.

As regards the timeframe, the government announced, no public gatherings of people on 27march,
- they announced gigs and things involving groups of 5000 or more will not happen until at least September on 21 April.
The band announced the European leg of the tour is not happening 3 weeks ago.
https://www.loudersound.com/news/guns-n-roses-cancel-european-tour

So TM have had from 21 April to offer people something, even an email to say, gig isn’t going ahead, just so we know are you more interested in refund or happy to wait for rearranged date....this could have helped them to have a list of people seeking refunds and a list of people happy to wait, instead they have said (in the case of this gig anyway) .... it isn’t cancelled yet, it it’s cancelled yet, we haven’t heard that it’s cancelled.

I’m frustrated that they have chosen to ignore the ticket buyers who have asked for a refund, financially I’m struggling massively, I have had 15days of work since mid March and don’t receive payments from the government (I had Covid payment for a few weeks but because I was offered and took some work, I’m earning less than Covid payment but I’m working and have applied for unemployment benefit, being self employed with effectively 2contracts and seasonal work means I have to jump through massive hoops to be assessed.

It may only be €200 but it could be the difference in paying a electric or gas bill or both, I would prefer if TM gave me my money, they have had it since last December when I purchased the tickets.

Irishphotodesk · 30-05-2020 9:52am

Just also to add .... Ticketmaster still have tickets for sale for this gig, so they are happy to continue taking money knowing this gig can’t/won’t go ahead.

30-05-2020 10:05am

Irishphotodesk wrote: »

Maybe I didn’t make my point clearer..... when they are selling tickets, there isn’t an orderly queue, there’s usually over 5000 people (mainly online) trying to get tickets at the same time....hence my comment about them being able to deal with over 5k people when it comes to ticket sales.

Yeah but again that's an automated process, not the same thing as issuing refunds one at a time.

Irishphotodesk wrote: »

As regards the timeframe, the government announced, no public gatherings of people on 27march,
- they announced gigs and things involving groups of 5000 or more will not happen until at least September on 21 April.
The band announced the European leg of the tour is not happening 3 weeks ago.
https://www.loudersound.com/news/guns-n-roses-cancel-european-tour

So TM have had from 21 April to offer people something, even an email to say, gig isn’t going ahead, just so we know are you more interested in refund or happy to wait for rearranged date....this could have helped them to have a list of people seeking refunds and a list of people happy to wait, instead they have said (in the case of this gig anyway) .... it isn’t cancelled yet, it it’s cancelled yet, we haven’t heard that it’s cancelled.

As a business, they have decided it's better to wait until they have a confirmed date for the rescheduled gig so that people don't all ask for refunds when it turns out that many of them would have attended on the rescheduled date had they known what the date was. Perhaps not the best approach in some people's minds, but not the worst either. However, if you are annoyed by the long time it took to reschedule the gig, the blame is on the promoter and not on Ticketmaster. It is at least not as bad as some ticket agents who are merely offering credit and not cash refunds.

Irishphotodesk wrote: »

I’m frustrated that they have chosen to ignore the ticket buyers who have asked for a refund, financially I’m struggling massively, I have had 15days of work since mid March and don’t receive payments from the government (I had Covid payment for a few weeks but because I was offered and took some work, I’m earning less than Covid payment but I’m working and have applied for unemployment benefit, being self employed with effectively 2contracts and seasonal work means I have to jump through massive hoops to be assessed.

It may only be €200 but it could be the difference in paying a electric or gas bill or both, I would prefer if TM gave me my money, they have had it since last December when I purchased the tickets.

I understand that that can be difficult and I'm sorry to hear it's placed a burden on you. I'm sure there are many people who have a similar financial strain but who don't have the added benefit of knowing they will get a Ticketmaster refund soon down the line. But again, I'm sorry to hear that.

Irishphotodesk · 30-05-2020 10:25am

Deleted User wrote: »

Yeah but again that's an automated process, not the same thing as issuing refunds one at a time.

Given that gigs are not permitted to happen, it should be simple ...automate the process of issuing refunds and issue everyone with a refund.

Or as I suggested, contact people and see if they prefer a refund or wait, so they could create a list which could be used to automatically refund people.

Deleted User wrote: »

As a business, they have decided it's better to wait until they have a confirmed date for the rescheduled gig so that people don't all ask for refunds when it turns out that many of them would have attended on the rescheduled date had they known what the date was. Perhaps not the best approach in some people's minds, but not the worst either. However, if you are annoyed by the long time it took to reschedule the gig, the blame is on the promoter and not on Ticketmaster. It is at least not as bad as some ticket agents who are merely offering credit and not cash refunds.

Ticketmaster are the ones I gave my money to .... not the promoter, Ticketmaster are the point of contact for me if I’m purchasing a ticket, do you blame the manufacturer if a shop sells you a bad product... you bring it back to the shop, ie your point of contact.... hence why Ticketmaster are the ones I BLAME

Deleted User wrote: »

I understand that that can be difficult and I'm sorry to hear it's placed a burden on you. I'm sure there are many people who have a similar financial strain but who don't have the added benefit of knowing they will get a Ticketmaster refund soon down the line. But again, I'm sorry to hear that.

I’m sorry but that’s just utterly condescending..... the added benefit of knowing they will get a Ticketmaster refund, really.

30-05-2020 11:10am

Irishphotodesk wrote: »

Given that gigs are not permitted to happen, it should be simple ...automate the process of issuing refunds and issue everyone with a refund.

If the gig is cancelled, then yes. If it's rescheduled, no. There would be many people (including myself) very annoyed to find out that they got automatically refunded without asking minus their booking fee and then had to re-book tickets again.

Irishphotodesk wrote: »

Or as I suggested, contact people and see if they prefer a refund or wait, so they could create a list which could be used to automatically refund people.

Again, as a business, they know that many people who who will ask for refunds would have instead kept their tickets if they had known when the rescheduled date was.

Irishphotodesk wrote: »

Ticketmaster are the ones I gave my money to .... not the promoter, Ticketmaster are the point of contact for me if I’m purchasing a ticket, do you blame the manufacturer if a shop sells you a bad product... you bring it back to the shop, ie your point of contact.... hence why Ticketmaster are the ones I BLAME

If a product that is being a sold in a shop is being recalled for whatever reason, then I blame the manufacturer of that product, not the shop.

Irishphotodesk wrote: »

I’m sorry but that’s just utterly condescending..... the added benefit of knowing they will get a Ticketmaster refund, really.

My apologies if it sounds condescending, that was not my intent. But like I said, they are fully within their rights to simply issue you credit for a refund like many other ticket selling agencies are doing, so I would just be thankful that they aren't doing that.

GoldenTickets · 30-05-2020 1:16pm

Surprised by the ludicrous defence of Ticketmaster being made on here. As if Ticketmaster have the ticket holders best interests at heart! TMs priority right now is to hold on to concertgoers money for as long as they possibly can. No surprise there - big business gonna big business.

The suggestion that TM just want to ensure ticket holders are fully aware of rescheduled dates and that's why they're not making the refund process easier is laughable. There is nothing stopping them from stating clearly that refunds will be made available when they announce a concert date is to be rescheduled - they're deliberately not doing that because they want to buy time and keep a hold of as much money as possible for as long as possible. It's the height of naivety to believe there is any other motivation behind it.

Punters have enough sense to decide for themselves whether they'll be able to make a rescheduled date. If most people are going to hold onto their tickets anyway then what do TM have to fear by facilitating straightforward refunds for those who don't wish to do so?

By all means cheerlead TM if your a fan of their shady business practices, but the suggestion that they're champions of the people really belongs in the Humour forum.

hynesie08 · 30-05-2020 1:28pm

Irishphotodesk wrote: »

Just also to add .... Ticketmaster still have tickets for sale for this gig, so they are happy to continue taking money knowing this gig can’t/won’t go ahead.

If you actually buy tickets for a gig this summer at this point, you probably shouldn't be trusted with a credit card anyway......

30-05-2020 1:31pm

GoldenTickets wrote: »

Surprised by the ludicrous defence of Ticketmaster being made on here. As if Ticketmaster have the ticket holders best interests at heart! TMs priority right now is to hold on to concertgoers money for as long as they possibly can. No surprise there - big business gonna big business.

Ticketmaster are holding on to the money they make from your tickets (the service fee) either way so the point you're trying to make makes no sense.

Ticketmaster would actually make the most profit if they immediately refunded everyone (minus the service fee) as they would make on average twice as much from service fees from each gig than they usually would when people then go and buy tickets for the rescheduled dates.

Zardoz · 30-05-2020 1:49pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Ticketmaster are holding on to the money they make from your tickets (the service fee) either way so the point you're trying to make makes no sense.

No they aren't.
They have to refund the service charges on tickets they sold before they changed their terms last month .

Ticketmaster are technically only the service agent ,they sell the tickets on behalf of the promoter.
The face value fee collected then goes to the promoter so its effectively the promoter who have the bulk of the money now.

However the dominant promoter in Ireland happens to be MCD which is owned by Livenation who also own Ticketmaster.
So Ticketmaster are both the promoter ,service agent and in some cases venue owner.
They have their finger in alot of pies .

Ticketmaster would actually make the most profit if they immediately refunded everyone (minus the service fee) as they would make on average twice as much from service fees from each gig than they usually would when people then go and buy tickets for the rescheduled dates.

Ideally they do not want to refund customers as that means extra work for staff and it also means unsold tickets that will have to be resold in an uncertain climate .
Those tickets may not be rebought and Livenation will lose out as well as other promoters.

Ticketmaster not refunding service fees

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