Don’t miss out on the fun you’ve already paid for
A friend recently called me to tell me about a fantastic gig she’d just been to. I was pretty jealous as I’d have loved to have gone too – and it turns out I should have. I bought tickets for the same gig three years ago, then forgot all about it.
One of the stranger side effects of the pandemic is the huge backlog of gigs, festivals, theatre and events that have been re-scheduled for 2022.
Many people have told me that event promoters haven’t exactly been going out of their way to remind people about rescheduled events, with a lone email often being the only clue that something you paid for more than two years ago is back on.
So it’s time to trawl through your emails and search your memories for the things you booked pre-pandemic.
This is a bit of a nightmare – particularly because many booking confirmations don’t include the name of the event in the main body of the text. Try searching for ‘booking’ ‘box office’ or ‘confirmation’ – and word of the week – re-scheduled!
But what are your rights if you can’t attend? Resolver helped sort out 5,000 complaints about tickets, refunds and re-scheduled events last year.
Here’s a guide to your rights.
Gigs, concerts and special events
Most gigs, events and concerts were moved forward a year when lockdown began – and in many cases another year after that. A lot has changed in that time, and you may find your personal circumstances mean you can’t attend the new date.
If a gig, event or anything similar is cancelled you are entitled to a full refund of the face value of the ticket. Usually, the promoter or event organiser will refund you on to the card you paid with if the event is off completely.
If you can’t attend a re-scheduled event, you should be entitled to a full refund too. Make sure you explain to the selling agent why you can’t attend though. I’ve been hearing about long delays getting refunds from some organisations, so be prepared to be persistent.
Many ticket agencies and promoters offer the option of re-selling your ticket through the website. This is a new feature designed to put the ticket re-sale agencies out of business.
If you’re not getting any luck with the refund this is another option – but make sure you tell the firm you want the refund even if the ticket doesn’t sell.
Ticket resale agencies bring further problems.
The key issue here is whether you have been sent the ticket or not. I’ve heard reports that some people are not being given refunds but vouchers to spend onsite instead or are being told to resell the tickets. I disagree. Ask the firm to speak to the original seller who will need to reclaim the face value refund then get the ticket re-sale agency to send you the money.
As I’m often advising these days, where cancellation refunds aren’t coming through, your bank or card provider may be able to ‘charge back’ the money. You may have to sign a waiver to show you’re not breaching a contract by doing this – and there are time limits which may well have expired since you bought the ticket.
If you paid over £100 on a credit card and bought the ticket(s) direct (not through a third party) then you may also be able to make a claim under what’s known as section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act. This is a legal right to claim the money back from your card provider.
Of course, you can always go ‘old school’ and sell or give your ticket to a friend. Watch out though, as many of the new anti-touting measures introduced by ticket agencies require you to jump through an number of hoops on an app to do this – don’t leave it till the last minute.
Having a problem with a rescheduled event? Get help with your complaint for free at resolver.co.uk