Now minister demands a boycott of ‘rip-off’-ticket site Viagogo
TICKETING website Viagogo was last night accused of ‘ripping off the public on an industrial scale’ as it was found to be in breach of advertising rules.
The digital minister Margot James has joined the backlash, urging the public to boycott the company.
Singer ed Sheeran has already taken a stand against Viagogo, declaring invalid any tickets sold on the site for his latest concerts.
The Geneva-based firm sells second-hand tickets to music and sporting events, but has been accused of misleading customers who are left paying extortionate fees.
The Advertising Standards Authority ordered Viagogo and three other secondary ticket sites to make clear the total price of tickets at the begin ning of the transaction. Typically, the site shows one price until payment details are entered – but this can then increase by hundreds of pounds in the seconds before the transaction is completed.
Viagogo was given until Tuesday to make the necessary changes to its website but failed to do so.
It has now been referred to the more powerful National Trading Standards – which can prosecute offending companies, leading to fines or imprisonment – for continuing to mislead customers.
Stubhub, Seatwave and GetMeIn were the other companies subject to the action against so-called ‘drip pricing’ – where VAT, booking and delivery fees were added at the end of the booking process – but they met the ASA’s deadline to amend their websites.
Speaking on BBC Radio 5Live yesterday, Miss James said: ‘ There are four big choices when you can’t get a ticket for an event from the primary seller and you have got to go to a secondary site. Just don’t choose Viagogo. They are the worst.’ In March, the Daily Mail revealed how Google was paid millions of pounds by Viagogo so the site appears at the top of internet search results.
This often confuses people into believing Viagogo is an official ticket provider. But many tickets sold at vastly inflated prices are actually invalid.
One Mail reporter was sold an £18 ticket for a sold-out Taylor Swift concert for £240, once all add-ons were taken into account.
Organisers had already declared that those using second-hand tickets bought from the site would be refused entry.
And a reader also told of being charged £800 for two tickets to a charity tennis match with face value of £76 each.
The ASA has now called on engines Google and Bing to remove some Viagogo listings. Last night, Google refused to confirm whether it would continue to receive money from Viagogo.
But a quick search on the site for popular terms such as ‘Rolling Stones tickets’ still featured Viagogo above official websites and primary sales outlets, suggesting Google continues to accept money to boost the resaler’s search rankings.
Adam Webb, from campaign group FanFair Alliance, said: ‘Viagogo has been ripping off the British public on an industrial scale. Surely it’s untenable for Google to still be taking their advertising money.’
Yesterday, the ASA said Viagogo ‘continues to mislead consumers by not being upfront and clear about additional fees and delivery charges that are added at the end of the booking process’.
Last week, more than 10,000 tickets sold on Viagogo for ed Sheeran’s tour were declared invalid by his concert promoters. Fans with these tickets were asked to pay £80 on the door – the original price and were then allowed in. Their Viagogo tickets were stamped as invalid and they were told to seek a refund from the company for the money they had spent on the website.
A Google spokesman said: ‘In February, we updated our policies to ensure that resellers must clearly provide the total and breakdown of the price across fees and taxes before requiring payment.’
Viagogo did not respond to a request for comment.