Double ticket trouble for Ed Sheeran fan
MR JUSTICE’S TOP TIPS Dispute after purchase ‘accident’
THREE airlines have this week announced extra flights and cheaper fares from Newcastle Airport.
EasyJet, Ryanair and Flybe have all revealed expansion plans for their winter schedules from the North East.
But, before that happens, we thought it would be good to share some hacks on how to make the best of your holidays in winter and summer.
Mum of two Kayleigh Hughes, who blogs for PromotionalCodes.org.uk, says it’s all down to good planning if you want to save cash on time away.
And waiting for those last-minute deals? Forget it. Kayleigh says they’re not always the best option.
Forward planning and researching the best prices is her number one tip, and taking advantage of any early bird discount offers.
Kayleigh said: “Booking days out and holidays always means extra costs and, before you know it, you are over budget and having to worry about money while you are away.
“Forward planning and booking things in advance can all help with reducing costs and stress on your holiday time.
“I know all this may sound like you have just sucked all the fun straight out of your break.
“But planning and being prepared will allow you to be stress free on your break, and even stress free when you return to your daily life of routine and bills.
“You won’t have left yourself short when you return as all the planning will have paid off.”
Here are her tips:
Booking early:
Usually one of the cheaper ways to book a break is last minute, due to reduced prices to fill spaces. But for people that have to budget this isn’t always an option as it doesn’t allow for forward planning and saving money for excursions, activities and food budgets.
Her advice is to look as early as you can and shop around for the best deal.
This may take a bit more time than finding a last-minute holiday but very often you can find incentives and discounts for booking early.
Booking holiday activities:
Once you have that covered it is time to start planning. This will help you better budget for what you can and can’t afford while you’re away.
Research where you are going and find things that you and your family would like to do, even book tickets to your selected activities as these often have an early bird discount when booking so far in advance. You can often save up to 30% off entrance fees by doing this.
The other thing you could do is plan a trip around free tickets. This is something we do for Chessington World of Adventures. I’ve mentioned this a lot but this year we have four free tickets through a promotion and 50% off a night’s stay in the hotel.
Straightaway, I’ve already saved £143 on entrance fees and £79.50 on the hotel stay, which means I can budget a lot better for our time there.
Setting a daily allowance:
Spending money is another big outgoing on a holiday and can soon run away from you if you’re not watching the pennies.
If you have children, set them a daily allowance and give them a little responsibility. If they are older, let them have control of their own budget. You can teach them about budgeting and also keep track of the money ED Sheeran’s first album was called “+” but nothing added up for fan Charlotte Jones at his recent appearance in Newcastle.
Charlotte found herself paying twice for two sets of tickets for Ed’s gig at the Metro Radio Arena.
Now she is demanding answers from ticket website Viagogo. She wants them to give her love by refunding the first set.
They were apparently bought by accident during a search on Viagogo’s website.
She said it already had her credit card details and maintains she only viewed one of the sets of tickets.
She said: “I googled ‘Ed Sheeran tickets’ and Viagogo were high on the list on the search so I looked on the website.
“I could see lots of tickets ranging in price and clicked on some tickets which were £540.95 for two tickets – which was ridiculous so I clicked off.
“Then I continued to search and found some tickets costing £269.55 including booking fees so I progressed to purchase the tickets.
“When checking my emails minutes later I received two separate confirmation emails, one for the £540.95 tickets that I viewed online, and a separate confirmation email with a different reference number for the tickets costing £269.55.
“I emailed to explain what had happened and asked them to cancel the order for the first tickets because I didn’t purchase them and only viewed them online.
“I had a response from them to let me know that the company does not do refunds or exchanges and the only option was to resell the tickets by marketing them on the website which I didn’t want to do. I just wanted my money back.” Charlotte, of South Shields, said her bank reversed the payment but Viagogo took it out again.
She said the bank gave contradictory advice over whether the transaction could be reversed again with one member of staff saying yes and another saying no.
In the meantime Charlotte cancelled her card.
She feels that Barclays have been just as bad as Viagogo in not providing any successful help.
She said: “I received an email from Viagogo saying that they had sold the £540.95 tickets to another party for £176 which I was shocked to see.
“I did not agree to sell the tickets as I didn’t order them and was expecting my bank to sort it out so I ignored the email and waited to hear from my bank.
“Then I received another email from Viagogo to say I would be getting charged a fee, which I again ignored, but I was worried that they’d be able to take more money.
“The dispute is now in the hands of Barclays and is still ongoing.
“I was told the file has been sent to Viagogo to investigate further and I will hear back from Barclays in 6-8 weeks”
Viagogo did not return my email asking for their point of view.
But an email to Charlotte said: “As we are a ticket marketplace where we guarantee buyers will receive the tickets they buy and sellers will get paid for the tickets they sell, once the order has been placed we cannot cancel or exchange the tickets as we have guaranteed the seller their payment.”
Another email confirmed they wanted money from her.
It said: “As part of our listing guarantee, should the sale not be fulfilled, Viagogo reserves the right to charge the cost