Raw Deal: Gig-goers hit out at ticket resale site Viagogo

Raw Deal readers ripped off by Viagogo have welcomed news that MPs are warning music fans to avoid the controversial secondary ticket site.

Damian Collins, chairman of the digital, culture, media and sport committee at Westminster, last week took the “highly unusual” step of advising consumers to snub the service following an investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority.

Judith Scott from Newlands, Glasgow, paid Viagogo £142.50 for two tickets for comedian Michael McIntyre’s show at the SSE Hydro last June.

But her son Edward and a pal were forced to pay for the tickets again when told at the box office on the night that they were invalid.

“It is good news that MPs are now putting pressure on this company,” said Judith. “They are a disgrace.”

The committee’s report places fresh pressure on the ticketing site, accused of failing to provide crucial information such as resale restrictions that could lead to buyers being turned away.

“We regret that such time and public money is being spent on bringing the platforms, principally Viagogo, into line with consumer law that they should have complied with from the outset,” the report stated.

“We believe Viagogo has yet to prove itself a trustworthy operator.”

In response, a spokesperson for Viagogo said: ”

“All tickets on viagogo are valid and it is perfectly legal to resell a ticket or give it to someone else if you want to. Event organisers sometimes make claims that they will deny entry to people who have purchased resold tickets.

These types of entry restrictions are highly unfair and in our view, unenforceable and illegal. Therefore, as with all tickets on our platform, viagogo customers should feel confident that they will gain entry to the event, and that is why we back every ticket with the Viagogo guarantee.

“We are disappointed that the DCMS have singled us out particularly, when hundreds of thousands of British citizens use our service to buy and sell tickets to their favourite live events every day and never experience any problems.

“We provide an invaluable service to UK consumers by giving them access to events in the UK and all over the world.  For those transactions that fall into the 1% annually where customers do have an issue, the overwhelming majority of cases are due to the unfair and potentially illegal restrictions the event organizers pose simply because customers have chosen to purchase tickets from a competitor of theirs.

“We have been complying and will absolutely continue to work constructively with the CMA to make further amends where necessary, all the while putting all of the buyers and sellers who use the platform first.”