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Raquel Merino
Malaga
Friday, 2 August 2024, 18:53
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The OCU organisation of consumers and users, Spain's independent consumer watchdog, has denounced Ticketmaster to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, alleging that this online ticket sales platform is making two charges of commissions in an "irregular and abusive" way, which considerably increase the total cost of purchase.
The OCU claims that Ticketmaster charges, on the one hand, a fixed commission of two euros as a "service fee" for handling the transaction. Then, however, it charges a further commission of up to 13% on the ticket price as a "handling fee", which is also half-hidden in a link next to the ticket price. The watchdog underlines the fact that these charges are not displayed until the moment of purchase.
For the OCU, the combination of these two commissions "represents an unjustified, abusive and non-transparent charge for the same service when, moreover, as the company itself advertises, it is the only channel users have to buy tickets from Ticketmaster."
The OCU cites it as an unjustified charge because it is the buyer of the ticket, not the vendor, who assumes the burden of managing the purchase of the said ticket over the internet. The buyer is the one who selects the date, type and number of tickets, as well as the method of payment, for which his/her personal data must be entered.
It is also abusive, the OCU says, because, being an intermediary company, Ticketmaster does not provide any additional service to justify the charge, such as a personalised cancellation notice associated with the subsequent management of a possible refund, or the delivery of the tickets to the customer's home.
Neither is it very transparent, because the charging of these "extra" costs is usually hidden until the moment the customer is about to make their payment, "unexpectedly increasing the advertised price", said the OCU.
For these reasons, the consumer rights group has asked Spain's Ministry of Consumer Affairs to sanction Ticketmaster and force the company to stop charging these fees. It has also called for those affected to be granted the right to claim a refund of these charges.
According to the OCU the only websites that can legally charge a handling fee are resale websites and, even then, they should include this fee from the outset.
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