Yahoo Finance CAUGHT: Viagogo misled customers about ticket prices and availability
Ticket reseller Viagogo made misleading representations to customers when it resold entertainment, music and sport event tickets, the Federal Court has found.
The ticket reselling website made claims that tickets were more scarce when they were, when the scarcity referring only to tickets available on its own platform without mentioning tickets available elsewhere.
“Viagogo’s claims misled consumers into buying tickets by including claims like ‘less than 1 per cent tickets remaining’ to create a false sense of urgency,” said ACCC chair Rod Sims.
The term ‘official’ was also used in a misleading way, with consumers led to believe that Viagogo was an official site, where it is a ticket resale website.
“We urge consumers to only buy tickets from authorised sellers, or they risk their tickets being dishonored at the gates or doors,” Sims said.
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Between 1 May and the end of June 2017, the Viagogo website drew customers in with a headline price without disclosing the additional 27.6 per cent booking fee that applied to most tickets.
In one instance, a Victorian psychiatric nurse was whacked with $104.98 in fees when she bought two tickets to The Book of Mormon, according to AAP.
“Viagogo was charging extraordinarily high booking fees and many consumers were caught out,” said Sims.
The Federal Court’s decision should serve as a reminder to businesses that consumers have to be informed about additional fees that are associated with a displayed price, he added.
The Federal Court has not yet determined what penalties and orders it will set against Viagogo.
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