CashNews.co
Consumer group Which? is calling on Oasis and Ticketmaster to refund fans who were hit by inflated “in demand” ticket prices, as it warns this pricing for the the band’s reunion tour may have breached consumer law.
Which? is asking the band and the ticketing company to refund the difference to fans who paid more than the expected face value for the tickets.
A scramble for tickets for next year’s tour on Saturday 31 August sparked anger as fans waited for hours in online queues and were then faced with surging ticket prices under a model used called “dynamic pricing”. This means ticket prices rise along with demand.
Which? asked fans to send in screenshots of the ticket buying and checkout process to see if they were warned that prices could surge due to high demand.
In the dozens of screenshots it received, showing both before and after the price increased, none showed a warning message that this would happen.
Read more: Scam complaints hit record high as fraud payout to be cut
Instead, the consumer group said it saw evidence that fans were shown one price for tickets, “only to have that price taken away at the last second and replaced with a far higher, and unexpected, ticket price.”
In one example, Which? said it saw a screenshot showing standing tickets for the band’s show at Manchester’s Heaton Park surge to £337.50 each, having been originally advertised at £148.50.
Lisa Webb, consumer law expert at Which?, said: “It seems extremely unfair that Oasis fans got up early and battled through the queues only to find that tickets prices had more than doubled from the originally advertised price.”
“Oasis and Ticketmaster should do the right thing and refund fans who may have been misled into paying over the odds for tickets that would have been half the price just hours earlier.”
Which? said that under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations (CPRs), traders must not mislead consumers with how prices are presented or leave out key pricing information that they might need to make an informed decision about their purchase, when advertising a product.
The consumer group said it believed Ticketmaster’s lack of transparency around “in demand” pricing could have breached these regulations, claiming that many fans were not made aware of the increases until after they had already tried to add cheaper tickets to their baskets.
Read more: How to save money when moving house
Which? also claimed that while the use of “dynamic pricing” is mentioned in terms and conditions on the Ticketmaster website, fans were not warned that this practice would be used for Oasis tickets.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is also investigating whether Ticketmaster’s sale of Oasis tickets breached consumer law. If it does, this would enable fans to seek refunds and compensation, though Which? warned that would “likely be a lengthy and arduous route to pursue”.
Ticketmaster said: “We are committed to cooperating with the CMA and look forward to sharing more facts about the ticket sale with them.” Ignition Management, which manages Oasis, had not provided a comment at the time of publication.
The fiasco has also prompted the UK government to say it would probe the “dynamic pricing” model.
Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android.