2020 British Masters ticket refund scam.

[JustWayne]

Hello all,

Just wanted to let you know about the most insane Covid 19 response by Eventbrite, a ticket supplier for the 2020 British Masters at Close House, and open a discussion on what you think about.
The ticket purchase was on the 4th October 2019 on the Betfred website, via Eventbrite, I received an email a week ago from Close House to say the event would now have a change of date, and more importantly be played behind closed doors, I was gutted as this was to be my first golf tournament. Anyway, i got over the disappointment and went to the Eventbrite website and applied for my refund, to say their canned response was a gut punch was an understatement, it reads to me like they set out to shaft as many people as they could with their newly written conditions for a refund:

We reviewed your request and unfortunately are not able to process your refund since it does not meet our refund programme guidelines for events cancelled as a result of COVID-19. As a reminder, requests need to meet these criteria:

• The event was cancelled
• You purchased your ticket before 15 March 2020
• The event was scheduled to occur between 15 March 2020 and 15 June 2020
• The event creator has not indicated they are offering an alternate form of accommodation (e.g., future tickets, credit)
• Refund request submitted within 45 days of the event cancellation

So even though the event is closed to everybody who paid their £93 each or more for a ticket, Eventbrite are refusing to give a refund on the grounds that the event isn’t completely cancelled, now as far as I can tell, every event in the UK that doesn’t depend on an audience, like a music concert, are going to let their event go ahead behind closed doors, so Eventbrite are going to score a lot of peoples hard earned cash with their convenient new Covid 19 refund policy.

 

[SammmeBee]

https://www.europeantour.com/europe...l/betfred-british-masters-ticket-information/

 

[chrisd]

Presumably you paid for the tickets by credit card, is it not worth claiming a refund through them as you are not getting what you paid for and the credit card company are equally liable to refund (or chargeback)

 

[inc0gnito]

https://www.europeantour.com/europe...l/betfred-british-masters-ticket-information/

/endthread

 

[Lord Tyrion]

/endthread

Correct. The original event was due to take place the week after the new date, end of July, so the dates quoted are also an invention.

Another here today, gone tomorrow poster ?

 

[JustWayne]

https://www.europeantour.com/europe...l/betfred-british-masters-ticket-information/

Thanks for that, I’ve just received a link to this article from the European Tour today too lol, I’m astounded that Eventbrite didn’t just point me in the direction of this too.

 

[sunshine]

You paid £93 or more for a ticket? For the British Masters?

Think this is the real scam! Just as well you are getting a refund.

 

[JustWayne]

You paid £93 or more for a ticket? For the British Masters?

Think this is the real scam! Just as well you are getting a refund.

It was for all four days.

 

[Ashbos]

Hi. Has anybody actually received their refund yet? I’m still waiting for mine, it does say all refunds will be processed by the 19th so let’s hope so.

 

[JustWayne]

Hi. Has anybody actually received their refund yet? I’m still waiting for mine, it does say all refunds will be processed by the 19th so let’s hope so.

I haven’t received anything yet, not even heard another word about it.

 

[howbow88]

Presumably you paid for the tickets by credit card, is it not worth claiming a refund through them as you are not getting what you paid for and the credit card company are equally liable to refund (or chargeback)

Whilst I would still suggest this if the issue isn't resolved in a timely manner, I recently tried to invoke a chargeback against Your Golf Travel as they wouldn't refund me for a cancelled trip.

Visa/Nationwide were about as useful as a concrete kite. It seems to me right now that pretty much a lot of big businesses are doing their absolute best to dodge refunds for any cancelled events, even though they know they shouldn't be. And unless you're willing to take legal action against them, I'm not really sure what else you can do.

I always had faith in the chargeback system when making larger purchases on my credit card, but based on how this was dealt with, I think this service isn't all it's scratched up to be.

 

[Slab]

Whilst I would still suggest this if the issue isn't resolved in a timely manner, I recently tried to invoke a chargeback against Your Golf Travel as they wouldn't refund me for a cancelled trip.

Visa/Nationwide were about as useful as a concrete kite. It seems to me right now that pretty much a lot of big businesses are doing their absolute best to dodge refunds for any cancelled events, even though they know they shouldn't be. And unless you're willing to take legal action against them, I'm not really sure what else you can do.

I always had faith in the chargeback system when making larger purchases on my credit card, but based on how this was dealt with, I think this service isn't all it's scratched up to be.

Isn't a chargeback a last resort for CC and not always successful. I thought claims via credit card purchases were to be based on the consumer act?
From Which: "Under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, your credit card company is jointly liable if something goes wrong with a product or a service you've paid for by credit card" This isn't a chargeback action

 

[JustWayne]

Isn't a chargeback a last resort for CC and not always successful. I thought claims via credit card purchases were to be based on the consumer act?
From Which: "Under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, your credit card company is jointly liable if something goes wrong with a product or a service you've paid for by credit card" This isn't a chargeback action

I’ve just received an email from Trading Standards regarding this issue and they mention a Chargeback

Also, have you raised your complaint with your credit card company as a chargeback or breach of contract claim?

 

[Slab]

I’ve just received an email from Trading Standards regarding this issue and they mention a Chargeback

I see they also mention a breach of contract claim which is the section 75 (as i understand it) you just state which process you wish to pursue (& the contract breach option has a better success rate from what I read) I'll be using it against BA/CC bank for not providing flights once the travel date passes

 

[chrisd]

I’ve just received an email from Trading Standards regarding this issue and they mention a Chargeback

I may be wrong but my understanding is that you ask for a charge back on a debit card and a Section 75 on a credit card, but not all debit cards are allowing charge back wheras if you dont get what you paid for on a credit card a S75 is guaranteed

 

[JustWayne]

I see they also mention a breach of contract claim which is the section 75 (as i understand it) you just state which process you wish to pursue (& the contract breach option has a better success rate from what I read) I'll be using it against BA/CC bank for not providing flights once the travel date passes

Here is some information that might be helpful that i received from Citizens Advice:

Your rights and obligations:

Under common law, when you enter into a contract, both parties are bound by any terms and conditions that have formed part of any pre-contract negotiations.

You could potentially make the argument that you never accepted these updated terms and conditions. You only accepted the terms that you agreed to at the point of purchase. Therefore both you and the trader are only bound by those original terms

We would advise you to thoroughly read the original terms to see if 1) the trader can unilaterally change the terms of the agreement. 2) If there is a force majeure clause stating in the event of a pandemic and the trader has to cancel.

If nothing related to your issue is included in the terms and conditions, or, the trader is not following terms included, you may be able to hold the trader in breach of contract.

You may be able to seek redress from the trader for a breach of contract by repudiating the contract; this means bringing the contract to an end. You could argue that the trader should provide a refund in the original payment medium within 14 days.


The burden of proof is on yourself as the consumer, therefore you will need to provide evidence if the trader is not complying with the terms and conditions.

Eventbrite's likely response will be that you accepted these new terms, considering that a significant amount of time has passed since the terms were updated. It would be down to a judge to decide whether offer and acceptance of these new terms has occurred. You'd want to make the argument that the trader has unfair bargaining power if they can unilaterally change the terms.

 

[howbow88]

Isn't a chargeback a last resort for CC and not always successful.

It was a last resort for me. YGT (check the other thread on this if you fancy a long read!) are not refunding thousands of people impacted by Covid-19, despite the regulatory body originally saying that refunds should be given to customers if requested. Once I had exhausted every avenue with YGT, I contacted Visa/Nationwide hoping to start a chargeback, and they refused to do so, stating that credit for another trip was a fair option.

 

[IanM]

It's over 25 years since I was responsible for the Chargebacks team at "a well known financial organisation" so I am rusty and definitely out of date...

But from memory, Travel and entertainment organisations (T&E) have slightly different Chargeback rules to other merchants. Google for acceptable reasons and terms. Letters to the Chairman of Nationwide tend to get taken seriously if terms not correctly applied. But back in the day, if you were within terms, you got your money back without question. I don't think that will be any different now. The COVID based stuff must be etched on their brains by now.

 

[JustWayne]

It was a last resort for me. YGT (check the other thread on this if you fancy a long read!) are not refunding thousands of people impacted by Covid-19, despite the regulatory body originally saying that refunds should be given to customers if requested. Once I had exhausted every avenue with YGT, I contacted Visa/Nationwide hoping to start a chargeback, and they refused to do so, stating that credit for another trip was a fair option.

The guy who emailed me from Trading Standards told me a lot of companies are trying to get out of giving refunds, did you contact them?

 

[howbow88]

Thanks guys and apologies for the hijacking this a bit. I am hopeful that pretty soon, I will have a full refund as promised by ABTA... The YGT thread is a heck of a read.