My daughter paid over the chances for Oasis tickets: DEAN DUNHAM replies

My daughter sat for hours in an online queue to buy tickets to see Oasis next year. When she finally reached the end screen, tickets were more than double the price advertised. 

She panicked and bought two, but now she’s overdrawn and regrets her decision. Can she get her money back?

S.W., via email.

Dean Dunham replies: In 2022 Ticketmaster, the official ticket seller for Oasis concerts, introduced ‘dynamic pricing’, which sees the cost of tickets increase with the level of demand. So if, like we saw with Oasis, fans in their thousands go online to purchase tickets, the prices rise.

In the past, Ticketmaster has defended this by saying it was introduced to stop touts and ensure a greater percentage of money goes to the artists. While this may be the case, my view is that this practice is potentially contrary to consumer law.

The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations (more commonly known as the Consumer Protection ­Regulation) set out a number of practices which are either prohibited or could be classed as ‘unfair’ to the consumer.

‘Bait advertising’, where a trader ­advertises goods or services at a particular price to grab consumers’ attention, ­knowing it will ultimately be selling at a higher price, is one of the practices classed as being potentially unfair.

This is what happened here with the Ticketmaster dynamic-pricing model. Your daughter, and many other Oasis fans, clearly saw a price advertised (or perhaps a price range) for the tickets and took the decision that this amount was affordable or acceptable, so started the long online journey to make a purchase.

Then at the eleventh hour when reaching the end of the online queue she was ­presented with the opportunity to buy tickets – but at a much greater price.

So if your daughter regrets her decision enough to want a refund, she could ask Ticketmaster to cancel the ticket order and give her the money back on the basis that the contract is ‘unfair’.

If that does not work, she could make a chargeback claim, if she paid with a debit card, or a Section 75 claim (under the Consumer Credit Act 1974) if she paid with a credit card. In either case she will have to say she wants a refund, as the ­contract is unfair.

Taxi bill for cancelled buses 

My local bus company often cancels a service, which means I have to wait an hour for the next one or otherwise get a taxi into town. What are my rights? Can I send the firm my taxi fare?

A. Finch, Newmarket.

Dean Dunham replies: When a flight is delayed or cancelled, you potentially have the legal right to compensation under the UK261 law and you have similar rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 with delays on trains and ferries.

However, bus passengers do not have the same protection in relation to local ­journeys, as unfortunately the Consumer Rights Act does not cover ­compensation rights when it comes to bus delays

or cancellations. Instead, your recourse is to complain directly to the bus operator.

In your case, ask it to reimburse the cost of the taxi and point out that you had to incur the cost due to the bus being delayed or cancelled.

Be prepared for it to say no, as traders (including bus operators) will often avoid paying out for what we call consequential losses, such as a taxi fare incurred.

If you purchased an advanced ticket, the bus operator will reimburse you.

The Traffic Commissioners are the ­regulators of the bus industry and the ­registrars in their Traffic Areas of all local bus services (as defined by Section 6 of the Transport Act 1985). They have ­powers under that Act to take action against operators who consistently run late services.

Penalties range from fines to the ­ultimate sanction of removing a bus operator’s ­franchise to run a bus service.

For this ­reason, it is worth citing in your complaint to your bus operator that if you are not reimbursed for the taxi fares, you will make a formal complaint to the Traffic Commissioners, as this will ­probably be very persuasive.