{"id":6522,"date":"2019-01-20T12:34:00","date_gmt":"2019-01-20T12:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/ticket-resale-company-determined-to-sit-outside-the-law\/"},"modified":"2019-01-20T12:34:00","modified_gmt":"2019-01-20T12:34:00","slug":"ticket-resale-company-determined-to-sit-outside-the-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/ticket-resale-company-determined-to-sit-outside-the-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Ticket resale company &#8216;determined to sit outside the law&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div property=\"articleBody\">\n<figure class=\"media-landscape has-caption full-width lead\"><span class=\"image-and-copyright-container\"><\/p>\n<p>                <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"js-image-replace\" alt=\"Alex Turner\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/320\/cpsprodpb\/3B15\/production\/_105252151_alexturner.jpg\" width=\"976\" height=\"549\"\/><\/span><figcaption class=\"media-caption\"><span class=\"off-screen\">Image caption<\/span><br \/>\n                <span class=\"media-caption__text\"><br \/>\n                    Last year Arctic Monkeys manager Ian McAndrew called for Viagogo to be shut down<br \/>\n                <\/span><br \/>\n            <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"story-body__introduction\">Campaigners say ticket resale company Viagogo is not fully complying with a court order to reform its practices.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/business-46359056\" class=\"story-body__link\">In November, the firm was required<\/a> to improve the information it gives to consumers, including details of the seller and seat numbers.<\/p>\n<p>The company now insists it is compliant with the legal requirements. <\/p>\n<p>But ticketing expert Reg Walker said Viagogo had not fulfilled its obligations and &#8220;seems determined to sit outside the law.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/summary-of-the-court-order-secured-by-the-cma-against-viagogo\/summary-of-the-court-order\" class=\"story-body__link-external\">Last year a court ordered<\/a> Viagogo to &#8220;overhaul&#8221; the way it does business following legal action by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).<\/p>\n<p>Under the court order Viagogo was obliged to: <\/p>\n<ul class=\"story-body__unordered-list\">\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\">Tell ticket buyers if there is a risk they will be turned away at the door<\/li>\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\">Inform customers which seat they will get<\/li>\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\">Inform buyers who is selling the ticket<\/li>\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\">Make it easy for people to get their money back when things go wrong<\/li>\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\">Prevent the sale of tickets a seller does not own and may not be able to supply<\/li>\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\">Not give misleading information about the availability and popularity of tickets<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The deadline for Viagogo to comply with the order was mid-January &#8211; the same date by which other resale sites had agreed to change their practices.<\/p>\n<p>On 17 January Viagogo announced that it had met the deadline and was now compliant. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;All tickets on Viagogo are valid and it is perfectly legal to resell a ticket or give it to someone else if you want to,&#8221; the company said. <\/p>\n<h2 class=\"story-body__crosshead\">Why is Viagogo being criticised?<\/h2>\n<p>Some ticketing experts and consumers say Viagogo is failing to fulfil its obligations as set out by the CMA. <\/p>\n<p>Adam Webb from the FanFair Alliance accused the company of &#8220;minor tinkering&#8221; rather than the &#8220;complete overhaul&#8221; expected.<\/p>\n<p>He said they have failed to make information transparent and to provide all details required &#8211; like seat numbers, trader contact details or provisions of resale restrictions. <\/p>\n<p>Fans might be able to discover who was selling the tickets &#8211; but only after they had started the buying process, he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They [Viagogo] should show you who the trader is from the get-go, <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Trader contact details are not supplied. Viagogo only give you a name, or an initial. This is in breach of the 2002 eCommerce Directive.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Mr Webb suggested Viagogo was making misleading marketing messages about the demand level for certain events.<\/p>\n<p>Ticketing expert Reg Walker, from the consultancy Iridium, described as &#8220;nonsense&#8221; Viagogo&#8217;s assertion that they are compliant with the court order.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When you look at the relevant legislation in the Consumer Rights Act &#8211; which I helped draft &#8211; it says quite clearly that you must put your details on the website and you must have the seat, block and row,&#8221; he said. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It means every single listing on that website that does not contain these details is an offence. Viagogo seems determined to sit outside the law.&#8221; <\/p>\n<h2 class=\"story-body__crosshead\">What happens next?<\/h2>\n<p>According to the CMA, if Viagogo fail to comply with the court order the company could face a fine.<\/p>\n<p>If particular, if serious breaches were proven then the court has the power to send certain individuals to prison.<\/p>\n<p>CMA chief executive Andrea Coscelli has said the watchdog would &#8220;not hesitate&#8221; to take action against companies that failed to meet their obligations.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"media-landscape has-caption full-width\"><span class=\"image-and-copyright-container\"><\/p>\n<p>                 <span class=\"off-screen\">Image copyright<\/span><br \/>\n                 <span class=\"story-image-copyright\">Celia Chalmers\/PA<\/span><\/p>\n<p>            <\/span><figcaption class=\"media-caption\"><span class=\"off-screen\">Image caption<\/span><br \/>\n                <span class=\"media-caption__text\"><br \/>\n                    Claire Turnham was given an MBE after setting up the Victim of Viagogo group<br \/>\n                <\/span><br \/>\n            <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Campaigner Claire Turnham was awarded an MBE after obtaining close to \u00a31 million of refunds from the site through her Victim of Viagogo group.<\/p>\n<p>She said she expected the CMA to act &#8220;swiftly and strictly&#8221; if Viagogo were found not to be compliant. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;As consumers, we are desperate to know ticket buyers will be able to buy tickets more safely and have certainty that they will be protected by the law,&#8221; she said. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-46934015\">Source<\/a> by <a href=\"\">[author_name]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Image caption Last year Arctic Monkeys manager Ian McAndrew called for Viagogo to be shut down Campaigners say ticket resale company Viagogo is not fully complying with a court order to reform its practices. In November, the firm was required to improve the information it gives to consumers, including details of the seller and seat &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":6523,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}