Viagogo tickets, cellphone insurance and handling fees for product returns

In this weekly segment of bite-sized chunks of useful information, consumer journalist Wendy Knowler summarises news you can use:

Beware: Viagogo tickets are a no-no at many concerts

If Viagogo is an online marketplace for the reselling of legitimate tickets, why do so many event organisers and “primary ticket sellers” refuse to honour them?

In the company’s words: “Viagogo aims to provide buyers with the widest possible choice of tickets to events, and enables sellers to reach a global audience. Once buyer and seller have entered into a transaction, Viagogo ensures everything goes smoothly. Viagogo is not the ticket seller and all transactions are between the buyers and sellers.”

However, many who bought tickets to concerts and sporting events, often at massively inflated prices, have later discovered the event organiser considers Viagogo tickets invalid.

In June last year, Sally Mullins bought tickets for the Imagine Dragons concert held in the Cape Town stadium this past week.

“Viagogo appeared as the first advertised sellers of the tickets when Googling ‘Imagine Dragons tickets Cape Town’ and I thought they were legit sellers of the tickets,” she said.

“Later I discovered Ticket Master considers the resale of the tickets by them fraudulent and would deny access to those trying to gain access to the stadium with them.”

“Viagogo insists their tickets are valid and they cannot give a refund as they have already paid the seller,” she said.

She was advised to repost her tickets for sale, but didn’t want to do that, knowing the buyer would be denied entry to the concert.

Responding, Viagogo said: “Viagogo gives consumers the freedom to buy and sell tickets on a regulated platform trusted by millions around the world, so we were shocked to hear about Ticketmaster South Africa’s false comments regarding our site.

“It is perfectly legal to pass on, sell or give tickets to other people.

“Ticketmaster South Africa’s actions are anti-competitive and motivated by a desire to control ticketing distribution and it's genuine fans that have been and will be left disappointed.

“Customers should never be used as a casualty in an attempt to control ticket sales.

“Every ticket on Viagogo is a legitimate ticket, bought and sold legally, and that remains the case for future dates for Imagine Dragons.

“Further, the Viagogo guarantee, which ensures your money back if you do not get into the event, is in place to give interested ticket buyers the utmost confidence.”

Good to know, but a bitter pill to swallow for those who believe they are holding genuine tickets, only to be turned away at the door.

Always check what site you are on when buying tickets online to ensure you are where you want to be. Investigate the face value of tickets before you start shopping.

Are ‘handling fees’ ever justified?

The short answer is yes. This question frequently crops up with respect to readers wanting to return tiles and car parts.

“They want to deduct a 20% handling fee from my refund. Can they do that?”

If there is something wrong with the tiles, or they’re from mismatched batches, and you return them within six months of purchase you are due a full refund. A handling fee is not justified in terms of the Consumer Protection Act (CPA).

If the goods are in perfect condition and they are exactly what you ordered — you ordered too many tiles or found the car part cheaper elsewhere — the retailer is not legally obliged to take them back. If they do choose to do so, they are entitled to impose a take-it-or-leave-it handling fee.

Struan recently asked my advice after being told he’d be charged a 20% handling fee when returning car parts incorrectly supplied by a parts shop.

“I gave them the correct VIN numbers when ordering two ABS sensors for a bakkie, but they insisted on deducting the handling fee when I returned them five weeks later,” he said.

“They justified this by saying I’d taken too long to return the parts.

“I was also told the handling fee would not apply if I bought other goods from them.

“Are they within their rights to charge this in view of the parts not being correct?”

No, they are not, I told him, because the mistake was theirs.

He put this to the company, which responded by saying they had followed their “company protocol” in terms of their returns policy “in accordance with the CPA”, but as the part was in “perfect resalable condition” they would refund him in full.

Here’s what I know for sure: A store’s returns policy is not compliant with the CPA because they say it is.

Do you know how much your phone is insured for?

It’s a good idea to stay on top of this, as Leigh-Ann Meinert recently found out.

Her iPhone, an XR, was listed on her insurance policy with a value of R20,000 for a few years, with a premium to match, before it was stolen.

“I bought a replacement phone for R20,000 with the understanding this was the value it was insured for, but my insurer told me the phone was only worth R11,000 so I’d have to pay the difference.

“Why were they insuring a phone worth only R11,000 for R20,000, with me paying the higher premium?”

The bottom line is it is up to us, as policyholders, to keep checking the values attached to our electronics — and all other insured possessions — to make sure we are not over-insured and thus over-paying premiums, or under-insured, leaving us with a large shortfall at claim time.

However, all was not lost in Meinert’s case.

“I am very pleased to report I followed the advice that you shared with me, and I was able to at least get a refund on the overpayment of the premium amount for the period in question. Thank you.”

• GET IN TOUCH: You can contact Wendy Knowler for advice on your consumer issues via e-mail: consumer@knowler.co.za or on Twitter: @wendyknowler.

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