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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Booking Fees - Devious and Decietful

23 replies

danniclare · 21/07/2011 21:30

AIBU? Just booked theatre tickets at one price, but surprise, a booking fee gets added to each seat. It is not possible to buy the tickets at the advertised price. Not anywhere. Not online (low cost to theatre, 24/7 hours), not at the theatre (no third party), not from a reseller.

Why! It's devious and decitful.

OP posts:
cookcleanerchaufferetc · 21/07/2011 21:32

It is getting a joke ..... just another rip off. Just paid ebay/paypal fees and they are extortionate, I wont be using them again.

Serenitysutton · 21/07/2011 21:35

It's the only industry where you have to declare the mark up for profit you put on a ticket. You can avoid them completely by buying from the box office in person.

fluffywhitekittens · 21/07/2011 21:56

I resent having to pay extra for each ticket. I can just about understand a fixed price booking fee but £1 on each ticket is ridiculous.

OldLadyKnowsNothing · 21/07/2011 22:04

Booking fee, plus insured post for delivery, plus "Oooh, there's a problem with our online booking system, phone us on this expensive number (from which we further profit) so you can pay..."

Grr.

MindtheGappp · 21/07/2011 22:08

You are booking from an agency. They have to make some money.

Original poster
danniclare · 22/07/2011 23:41

So if I buy a paper from the newsagents for 50p I should expect to pay 55p so the newsagent makes money? In most other areas the agency fee is carried by the seller and they pad their costs to cover it.

It's just a scam to make the tickets look cheaper than they really are.

OP posts:
SydSaid · 23/07/2011 06:48

With most products, the retail price is not the same as the price the seller buys it for.

Not the case with ticket sales. If there was no booking fee, the online ticket sellers would not be able to exist. That is the money for enabling the transaction, paying the staff, paying for the website and generally running the business.

It's not a scam, and to be honest I prefer to buy my tickets online rather than in person, so it's a price I'm happy to pay - and generally costs less than the petrol would anyway.

YABU (although I think most people are about booking fees until they understand what they are for)

MostlySHD · 23/07/2011 08:17

SydSaid - the problem I have is not the booking fee, so much as the way it never seems to be announced until I've chosen my tickets, created an account (for my convenience on this website I'll never return to) and am just ready to enter my card details. Then, suddenly, the amount jumps up £2. I don't mind paying for a service, but I resent the way it is done in ticket sales. Add the booking fee to the basket when I add the tickets and I'll be a lot less grumpy about paying it.

upahill · 23/07/2011 09:02

Last year I wanted to buy tickets for 5 different gigs for the two if us. (10 tickets in all.) The booking fee + postage + insurance came to nearly £30.

It cost me £8 return to get the train in to Manchester to buy them for face value!!

MindtheGappp · 23/07/2011 10:28

Pure speculation, but I suspect that keeping the booking fee separate from the face value of the ticket has something to do with ticket touting laws.

Serenitysutton · 23/07/2011 10:34

That's not the case mind te gap. As explained above if ticketmaster sell a ticket for take that and the value is £40 that £40 belongs to the promoters.£40 is the fee ticktmaster pay for the ticket in order to sell it to you. I they don't mark it up how do they stay in business?

SoftKittyWarmKitty · 23/07/2011 11:46

I've just booked a holiday and because I paid for it on my credit card, I had a fee of £30 odd! Disgraceful.

MindtheGappp · 23/07/2011 12:26

They sell you the ticket for the face value and add on a service charge.

MindtheGappp · 23/07/2011 12:28

It's not disgraceful, soft kitty. The holidays are priced as low as they can (ie a debit card rates), and any extra costs are passed onto the buyer.

elphabadefiesgravity · 23/07/2011 12:36

I used to work for a major concert venue.

The promoter would hire the venue and set the ticket price. He would then choose who he wanted to sell his tickets. Sometimes he asked the venue box office, sometimes an outside agent, sometimes a mixture of both.

The box office have to hand oer te entieface value of the ticket to the promoter so the booking fee is the only bit they get to keep. Customers who came in person and paid by cash didn;t have to pay the booking fee.

By contrast the classical venue owned by the same group the promoters of the orchestras/recitalists tended to pay the venue a fee or commission for providing a ticket selling service which they then incorporated into the ticket price. The tickets worked out to be the same price as they would have been using the other system but people seemed happier.

SiamoFottuti · 23/07/2011 12:39

Here anyway, when you see an advert for a concert or play or whatever, it always says something like "Ticket prices ?22-?150 (plus 2% or 2.50 booking fee)" or whatever. Always upfront.

SoftKittyWarmKitty · 23/07/2011 15:09

That's fine if the fee is advertised upfront, but in the case of my holiday it wasn't. I went all through the booking process and at the very end it added on another £30 odd quid.

MindtheGappp · 23/07/2011 15:13

Presumably they didn't add the extra fee before you paid?

Everyone knows that credit cards are more expensive than debit cards.

Pedallleur · 23/07/2011 15:13

If it's Ticketmaster it's more of a con as they are part of Live Nation who own a lot of venues. There is a whole issue about secondary ticketing as well. I stopped going to gigs a while back where TM are concerned.

Scholes34 · 23/07/2011 17:02

It needs to be tackled in the way they're starting to tackle budget airlines. What is the point in advertising a price if you can't actually pay that price. Our scouts and cubs had to pay a £2.00 booking fee on each ticket for the pantomime - so £100 to the theatre for pressing a few buttons and printing out some tickets. Just think how many ice creams that could have bought for them.

mumeeee · 23/07/2011 17:36

YANU. DH even had to pay a booking fee and to have his tickets emailed to him. Didn't cost the venue ant extra as he printed out the tickets so used his paper and ink.

Original poster
danniclare · 23/07/2011 21:28

"Everyone knows that credit cards are more expensive than debit cards."

I'd understand that, but it's the same fee for credit and debit cards.

OP posts:
Pedallleur · 23/07/2011 21:43

Note that the artist you pay to see could do something but they are getting the fee and TM can then decide what to charge.

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