Refund for tickets booked in covid times

[rainbowplum]

My family were due to attend a small event
The company arranging the event have said that because they still had to pay for the hall they will not be refunding us anything. The tickets cost £300 in total.

This is a lot of money to us. They are quoting that on their terms it says all tickets non refundable but the tickets were paid for before covid hit and we didn't anticipate it being cancelled for such reasons. We also can't understand why we get no money back when it was totally out of our control that the event was cancelled.

Firstly I don't think they did have to pay for the hall but I can't be sure, I believe they are absorbing lost costs as a company from peoples ticket purchases.
Can anyone help as to if this is ok that they are doing this? I was expecting at least a partial refund. Thanks

did you pay with a credit card?

if so - do a charge back

if not - see if you have legal on any of your insurances (probably home)

Thank you. Charge back has expired as is over 120 since purchase and we moved house and now rent so all different insurance since the purchase so there is no insurance unfortunately.

They were purchase Feb 2020 for event in May 2020 they then said it will be moved to 2021 and have been dragging it out hence us not charging back immediately, but now have finally said they will not be refunding and it also won't be going ahead at all.

have you asked the credit card company if they can help?

www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/coronavirus-covid-19-consumer-advice-cancelled-weddings-and-events

Cancelled concerts, sporting events, or theatre shows
If the organiser has cancelled the event and you bought your tickets directly from them or from an official booking site, then you should normally get a refund.

The Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers (STAR) is the industry’s self-regulatory body which requires traders registered with them to refund the ticket’s face value price when an event is cancelled.

It’s unlikely you’ll get the delivery costs or booking fees back.

If you bought your tickets from any other ticket retailer, you may have fewer consumer protections. You should check the company’s terms and conditions on its website as they may offer guarantees or other protections.

In some cases the event will be rescheduled and you may be happy with this. If not, you should write to the business and ask for a refund.

Some businesses may offer you a voucher or a credit note instead of a refund. You do not have to accept their offer and can insist on your right to a refund.

If a business refuses to refund you, you should do the following:

Write to the business
Write to the business to make a complaint and to make it clear that only a refund is acceptable to you.

Provide the details of your booking when you are writing, and keep a copy of what you sent.

Writing may be the best way to contact a business in the current circumstances, as it is a record of your complaint, and contacting some businesses by telephone can be difficult.

Report to Consumerline
Report the matter to the Trading Standards Service and get advice by contacting Consumerline.

Contact Consumerline to make a complaint or ask advice
Postponed events: your consumer rights
Keep your ticket for the event and wait for the organiser to announce a new date.

If you are unable to go to the event on the new date, you will have the same rights as outlined above (event cancelled by the organiser).

If you have paid by card

If you're unable to get a refund, then you can also check if you can get your money back from your card provider.

Credit card
If you paid by credit card and your booking was more than £100, you have additional protections if something goes wrong.

Your credit card company is jointly liable for any breach of contract (such as an event cancellation).

You should write to the card company ‘claiming breach of contract’ asking for a full refund.

Debit card
If you paid by debit card, you can ask your card provider to reverse a transaction on your credit or debit card in a process called chargeback.

Chargeback isn’t a right or law and offers no guarantees, but it is a way your bank may be able to help you.

Chargeback is also particularly useful where the cost of the tickets was under £100.

As the original event was cancelled due to Covid, the contract was frustrated and you are entitled to a full refund. The organisers may also be entitled to a full refund from the hall on the same basis.

Send the organisers a letter before action. This should set out clearly how much they owe you and give them a reasonable deadline to respond (14 days is normal). You should also say that you will take legal action without further notice if they fail to respond by the deadline.

I managed to claim a refund from my credit card last summer for cancelled flights and more than 120 days had elapsed since I'd made the payment. I'm a bit hazy about the details, but I think it may have been a Section 75 claim rather than a charge back, so that might be worth looking into.

Although the total transaction was £900, I do remember the credit card company insisted on evidence that the flights cost more than £100 for each passenger, so if your £300 charge is for more than 3 people you might be able to use section 75, but it might be worth a try

Was it credit card or debit card? DC if its over the 120 days you won't get a refund, the banks can't legally raise a chargeback with VISA outside that time. You may have more chance with CC under section 75

Thanks for all of this advice I will look into section 75 the company is a family run company that does small concerts at small hired rooms but in big venues.
They are refusing a refund saying that we knew the tickets were non refundable when we booked them. However that was ok on the basis we would receive something if we chose to attend or not, when the event was cancelled things were out of our hands so I'm annoyed they can just take £300 from us with no other explanation than we knew they were non refundable.

I will contact them first but they are not a limited company so I'm not sure if that affects things. I feel like I've been robbed here!
I will also check out section 75 of the cc thank you,

Call your bank, they are best placed to advice you. Non refundable is surely if you can no longer attend. You can't just take peoples money say its not going ahead and non refundable! Thats basically theft!

I’m with Barclays and had a couple of things cancelled due to COVID. I was having trouble getting a refund. You can raise a dispute with the bank and they will refund you and take it up with the company.

I will contact them first but they are not a limited company so I'm not sure if that affects things

The only difference that makes is that the owners are personally liable for the debts of the business. It doesn't affect your right to a refund.

What cheeky bastards, non refundable means you can’t cancel and get money back, it doesn’t mean they can just cancel the show!!

Yep I'm very annoyed. I've phoned cc company. The tickets were bought last year far back enough the cc company are going to look into when the transaction occurred but seemed positive this could be refunded. Fingers crossed now.

I am not going to contact the event company for now. I rechecked their Facebook page which says tickets only refunded in the event they cancel.
So they must know this isn't ok!

I'm glad it was on your credit card, I'm sure you'll get your money back. Can't believe the cheek of them, it's theft really. They'll be charged for the section 75 and rightly so