Consumer group urges Oasis and Ticketmaster to refund fans hit by ‘in demand’ ticket pricing

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Oasis ticket prices revealed ahead of huge reunion tour. Credit: Publicity picture, Simon Emmett

Oasis ticket prices revealed ahead of huge reunion tour. Credit: Publicity picture, Simon Emmett

Ticketmaster is being warned that its ‘in demand’ pricing system for Oasis tickets could be in breach of consumer law.

Which? is now calling on the Manchester band and the ticket website to refund fans.

In case you’ve been living under a rock, Oasis are reforming for a run of shows in the UK and Ireland next year, but the massively long-awaited reunion tour has faced controversy following Ticketmaster’s use of ‘in demand’ pricing – which came into effect when tickets to the gigs went on sale on Saturday 31 August.

Ticketmaster’s ‘in demand’ pricing is where prices surge if demand for tickets is high.

After waiting in a lengthy virtual queue, many Oasis fans had a nasty shock at the checkout when they found tickets were significantly more expensive than they’d expected them to be.

Now, consumer group Which? says it believes Ticketmaster’s lack of transparency around its ‘in demand’ pricing could have breached consumer law, and is calling on the company to “do the right thing” and refund the difference to fans who paid more than the expected face value for tickets.

Which? says it saw evidence that fans were shown one ticket price when they were queuing for tickets, only to have has that price taken away at the last second and replaced with a far higher – and unexpected – ticket price when the page reloaded.

In one example, the cost of standing tickets – which was originally advertised for £151.25 – had surged to £337.50 each, due to this ‘in demand’ pricing.

This meant that four standing tickets, which is the maximum amount of tickets one person could secure in one order, would have cost an eye-watering £1,400 once the service and order processing fees were included.

The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations (CPRs) protect consumers from unfair or misleading trading practices, and it’s this that Which? believes Ticketmaster’s lack of transparency around its ‘in demand’ pricing for the Oasis concerts could have breached, as many fans were not informed about the price increase until after they had tried to add cheaper tickets to their baskets.

“Under the CPRs, when advertising a product, traders must not mislead consumers with how prices are presented or leave out key pricing information that might be needed to make an informed decision about a purchase,” Which? said in a statement.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is also investigating whether Ticketmaster’s sale of Oasis tickets may have breached consumer law, and if this is found to be the case, this when would enable fans to seek refunds and compensation from both Ticketmaster, and Oasis themselves.

Oasis previously stated they had “no involvement” in the decision to implement dynamic pricing.

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When Which? contacted Ticketmaster, the company said: “We are committed to cooperating with the CMA and look forward to sharing more facts about the ticket sale with them.”

Featured Image – Simon Emmett