I am amazed at excessive charges made by online booking organisations. They make the airlines seem almost reasonable!. I suggest that you start by pursuing Ticketek who charge a lot for online bookings,and don’t even provide (or hide very well) a phone number to contact in case of difficulties. You could then move onto most movie theatres who also charge a lot for online bookings and also hide their contact phone numbers very well.
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Recently I had to cancel a seat on a bus to Hobart airport. I was told the booking fee was $7.50, half the cost of the fare. I thought this excessive, as I was cancelling more than 24 hours ahead.
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For on-line bookings, adding charges AFTER you have made your selections is fundamentally unethical. By selecting a tickets to a performance you commit yourself to purchase a specific product, but it is not until the final costing that you are informed of additional ‘booking’ charges. This is tantamount to false and misleading representation. You enter into an agreement for a $90 ticket and you are charged $95.50! Hiding the true cost of a transaction is wrong! I have noticed that on-line flight tickets (the ones I have used) are now more honest and don’t add on ‘taxes’ and other charges after you have selected your flight.
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These charges not only seem unconscionable to me, they also seem anti-competetive.
There is no pressure upon the provider to charge a little as possible because the buyer pays all of the costs but is unaware of what these will be early in the purchase thereby making the true cost of the purchase difficult to compare against competitors
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Surely that is deceptive and false mis-representation…?? Consumers should be made aware of the cost of any ‘extras’ and the entire total cost should be large and easy to understand. Too many times I have been made to pay these ‘extra’ charges, and something needs to be done to wipe them out completely.
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I am Australian living in Canada. There is no such thing here or in the United States. I was home last year travelling around
I was shocked that they even get away with charging for booking flights or buying anything. I think it should be abolished. It seems they are charging so they can up their profits, not fair, not ethical.
Ticketmaster USA (etc) has fees for: service, order processing, delivery, venue, and taxes that are always in addition to the prices shown until the checkout. Some of the fees are avoidable, some are pass through, but they are there.
