Sadly I see this scam isn’t new. I would be interested in people who have had a similar experience and either received a refund, and whether the ticket proved to be valid. At the moment I am not getting satisfaction from Viagogo or PayPal.
I embarrassed to say that I have fallen for the Viagogo ticketing scam for an upcoming event at the Brisbane Convention Centre. When Googling for the tickets, Viagogo comes up before TIcketek appears (Google have a lot to answer for here). It’s a Ticketmaster ticket as received, and apart from paying over twice the face value of the ticket, it is in someone else’s name. The standard reply from Viagogo is that they are ticket resellers, which isn’t clear from their website. It appears to me that if the original buyer has copied the ticket, any subsequent presentation at the gate will be denied entry.
Paypal has refused to cancel the transaction saying the following:
“We reviewed the claim(s) you filed on 11 February 2019. Unfortunately, we had to deny your claim(s). This decision was made because if an item is materially similar to the seller’s description, we do not consider it to be significantly not as described.”
Viagogo are recognised by Choice and the ACCC as scammers - but are there avenues open to me to get a refund? Has anyone any experience of tickets being valid or invalid?
I see Queensland have made it an offence to scalp tickets at more then 110% of the face value, but it only seems to apply to sports stadiums. Anyone had any experience here?
Sorry to hear you have run into trouble with Viagogo, as you mention you are not alone and its very easy to fall prey to problems. It’s also a shame these sites are allowed to continue operating in this way in Australia.
I can see you have tried Paypal. It might be possible to raise a complaint with QLD Fair Trading and go through a tribunal process through this avenue if you’re willing to take your dispute further. Depending on the event and the costs involved in getting there, you can also take a chance. From what I’ve heard if tickets are still available they will cancel your ticket and reissue another ticket with a cost involved. Sorry that we cannot offer better advice or news, it’s a very tricky situation.
When it was announced that Elton John was going to perform in Cairns, my wife and her sister wanted to go so I Googled for details.
The first hit was Viagogo which I had not heard of previously.
Fortunately, I found the Chugg Entertainmant website and registered for tickets .so that we did not end up in the unhappy position of the couple featured in the above article.
Not unique to Viagogo.
But now the accepted norm for anything Google?
Ask Google for XYZ.website and it will likely not take you there. It brings up at the top of the list resellers, some mimicking in many ways the genuine website.
I now have several browser tabs that are Google free. Assumes you know the exact web address though to type in the address bar or have it saved.
