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Coronavirus cancellations have been abundant during the pandemic. Many scheduled holidays and events have been cancelled and frustrated ticketholders have faced difficulties trying to receive refunds. Coronavirus cancellations have been at the centre of disappointed customers eager for refunds, to no avail.
Now, Viagogo customers are involved in the latest ticket refund dispute, according to the Guardian.
Viagogo is a ticket marketplace for concerts, sports and theatre events.
Events scheduled for 2020 have now been postponed into 2021; however, Viagogo’s website explains that refunds are only available if an event has cancelled. In the event of a postponement, refunds are not granted.
There is some discrepancy in Viagogo’s coronavirus cancellation policy. The company says the events have been postponed, while organisers have verified that the events have been cancelled.
Viagogo is allegedly denying refunds for events rescheduled into 2021.
Many ticketholders are not able to attend the postponed events, or at least they have uncertainty about whether they’ll be able to attend events up to a year away.
Viagogo customers are asking for refunds for coronavirus cancellations or postponements.
One ticketholder bought tickets to the Wireless festival in London’s Finsbury Park, the Guardian reported. Melissa Taylor is now pursuing a refund from Viagogo after the event’s cancellation.
“They’re refusing a refund on the basis that the tickets can be carried over to next year’s festival,” she told Which?. “But Wireless’ official announcement was that it’s cancelled and carrying tickets over to next year is just one option.”
The cancellation policy on the Viagogo website asserts that ticketholders may receive a refund for cancelled events, but if an event is postponed, the ticket is valid for the new rescheduled date and no refunds are given.
A new policy announcement has been issued on the Viagogo website in response to the coronavirus cancellations.
Viagogo states that the coronavirus pandemic has led to many questions about cancellations and postponements.
Viagogo writes that in the event of a cancellation, customers will be contacted and given a voucher valued at 125% of the purchase, or a full refund.
If an organiser is giving the option of a voucher or tickets to a different event, Viagogo will contact the customer with that information. If an event is set to a new date, Viagogo will keep tickets valid for the rescheduled date.
The new coronavirus cancellation policy does not account for refunds for postponements but in regards to the pandemic, they are offering an option of either a 125% voucher or a full refund for cancellations only.
With this information, it is understandable that customers are frustrated by the restrictions of not being able to receive their money back for events that are rescheduled into next year.
The customer criticisms against Viagogo are unfounded, though, the ticket marketplace says.
Viagogo has rebuffed customer complaints about the refunds and stands by its policy. The company says the policy has not changed and that customers can still get refunds for cancellations. The postponements are allowing customers to see an event at a future date, and those tickets will still be valid at the later date.
“This has always been our policy and predates the pandemic,” Viagogo told BBC Newsbeat. “We understand that event changes may be disappointing for customers; however, they are always able to relist their tickets if they are unable to attend the new date.”
Do you think Viagogo should amend their policy to allow full refunds for postponed events? Let us know in the comments.
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5 thoughts onCustomers Claim Viagogo Won’t Refund Tickets to Coronavirus-Delayed Events
I brought tickets but decided to cancel within my 14 days statutory cooling off period and they still refuse to.issue a refund.
I bought tickets in 2019 for a concert in 2020 that was postponed until August of 2021. Now, I just got an event update email from Ticketmaster saying the concert in August will be postponed! Just give people their money back! How does the postponement or voucher work if I was to die? Just refund people’s money!
I bought tickets from viagogo for the Vitality T20 Blast Finals Day. It was postponed because of Coronavirus from 5th September to 3rd October (then 4th because of bad weather) – ok, that’s fine.
Then came the news that No Spectators could attend Sporting events from 1st October – ok, that’s fine.
Information on viagogo Help Centre page said that “If your event takes place behind ‘closed doors’ without fans or supporters in attendance” you will be entitled to a refund as a cancelled event. They also claimed that they would inform you along the way “we will email you” as to what you should do. They have contacted me only ONCE, and that was on 18th August to inform me that the event had been postponed from 5th September until 4th October.
I have requested a refund, telling them to look at their own Terms and Conditions, several times and they are really not interested in refunding. They did thank me though for informing them the event Had Taken Place – Without Spectators!
What an atrocious, unscrupulous company they are.
I can see in normal circumstances that Viagogo would stand by their policy but because of something out of everyone’s control, Covid 19, they should give refunds for purchased tickets on events that have been postponed longer than 6 months..
No one knows what is going to happen in the future and how long a postponed event will be..
I for one, could really use my money in times like this, and it is my money!!
Still waiting for a full refund when I email get same email saying Covid-19 will delay refunds for a few months!!! Rubbish just delaying refunds