Ticket hope

Light at the end of the ticket scammers tunnel as Lloyd’s insurance onboard

15 September 2008 - Several secondary ticket agenicies are clubbing together to provide a more authentic service for ticket buyers.

Confidence was lost when hundreds of people were hit by the ticket scamming company SOS Master Tickets last month (August).

It conned people who’d shelled out their hard earned cash for George Michael, Madonna and a variety of festival tickets - and were never sent the tickets they'd ordered.

The Association of Secondary Ticket Agencies (ASTA) has now joined the Lloyds of London group, which means it’s insured - so if someone's not happy with any of its 52 members, they could ask for a full refund.

Fans who get scammed by secondary ticket agents should be limited with this move, which allows ticket buyers to buy from any of those 52 members with full confidence; placing orders with the knowledge that the ticket will arrive in the post and that full refund facilities will be in place.

Graham Burns, who runs the ASTA, explains why it’s good for fans: “The consumer then has the double guarantee that the person they are dealing with is a member of a bonafide trade association in the United Kingdom, and further is underwritten by Lloyds to the full value of the money they’ve paid.”

And it wouldn’t matter if you paid over the original price, you would get everything back so long as the secondary ticketing agent is a member of the ASTA and are part of Lloyds’ scheme.

“No matter what the face value of the ticket was if the face value was £55 and they paid £100 for it including the postage and packaging, plus this plus that, they would get all of their money back - not just the value of the ticket as sold by the box office and I think that’s an important point,” he told 6 Music.

And it’s answering to a higher body that Burns thinks will make all the difference.

He questioned: “How safe and secure and guaranteed is it if you don’t have comprehensive measures in place that are scrutinised by the financial services authority, independent of your own organisation that needs to be properly overseen?”

"We can see from the events of the last few weeks that it’s of great importance to the consumer that no matter what method they use to pay, they’re covered."
Graham Burns

Fully covered

It was made worse for victims of the ticket scammers that had paid by debit cards, because they were not entitled to the guarantees of credit cards.

Burns says people won't have to depend on paying only with a credit card anymore: “The consumer has always had the credit card guarantee but that hasn’t been a comprehensive guarantee, its only been a guarantee on sales of more than 100 pounds.

“We can see from the events of the last few weeks that it’s of great importance to the consumer that no matter what method they use to pay, they’re covered.”

Words of wisdom

Burns stressed the importance of “trust” and “transparency” and promoting these values in the market place.

He has absolute faith in the Association, saying: “These are bonafide people, operating bonafide offices, to better service their members and it’s all about public education.

“You wouldn’t for instance buy a travel ticket from someone who was not at all registered, particularly in light of the events of the last week.”

Burns went on to offer his advice for all those affected: “Call your local trading standards, make them aware, get online, go to the Scam Busters website which is run by the Government, file a complaint, give as much detail as possible, email us, call us. We will be happy to look into it for you.”

And if you’re looking to use a secondary ticketing service in the future: “Please be aware when you’re buying your ticket of who you’re buying it from. Do your homework. Have a look on the internet, it’s a wonderful resource for information and you can find out very quickly if that person is bonafide or not.”

Have your say and leave 6 Music News your comments.

We want to know if a move like this would make a difference to your confidence when buying tickets from secondary online outlets.

Georgie Rogers