Saturday, 25 March 2023
by Earn Media
Image source: Getty Images
If you purchased tickets to see The Cure earlier this month, you might have some money coming your way. Many fans are unhappy about the high fees they were forced to pay to secure tickets to see the band. However, Ticketmaster has agreed to give customers who previously bought tickets a partial refund due to the excessive fees charged. This news comes after the band’s frontman, Robert Smith, complained about the costly fees on Twitter.
The Cure is touring throughout the United States this spring and summer. The band used Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan platform in hopes of getting more tickets to fans instead of ticket scalpers. Fans using the Verified Fan platform could register for presale ticket access.
After tickets were made available to Verified Fans who had registered, customers were charged outrageously high fees. In some cases, the fees totaled more than the actual tickets. There were reports of customers paying more than $20 in fees for tickets that were priced at $20. Smith took to Twitter to express his frustrations and later discussed the matter with Ticketmaster, hoping to get more clarity for upset fans.
But there is some good news for fans who were impacted. On March 16, 2023, the musician tweeted that Ticketmaster had agreed to offer a partial refund. Those who purchased the lowest-priced tickets through a Verified Fan account would get a $10-per-ticket refund. Those who purchased other tickets through a Verified Fan account would get a $5-per-ticket refund.
Impacted customers will get refunds automatically. Additionally, those who have yet to buy tickets to see The Cure will now pay lower fees. While the refunds offered are meager, it’s nice to see some progress made in the fight to reduce outrageous ticket sale fees.
This isn’t the first time customers have complained about expensive fees charged by Ticketmaster. Live Nation Entertainment owns Ticketmaster. It’s estimated that both companies control about 70% of the live event ticketing market, so consumers have no choice but to pay extra fees when buying tickets for an event they want to see.
When ordering tickets through Ticketmaster, customers are charged multiple fees. On its website, the company outlines the fees customers may pay on top of the ticket price. That includes service fees, order processing fees, delivery fees, and facility charges. These fees make it more costly to go to an event, and can reduce your checking account balance.
Not knowing the total fees charged until checkout can also make it hard to budget for entertainment costs. Paying outrageously high prices for an event can negatively impact your personal finances. It’s no wonder so many consumers are upset and want more to be done.
Will more be done in the fight to eliminate excessive ticket fees? We can hope. In February, President Biden called on Congress to crack down on hidden junk fees, including event ticket fees. He hopes that both sides can come together to prohibit excessive fees and make it mandatory to disclose them in the ticket price for greater transparency. For now, we’ll have to wait and see if excessive fees become a thing of the past.
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