Terms and conditions

A ticket is a contract between you and the ticket seller. The seller has to clearly inform you of the ticket's terms and conditions before you buy.

Make sure you read the terms and conditions: different events have different rules.

The agent that sold you the ticket (for example Ticketek or Ticketmaster) is legally responsible for sorting out any problems with the ticket, not the venue.

Here are some common problems:

• Cancelled shows: You should get a full refund of your ticket price plus any booking fee if the show's cancelled. But you won't be compensated for costs such as airline tickets if the event's cancelled for a reason outside the promoter's control.
• Postponed shows: You should be able to claim a refund on the ticket price if the rescheduled date doesn't suit you. But this won't apply if the postponement was allowed for in the terms and conditions (for example, if it's an outdoor event rescheduled for a fine day).
• Double-booked seats: You're entitled to a refund if a ticketing agent doesn't exercise "reasonable care and skill" when allocating your seat.
• Poor A-reserve seats: Each grade of seating should be superior to those cheaper than it. You should be able to see and hear a show well from your A-reserve seats. Complain immediately if the seats you paid extra for aren't any good: you might be re-seated. Otherwise ask for a refund at the ticketing office the following day.
• Shut out: Event organisers claim that they can refuse entry to people who hold "scalped" tickets, although this is tough to enforce at the venue.

Service fees

Recently Paul, a Technical Writer at Consumer and film buff, wanted to see several films at the Wellington International Film Festival. He booked his tickets through the Ticketek website and was charged a $5.25 service fee.

"They wanted to add that per booking, which meant I had to book the five films I wanted to see in one go or get stung for another $25-40 for the honour of using their service", he explains.

After booking, Paul was offered the option of paying a further $8 to get his tickets sent to him or picking them up himself from the venue. Paul opted to print them for free. So what exactly is a service fee?

Ticketek's Country Manager Brendon Bainbridge says that the service fee partly covers the distribution cost of the ticket sale: "The individual who picks up the ticket at the venue still orders them through a channel (phone or web) and obviously a cost is incurred in managing that sale. ... Distribution costs cover the overall cost of transacting the ticket sale to the consumer."

Brendon points out that the cheapest option if you're buying several tickets with Ticketek is to purchase "print at home" tickets online. Otherwise it's usually cheaper to pick up single tickets direct from the box office.

Case study: Bledisloe Cup test match

Brian Small and his wife bought seven tickets costing $644 to a Bledisloe Cup test match at Eden Park. He had two family members flying in from Australia and three others heading north to Auckland from around New Zealand.

Brian and co arrived at the park 40 minutes before kick-off only to find other people sitting in their seats: "I asked to see their tickets and was surprised that they had the same numbers as us." Brian told an usher that the seats were double-booked. The usher offered to relocate the group after the Haka.

Brian then spent 25 minutes after kick-off squabbling with ground staff and ticket clerks before being relocated to an inferior section of the stadium. His Bledisloe night was ruined.

Afterwards Ticketmaster offered the group a $45 credit on each ticket (rather than a full refund) on the basis that they'd "seen the game". But Brian wanted a full refund.

Ticketmaster raised the offer: would Brian accept a $350 refund and seven tickets to an NPC game? No, he wouldn't ... "you are required under New Zealand law to make a full cash refund".

When Ticketmaster automatically refunded $350 into his credit card account ("Ticketmaster now considers this issue closed"), Brian took the matter to the Disputes Tribunal. As he says: "We won - and received a full refund."