What is important to know if the event is canceled or the quality is not satisfactory? | Business

It is important to know your responsibilities and the actions of both yourself and the organizer of the event in order to avoid conflicting situations, if, for example, the event is canceled, tickets are purchased for an event that is already taking place at that time, or seating is changed after adjusting the hall plan.

The most important rule

The most important rule that everyone should know is that it is necessary to save the document confirming the fact of ticket purchase: purchase receipt, payment card account statement and tickets to the event.

It is important to know that before concluding a service contract, the service provider must familiarize the client with:

• in terms of services provided;
• their price;
• terms of service provision;
• other information that affects the customer’s decision to enter into a contract.

The most common situations – how to solve them?

If it happens that the user has already purchased tickets to the event, but the event is canceled, this is considered a breach of contract and is against the principle of compliance with contracts. In view of this, if the event does not take place, the user has the right to demand the return not only of the money paid in advance for the tickets, but also to compensate other expenses incurred due to the event not taking place, such as travel expenses.

There are often situations when the user, on whose behalf the tickets were purchased, can no longer come to the event and the service provider allows to use the ticket resale service or the ticket insurance service is provided. It is important to know that this information must be clearly and comprehensibly presented to the user not only in the rules specified on the official website of the service provider, which the user must check before buying a ticket, but such information must also be presented to the buyer in a durable medium (a paper document, USB flash drive, compact disc drive (CD-ROM), digital video disc (DVD), memory card or computer hard drive, e-mail).

There are also cases where tickets are purchased for an event that is already taking place at that time, so it is extremely important to properly inform users. When buying tickets, the organizer of the event should warn the user about the event already taking place: this way it would be possible to avoid a situation where the ticket buyer does not understand or does not notice this circumstance himself. It is also recommended to mark the information about the time of the event in such a way that the user can easily pay attention.

Sometimes users complain about the artist of a concert being given in a vague or misleading way, for example, when providing information about an event, it is not clearly stated that a certain artist will perform the songs of another artist. There are also cases when the advertisement indicates that the event will take place in one concert hall, although in reality it is taking place elsewhere. Taking into account the situations that occur, event organizers are encouraged to clearly and unambiguously name the artist participating in the event, the concept of the event and the location of the event when purchasing tickets.

Other complaints from residents are related to the distribution of gift vouchers for the event. Most of the disputes arise from the fact that the entire amount specified in the coupon is not divided into several separate purchases, that is, the entire amount must be used during one purchase, and if this is not done, the amount is not returned. The mentioned problem is most relevant when not general event gift vouchers are sold, but, for example, a visit to the event of a specific event organizer. Therefore, it is advisable to provide information about the terms of use of the gift voucher in the gift voucher of the specific event organizer.

There are also such complaints in which users express their dissatisfaction with the changed hall plan, which determines the change of previously chosen seats in a certain sector and the poorer visibility of the stage and performance.

Consequently, ticket sellers, taking into account the requirements of the legislation on the way of information presentation, should provide consumers with clear and easy-to-find information about possible impending changes to the hall plan, but in such a case, the consumer should be provided with equivalent seats, the price of which and the visibility of the stage and performance correspond to the chosen one. seats and legitimate expectations when purchasing tickets.

Remote contract

Often, tickets for events are sold and purchased through a distance contract. It is important to know that before concluding a distance contract, the entrepreneur must clearly and comprehensibly provide the consumer with information about the main features of the product or service.

The information must be legible. If, according to the distance contract, the user has an obligation to pay, the entrepreneur must inform the user clearly, visibly and immediately before placing the order about:

• the total price of the goods or services, including taxes;
• the method by which this price is calculated;
• during the duration of the contract;
• when the contract is open-ended or automatically extended, – under the terms of termination of the contract.

Also, the entrepreneur must clearly and comprehensibly provide the consumer with information about the right to withdraw from the contract or the circumstances in which the consumer loses the right to withdraw from the contract.

In this case, when the entrepreneur does not provide the consumer with information about the right to withdraw from the contract, the consumer can withdraw from the distance contract within 12 months. The onus is on the seller to prove that such information has been properly provided.

Where should the consumer go?

Users who are not satisfied with the quality of the events must first contact the service provider in writing, who must respond within 14 days from the date of receipt of the user’s request.

If the seller and the consumer fail to reach an amicable agreement, the consumer should contact the State Consumer Rights Protection Service (e-mail [email protected]), which will assess how and what information was provided before and during the event, examine the evidence presented by the parties to the dispute and explanations. So, when such a situation arises, it will be very useful to save the documents confirming the fact of ticket purchase.