Following the recent release of the Office of Fair Trading’s (OFT) report based on research conducted in the summer of 2004 on UK ticket agency practices, Arts Hub examines the ‘necessary evil’ of ticket agencies.
It is no secret, and no surprise, that tickets for an entertainment event (theatre, dance, pop or classical music etc.) purchased from a ticket agent will incur extra costs, ‘mark ups’, in addition to the actual ‘face value’ of the ticket. In October 2003, the consumer watchdog Which? spoke out in an article in which they pre-empted the OFT report. During their research they identified that several ticket agents – members of The Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers, (STAR) were in breach of their own code of practice, failing to be transparent in making the existence and amount of additional fees obvious and in clearly pointing out the small print of the terms and conditions. They found evidence of mark ups of as much as 28% on tickets. At that time, only Ticketmaster complied with the code every time in all of the ticket purchases made by Which? for its research.
