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HI,
I am after some guidance. I will try to keep this as brief as I can.
In February I booked some tickets to a Festival in Holland. The event was subsequently "postponed" until the same weekend in 2021, when the 2021 version of festival would have taken place anyway. On Tuesday I was sent an email which stated that I had 14 days to decide if I wanted to:
- Donate my tickets to the organiser.
- Accept a voucher for the value of the tickets.
- Convert the tickets to tickets valid for the 2021 event.
- Request a refund which will be payable 1 month after the date of the new festival (so May 2021)
- Do nothing, whereby the tickets would be converted to 2021 tickets automatically.
With the current Coronavirus situation we are clearly in what can only amount to extenuating circumstances on the part of the event organiser and obviously I completely accept this. I do not know if officially the Dutch Government have deemed this to be "force majeure", however I cannot find anything to confirm. The terms and conditions that were sent with the confirmation of purchase email does not have a Force Majuere clause.
The organiser is referring me to website which appears to be a voluntary scheme endorsed by the dutch government which promotes the options given above. Upon request I asked for more information regarding the dutch governments official stance on this, the link provided which is to a governemnt website states that refunds should be given if the ticketholder does not accept other options but does not confirm that waiting over a year for the refund is acceptable.
The terms and conditions of the event sent with the booking confirmation do state that if the event is cancelled that a refund of the full price, including service fees will be given. In the event of postponement, the final refund of the ticket will be subject to special terms and conditions (which are not set out) however "In principle, the Buyer will be entitled to full restitution, unless the Organizer offers an equivalent alternative to which the Buyer agrees. Ticket holders will always be informed in advance about the possibilities of refund or exchange of Tickets".
In basic terms both parties entered into a contract, the contract cannot be fulfilled (understandably) by the organiser. My basic knowledge of my consumer rights (UK Consumer Rights Act 2015 and EU Consumer Rights Directive) makes me beleive that it would be reasonable that due to the length of the delay that a refund be provided, which the organiser is agreeing to. However it feels unreasonable for the organiser to delay the repayment by so long.
I have questioned with the organiser if the event should be classed as cancelled rather than postponed but not recieved an asnwer, on the basis that moving it by 12 months to a date when it would have happened anway sounds more like a cancellation to me.
The guidance that I am after is
-- From a contract dispute/consumer rights perspecive should this be classed as a cancellation rather than a postponement?
-- If for whatever reason a refund of my costs is appropriate, is it reasonable to be made to wait 13 months for this to occur?
Many Thanks for help in advance.
I am after some guidance. I will try to keep this as brief as I can.
In February I booked some tickets to a Festival in Holland. The event was subsequently "postponed" until the same weekend in 2021, when the 2021 version of festival would have taken place anyway. On Tuesday I was sent an email which stated that I had 14 days to decide if I wanted to:
- Donate my tickets to the organiser.
- Accept a voucher for the value of the tickets.
- Convert the tickets to tickets valid for the 2021 event.
- Request a refund which will be payable 1 month after the date of the new festival (so May 2021)
- Do nothing, whereby the tickets would be converted to 2021 tickets automatically.
With the current Coronavirus situation we are clearly in what can only amount to extenuating circumstances on the part of the event organiser and obviously I completely accept this. I do not know if officially the Dutch Government have deemed this to be "force majeure", however I cannot find anything to confirm. The terms and conditions that were sent with the confirmation of purchase email does not have a Force Majuere clause.
The organiser is referring me to website which appears to be a voluntary scheme endorsed by the dutch government which promotes the options given above. Upon request I asked for more information regarding the dutch governments official stance on this, the link provided which is to a governemnt website states that refunds should be given if the ticketholder does not accept other options but does not confirm that waiting over a year for the refund is acceptable.
The terms and conditions of the event sent with the booking confirmation do state that if the event is cancelled that a refund of the full price, including service fees will be given. In the event of postponement, the final refund of the ticket will be subject to special terms and conditions (which are not set out) however "In principle, the Buyer will be entitled to full restitution, unless the Organizer offers an equivalent alternative to which the Buyer agrees. Ticket holders will always be informed in advance about the possibilities of refund or exchange of Tickets".
In basic terms both parties entered into a contract, the contract cannot be fulfilled (understandably) by the organiser. My basic knowledge of my consumer rights (UK Consumer Rights Act 2015 and EU Consumer Rights Directive) makes me beleive that it would be reasonable that due to the length of the delay that a refund be provided, which the organiser is agreeing to. However it feels unreasonable for the organiser to delay the repayment by so long.
I have questioned with the organiser if the event should be classed as cancelled rather than postponed but not recieved an asnwer, on the basis that moving it by 12 months to a date when it would have happened anway sounds more like a cancellation to me.
The guidance that I am after is
-- From a contract dispute/consumer rights perspecive should this be classed as a cancellation rather than a postponement?
-- If for whatever reason a refund of my costs is appropriate, is it reasonable to be made to wait 13 months for this to occur?
Many Thanks for help in advance.