Not warning Oasis fans of dynamic pricing may be law breach, experts say
nme.comOasis fans about dynamic pricing, where the price of their tickets may soar while they are queuing, may have been a breach of consumer law – according to a new report by The Guardian.Last week Oasis announced their upcoming reunion tour, and tickets went on sale over the weekend.
However, it was met with much controversy as Ticketmaster implemented a dynamic pricing system, which meant that ticket pricing increased depending on demand – without warning.This led to some fans who had been in the queue the entire day paying £355 for a ticket which was originally £135 when it came to confirm their purchase.
This left some in a difficult predicament – either paying over double what they originally wanted to or missing out on tickets to see Oasis.Now a report by The Guardian has found that Ticketmaster may have been breaching consumer laws.
Expert say that although dynamic pricing itself is legal, Ticketmaster may have violated consumer regulations if it wasn’t made clear to fans that the price of standard standing tickets could rise.Sylvia Rook, the lead officer for fair trading at the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI), told the newspaper: “It is a breach of the consumer protection from unfair trading regulations (2008) if a trader misleads consumers regarding the price of goods and services, if that causes the average consumer to take a different ‘transactional decision’.“In this case many consumers would not have joined the queue had they known that the price would have increased by the time they were able to purchase, and many fans could not afford the increased price.”On Monday, the consumer group Which?
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