After payment, “JJ Lin” becomes “Wiber Pan”. Will there be a 50% handling fee for refunding concert tickets? Lawyer interpretation
CCTV News (Reporter/Yao Shuting): A few days ago, some consumers complained on social platforms that they were suspected of experiencing “jumped tickets” when purchasing tickets for JJ Lin’s Nanchang concert on a certain ticketing platform. After payment, the tickets for JJ Lin’s concert in Nanchang actually changed to those for Wilber Pan’s concert. For tickets, consumers immediately apply for a refund, and the refund page shows that a 50% handling fee will be charged.
On the evening of May 6, Xiaojie snapped up tickets for JJ Lin’s concert on June 2. She entered the ticket purchase interface for JJ Lin’s concert through the homepage of the platform. After receiving the ticket, she immediately paid without a password. Xiaojie told CCTV’s “News+” reporter Introduction: “I bought a ticket for 1,380 yuan, and JJ Lin also had this ticket stall, so I didn’t notice anything unusual until the payment was completed. But what I didn’t expect was that after the payment was completed, the message that popped up was ‘Successfully purchased Wilber Pan’s concert’ Tickets’ information”. After discovering that she bought the wrong ticket, Xiaojie immediately applied for a refund. The page showed that it was already the 16th day after the ticket was issued for Wilber Pan’s concert, and the refund fee was 50% of the ticket price.
Ms. Tang, a consumer, bought a 1,180 yuan concert ticket for Wilber Pan. She told the “News+” reporter that all personal information had been pre-filled before the ticket was issued. After the tickets for JJ Lin’s concert went on sale, the only popular window on the platform was JJ Lin’s ticket. Click on the ticket interface to enter the ticket purchase interface. There is no need to fill in other information again. Only when Ms. Tang received the ticket purchase text message did she realize that she had purchased tickets for Wilber Pan’s Nanchang concert.
“It’s clearly the first picture of JJ Lin’s character, but the jump is to Wilber Pan’s concert. Isn’t the system automatically jumping randomly to mislead and deceive consumers?” Ms. Chen, a consumer, recalled that the evening of May 6 was during the ticket sales period for JJ Lin’s concert. And the ticket purchase interface for Wilber Pan’s concert is in the “booked ticket purchase” state, and tickets cannot be purchased. Ms. Chen told reporters that many Wilber Pan fans also asked questions at the bottom of the relevant Weibo: “I can’t get Wilber Pan’s tickets even if I want to, so how come so many people bought them?”
According to media reports, in early 2024, many consumers purchased “JJ Lin JJ20 World Tour Chengdu Station” concert tickets on the same platform. After payment, they found that the ticket information was “2024 Lin Zixiang 50 Kin Concert”. Since the performance was approaching, the platform refused to handle refunds. Ticket buyers questioned the platform’s deliberate “ticket bounce”. The platform denied that there was a system problem and believed that the ticket buyers accidentally “clicked the wrong ticket”, but agreed to provide a full refund.
In April 2024, consumer Xiaoyu purchased tickets for Xu Song’s concert on the platform and found that the order showed tickets for Su Youpeng’s concert. She called customer service to complain but failed. She still received the tickets for Su Youpeng’s concert the next day.
Ms. Chen told reporters that there are currently nearly 70 consumers who have had the same experience. Some consumers received a text message from the Nanjing Jianye District Culture and Tourism Bureau after complaining: “Jianye District Culture and Tourism Bureau has contacted the organizer for communication and coordination. The organizer stated that it agreed to refund the tickets, but the announcement of the handling fee was reviewed and filed by the Nanchang Municipal Public Security Department and could not be changed without authorization. Moreover, the ticket purchase error was caused by the ticketing platform, and the organizer was not at fault, so a full refund could not be achieved. In view of the failure of mediation, it is recommended that consumers pursue their rights through legal channels.”
On May 9, some consumers received a text message reply from the platform: The feedback has been confirmed and full refunds are not supported.
Yue Qishan, senior partner of Beijing Yuecheng Law Firm, said that the key point of the incident lies in whether the platform has breached the contract or infringed upon the situation. According to the “Consumer Rights and Interests Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China”, consumers have the right to independently choose goods or services. Consumers also have the right to know the specifics of relevant goods or services. If the platform deliberately set jump links, causing consumers to fail to purchase the tickets they want to buy, which has damaged consumers’ right to independent choice and information, it is an infringement of consumers. The platform needs to bear corresponding responsibilities for the behavior of rights and interests. Once it constitutes fraud, it may be liable to refund one and compensate three.
According to the “Notice of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Ministry of Public Security on Further Strengthening the Standardized Management of Large-scale Commercial Performance Events to Promote the Healthy and Orderly Development of the Performance Market” in September 2023, performance organizers should establish a refund mechanism for large-scale performance events and set a reasonable tier The refund fee standard protects the ticket purchaser’s legitimate right to refund. Yue Qishan mentioned that even if the platform does not intentionally set up “ticket bouncers”, when consumers buy the wrong tickets or need to refund the tickets, it may not be a reasonable and legal behavior to directly use the “overlord clause” such as charging a 50% handling fee.
Under normal circumstances, consumers rarely take photos and collect evidence in advance when purchasing goods and services, so they face the problem of “difficulty in providing evidence” when defending their rights. In this regard, Yue Qishan introduced that consumers can use the background search records to prove the products and services they plan to purchase, as well as the final payment records, to prove that the final purchase results are not in line with expectations. At the same time, they must also keep relevant ticket purchase records. Payment information, etc. After discovering problems, you can first negotiate and communicate with the platform. If the negotiation fails, you can call 12315 to make a complaint or report to the market supervision department, or you can directly file a lawsuit with the People’s Court and solve the problem through litigation.
Yue Qishan suggested that when consumers conduct transactions online, they must make sure that the goods and services they purchase are correct. In addition, merchants must operate with integrity during the business process and not seek improper benefits through other means.
(At the request of the interviewees, all names in this article are pseudonyms)