The Australian Federal Court has ruled that Swiss ticket reseller Viagogo has not only been misleading consumers, it has been ripping them off with exorbitant fees.
Justice Stephen Burley has ruled that Viagogo mislead consumers by using the word “official’ in its advertising making unsuspecting consumers think they were spending their money with a legitimate original seller.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) also found that Viagogo was charging an average 27.6% booking fee in the period 1 May, 2017 to 26 June, 2017.
Viagogo also conned consumers with statements like “only a few tickets left” when the statement referred to just their site, not all tickets available for an event.
In a statement ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said, “We urge consumers to only buy tickets from authorised sellers, or they risk their tickets being dishonoured at the gates or doors.
“Today’s Federal Court decision is a reminder to businesses that consumers must be clearly told that there are additional fees associated with a displayed price.”
The Australian Federal Court will now consider an appropriate penalty for Viagogo to be announced shortly.
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