A court has told Seatwave to refund two Lionel Richie fans, not only the cost of their tickets, but also their accommodation and travel after the site failed to deliver tickets.
The £240 tickets that Richard Spicer and his wife Jane bought from the Ticketmaster-owned resale site Seatwave in 2015 never arrived for Lionel Richie’s gig and glamping experience at the Eden Project in Cornwall.
Spicer took the case to small claims court to recover the cost of their accommodation and travel, after receiving a refund for their tickets.
He told Guardian Money that Seatwave “did its utmost to evade paying out for our costs”, but says he has finally received £388, which includes interest and his court fees, after a default judgment against the firm.
However, Seatwave told Guardian Money that it didn’t receive the court papers, so judgment was entered in default. The company said it would have defended the case if it had known about it, according to the Guardian.
Spicer adds: “It took a lot of persistence, but I wish to publicise the fact that companies such as this, which have such dubious business practices, can be forced to pay, in the hope that more people will be encouraged to take action.”
The tickets had not arrived a week prior to the event, so Spicer said he contacted Seatwave. An employee called him to say she was “trying to find tickets”. He said she told him she would phone him back and send the tickets to where they were staying near the venue.
However, Spicer said that by the time he received the call to tell him there were no tickets, the couple had already travelled to Cornwall and had missed the deadline to get their money back on the accommodation, the Guardian reports.
In a statement the company said: “Seatwave has confirmed it didn’t receive the court papers and so judgment was entered in default. Had it been made aware of the claim, it would have defended the matter in the usual way.”
Image: Brian Solis
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