Feb 2013 NEC show booking deceit

[gasgas]

Harrumph. Grumpy Old Git here. I wanted to get 'discounted tickets bought in advance' for the show so I followed the links which clearly state 'no booking charge' for tickets either collected on the door or sent to your email account for you to print. To avoid any queues I chose the latter. When I had clicked on the 'complete' button I was surprised to see that there was something called a 'Transaction Charge' of £1.

OK so of course £1 isn't worth going to the small claims court for but I hate it when clever dicks on committees sit around tables drinking coffee and eating cookies, thinking` of ways of extracting money from customers by saying 'no charge here' and then charging a 'but there is a charge here' charge when they have clearly implied that there are no charges other than the entrance charge.

Anyway I don't see why they should charge the customer when I would imagine that they also get a fee from the promoter. >:-)

I was hoping to have a nice day looking at shiny things I can't afford, and thinking of going to sunny places when the snow is falling outside. The day has started badly because of smarmy gits whose lives are full of lies and deceit. I was conned. GRRRRR.

MMM if you are reading this please choose 'partners' in your business that are honest.

[gocro]

And £30,I mean £30, for overnight parking!!!!!

 

[Dugi]

We do live in the UK , I try to spend little time in the UK because of this mentality, €6 is plenty ,

[Derek Uzzell]

In December 2011 there was a similar forum gripe relating to advance-booking of tickets for the February 2012 show at Excel London. See

 

http://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/Is-this-a-rip-off/25916/

 

As far as I was concerned then, there was never any question of 'rip off'. And, for the currently-running show at the NEC, it's nonsense to suggest that the people involved with the ticketing system are "smarmy gits whose lives are full of lies and deceit".

 

Magazine adverts for the NEC Show mention the £1 transaction fee. OK, the £1 fee is not headlined in metre-high letters of fire, but there's an asterisk alongside the "TICKETS FROM..." part of the advert and I suggest it's universally understood that, if there's an asterisk alongside something printed, there will be a footnote to match.

 

As the NEC Show is now running it's no longer possible to advance-book tickets. However, the first page of the Show's website does still indicate Advance and On-the-Door pricing. Alongside the word "Advance" is an asterisk and, further down the page, is the following information:-

 

*When buying before midnight on 18th February 2013. Prices revert to 'on-the-day' prices on 19th February 2013. A £1.00 transaction fee applies to all advance bookings."

 

When making on-line advance bookings for Excel Show tickets there was no lack of transparency. The £1 transaction fee was mentioned beforehand and it was clearly shown at the close of the on-line booking process PRIOR to the booking being completed. If the person making the booking disliked the idea of paying the £1 transaction fee, he/she could decide to not complete the booking. I'm confident the same on-line booking procedure has been employed for the 2013 NEC Show.

 

 

[Dr Dave]

I tend to agree that it is a 'hidden charge 'even though it is publicised albeit in small print, it is a fact every event that requires tickets requires a booking charge or similar my question is why?. The amount could easily be added to the ticket price so to add it later it is a form of deceit simply putting an asterisk next to the headline price is in my opinion not enough. It may only be a pound but given how many tickets they sell its quite an income.

[kelly58]

We went to the show Tuesday and it was very busy , but not as good as the October Show a lot smaller. Had we not won a couple of tickets I would not have bothered and also been dissapointed to have paid  to see what was there. The best thing I got was a CAK Tanks catalogue and won a multitool on the Caravanguard stand. Still it was a nice day to have a day out and get fired up for the new season with our new motorhome hopefully due next month which according to Marquis is on scedule.

[Patricia]

A similar annoying practice but nothing to do with motorhomes. I ordered a desk top charger on the internet. The first page had a huge banner at the top saying "free postage" so I went ahead and ordered. On the page where you fill in credit card details the price was as given for the item but no large banner and no postage showing. Good so far, but on the next page where my payment had been accepted a charge of £2.99 had been added to the price. I was furious and immediately tried to contact them to cancel the order. Emails were returned undelivered and the phone was engaged constantly.

 

Anyway I eventually managed to get an email through but only after I had received one to say goods had been shipped. Sent email again and reply said could not do anything as goods on way. Anyway, as a matter of principle, I fought on pointing out how deceitful this practice was, and eventually they paid back the carriage charge to my account. I later received an abject apology from them too.

[Matrix Meanderer]

We went yesterday and took advantage of the Camping and Caravanning Club members deal at £4.25 per person on Tuesday only.

 

Worked a treat.

Filled out the voucher (from the magazine)

Did not fill in contact details

Ticked box for no rubbish by post please.

Walked up to the cash payment booth

Handed over the voucher

Paid £9 for me and the navigator

Walked in.

 

So that's some money back on our membership fee at least.

 

Moral: Look out for vouchers - they do save cash.

 

Show was pretty small compared to Autumn show but we liked it because of the range of smaller exhibitors and less distance to walk to see it all.

 

Also had excellent advice from the Truma stand engineers on a problem that has been bugging our heating system. New printed circuit board needed - FOC from Truma :-D

Also able to see LED replacement lights working before buying.

 

Win - win for us yesterday.

[Andrew MMM]

MMM if you are reading this please choose 'partners' in your business that are honest.

For the record I should point out there is no connection

 

[HymerVan]

As a small point I struggle to understand the expression "transaction fee" since without a transaction there cannot be a sale/purchase.

I suppose its like being charged enter Tesco's and then paying for the groceries except that Tesco's don't have a monopoly.

[malc d]

HymerVan - 2013-02-28 7:44 PM

 

As a small point I struggle to understand the expression "transaction fee" since without a transaction there cannot be a sale/purchase.

I suppose its like being charged enter Tesco's and then paying for the groceries except that Tesco's don't have a monopoly.

 

 

I think a better term for these kind of add-ons would be " stealth charges " - they are not actually dishonest because they are mentioned in the small print - and just rely on the fact that so many people don't read further than ' headlines '

 

 

 

 

[bolero boy]

............or that there is no other easy way to get hold of tickets in advance.

We actually paid at the door and i was amazed that there was no credit card fee.

Incidently, my son tells me that there is a massive 'admin charge' (per ticket!) for Glastonbury tickets, but, as i said there is only one 'approved' avenue for purchase and all subscribers are fair game.

[Keith T]

HymerVan - 2013-02-28 7:44 PM

 

As a small point I struggle to understand the expression "transaction fee" since without a transaction there cannot be a sale/purchase.

I suppose its like being charged enter Tesco's and then paying for the groceries except that Tesco's don't have a monopoly.

 

'Transacation fee'...seems to have slipped into everyday usage now - eg 'Low cost' air fares, where you have to pay a fee to pay for the ticket - how else can you pay for it......!!

 

However, so long as they state it clearly - and I would suggest £1 is at least realistic - then thats Ok, you can choose what to do about it.

 

We go to events at Bristol Colston Hall, and if you book on line - doing all the work for them including choosing your seat - theyadd I think something like 8% to the total ticket price, then charge a fee for payment. We have now taken to either phoning the box office, and sending a cheque plus SAE where they charge a flat bfee of £1.50. Ironically, that must involve rather more admin time and cost.Alternatively we wait until we are in the City and call at the box office and pay by cash!

 

Regtrettably almost everywher now they charge a so-called admin fee, but I agree with comments here that teh price of a ticket chould be the price you pay!

[Derek Uzzell]

The website for the recent NEC Show still exists and the webpage carrying ticket information is here:

 

http://www.springcaravanandcampingshow.co.uk/page.cfm/Link=9/t=m/goSection=23

 

If I remember correctly, the standard ticket prices for advance bookings were £8 (adult) and £7 (senior) and a further discount (£0.50?) could be obtained by quoting a promotional code. All tickets for children under 16 were free of charge and people with disabilities were allowed concessions.

 

The terms and conditions relating to tickets are prominently displayed on the webpage and, right at the top of the relevant section, is the statement

 

" * A £1.00 transaction fee applies to all advance bookings."

 

This seems simple enough to understand - it means that £1 will be charged every time tickets are booked in advance. It won't matter whether you book one adult ticket, or 10 senior tickets, or 100 child-under-16 tickets, there will be a £1 fee for the booking transaction. Plainly, the more 'pay' tickets you book the less per-ticket impact the £1 fee will have. For one ticket the per-ticket addition will be £1; for 10 tickets the per-ticket addition will be £0.10; for 100 tickets the per-ticket addition will be £0.01. But, if you book tickets in advance, whatever their prices are you'll pay at least £1.

 

Whether it's felt that charging a transaction fee is (as Catherine Tate's Nan might say) a "f*****g liberty" is academic as far as I'm concerned. The original poster's complaint seems to be based on him not being told there was a fee - but there's the information about it on the ticket-related webpage and I'm confident that the fee was advertised during the on-line booking procedure.

 

Malc d observes (undoubtedly correctly) that "...so many people don't read further than 'headlines'" but this is hardly an excuse for complaining "I was conned" when the fact was "I never bothered..." And the final suggestion - that MMM magazine is somehow colluding with the "smarmy gits whose lives are full of lies and deceits" NEC Show organisers (NCC Events) - just beggars belief.

[mikejkay]

This is a form of inertia selling. Put it at the end when the prospective purchaser has filled in the forms and a significant number will say oh sod it, and go ahead.

 

If you went into a shop, selected an item priced on the shelf and then were charged more for paying when you went to pay you would be justifiably aggrieved.

 

It is one of the more unpleasant facts of life that there are more and more organisations e.g. insurance companies, local authorities, banks etc who employ people specifically to increase their profits by questionable methods.

[Mel B]

Bump :-D

[Losos]

Patricia - 2013-02-20 1:13 PMI fought on pointing out how deceitful this practice was, and eventually they paid back the carriage charge to my account. I later received an abject apology from them too.

 

Well done Pat for perservering with this, it is a form of deceipt and these firms rely on people just doing nothing 'cos they need the goods / tickets / whatever and £1 or £2.95 is not worth going to small claims court for. Abject apologies are nice but only words, I've noticed recently how all manner of official bodies tend to come out with apologies and the media seem to think that's wonderful but I just want to ask when is someone going to get sacked over these things, answer never 'cos you can't sack anyone for anything these days !!!!