Service charge on card purchase not being refunded to customer - is this reasonable?

D

Dr Strangelove

Registered User
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2,048
I booked online tickets for a Christmas event a few weeks back. Ticket price was €90 plus a €1 booking fee so card transaction was for €91. The booking fee of €1 was fully transparent to me.

So basically the card transaction went through but I never received an email with the admission code due to a system failure at their end. I rang them up and they said they would reimburse the card payment no quibbles and to pay cash on entry which I did.

The refund has come through on the card but was only for €90, not the €91 I paid. The event promoter insists they cannot refund me the euro as this was a transaction fee that they don't receive. I told them I didn't care and that a euro spent on a transaction that failed at their end was no good to me. Several emails back and forth and they are not budging.

On the one hand, it's a euro. On the other hand I paid for a service I never received, fully acknowledged by the event provider as a fault at their end.

Who is in the right here?
 
You are in the right. Your contract was not fulfilled. The €1 charge presumably arises from the contracted party's sub-contractor, so that is their problem. You could always write a formal sounding letter marked 'Letter before Action' threatening to sue them. PDF it and email it in.
 
Sounds like a sensible and rational use of one’s time alright.
 
Alternatively advise your card provider and tell them that the service was not delivered so the payments should be reversed.
 
It's probably in the small print somewhere.

I can see the issue from their side in that the transaction with them was €90 and if using auto refund, only €90 could be refunded.

They'd need to get your card details for the extra euro.

If they were proactive, they would have had a small token of apology when paying cash (that's if they had put tickets aside).

Theoretically it's the booking service that should refund you as it was their service that failed. Also, with the fee being a separate charge you could argue that the booking facility and €1 payment were to a different entity and they would have the legal responsibility.

I'd fire an email to them if you have a spare hour.
 
Hello,

If the fee was to cover the cost of the card payment, then in fairness, that service was provided - the original card payment was processed.

You could take comfort in the fact that there wasn't a further €1 deducted from the €90 which was returned, perhaps.

Ultimately, it's a very small cost, so try to move on, and put your time towards something more positive, from yourself, or family and friends.

However, if this was a blatent greedy admin charge, similar to those rip off charges imposed by Ticketmaster, on every single ticket (despite there not being one transaction) then I'd be livid, and probably take this all the way to the Small Claims Court.
 
Update: I initiated a chargeback with Revolut and had to share email correspondence with the event promoter with them. Euro successfully refunded today about two week after I initiated it.

Process was simple and in-app with Revolut, I imagine with banks and other providers it would be phone calls.

The euro wasn’t worth my time, but useful to know at least the principle was upheld.
 
Well done.
 
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