Booking Fees. Grrrrrr

[melv16]

The Mrs went to buy some tickets for a gig. She got them from the venue but still got changed a £1-00 booking fee.
I don't mind getting charged if I've bought them from an agent, but I think it's a rip off if they're from the venue!

[TWR]

I was going to book for the film we went to see on Thurs Melv, that was in Burnley ( Not a Vue) they wanted the same, no way I would pay that either there or Accrington.

[Buenchico]

£1 is definitely at the lower end of the scale though. For example, if you book to see Black Sabbath at Manchester Arena, a ticket will cost you £75. Purchasing at the box office normally incurs a 10% booking fee but that's capped at a fiver, so that's how much you'd pay. Purchasing online though would incur a booking fee of £8.50.

[Old_Geezer]

Sounds like a well established rip-off to me. They're there to sell tickets for a performance, that's part of selling the service and should be included in the quoted ticket price; but you find this everywhere. Someone realises they can charge folk multiple times for something, so they do. Consider restaurant service charges, or "congestion" charges etc. etc. etc..

[murraymints]

outrageous....I never pay booking fee at the box office only on line through Agencies if I can't get into town...

[Jackdaw33]

The worst offender in my book is BT. I used to pay my phone bill quarterly as and when it arrived. A few years back I noticed a charge 'payment processing fee - £4.50'. When I queried this I was told that the only way to avoid this charge was to pay by DD, which I do now. I still cannot get my head around the logic of billing someone then charging them for the privilege of settling the bill.

[murraymints]

BT is outrageously expensive..change your provider !! I have a home line..Broadband ..unlimited...free calls to any uk number..free calls to a range of overseas including USA..Australia.. 1000 mins per month to any mobile network..for £25 per month..INCLUDING line rental..from EE...

[Jackdaw33]

I think I'll look into that. Currently I am paying £28.50 per month for phone line only. No broadband etc. I hardly ever use it and am not interested in free calls etc.

[joggerjayne]

Booking fees are how venues make money.

Most of the ticket price goes to the artist. The bigger the artist, the more harshly they will tie down the venue.

The booking fee all goes to the venue.

So, essentially, if local venues are going to put on a lot of good acts, they need to charge a booking fee to survive.

It's like cinemas charging a lot for popcorn. It's how they keep going.

So really, it's the other way round. If you buy them from an agent, they shouldn't charge a booking fee. They don't have the overheads of running the venue, and they will take a cut of the price. But venues themselves really need to charge a booking fee.

So don't be too harsh to venues. They do a good job.

:o)

[Old_Geezer]

What they need to do is admit the true cost and ensure it is reflected in the ticket price, not sting folk for more than the advertised price when you turn up to purchase.

[Jackdaw33]

Quite, OG. That way no arguments.

[TWR]

We are not tight by any means OG, when we went to the last film at the Acci Vue in our area we purchased some Pop "Terrible" Corn & a drink, never ever again, we now by our good before going in, your not saving ££££££££££££ but not getting ripped off either.

[melv16]

We've also looked into booking to see John Shuttleworth at the same venue. On top of the booking fee they want a fulfillment fee! Whatever that is.

[TWR]

Pay on your entrance Melv, you know how you stand then.

[naomi24]

Any fee should be charged per booking rather than per ticket. I booked 20 seats for the theatre and was charged an extra £2 per seat - an additional £40 in all for just one transaction. That seems rather extortionate to me.

[Buenchico]

>>> We've also looked into booking to see John Shuttleworth at the same venue. On top of the booking fee they want a fulfillment fee! Whatever that is

It's obviously not the (wonderful) Chelmsford Civic Theatre then! They're charging £17.50 to see John Shuttleworth. The only fee they charge is £1.50 per transaction (not per ticket) and you can avoid that by paying by cash or debit card at the box office (or by debit card over the phone).

[murraymints]

Who's he ^^^ ?

[joggerjayne]

Only 4 things can happen.

(1) The venue scraps the booking fee and takes an extra £1 from the ticket price ... but the big acts wouldn't agree to that.

(2) The face value of the ticket price is increased to include the booking fee ... but then the artist would take a cut of the booking fee.

(3) Scrap the booking fee ... but then some venues would eventually be unable to it on acts, and there would be less music for us to see.

Or, and this is the biggest one ...

(4) Persuade everyone to sto using Spotify, and trying to download or dream free music, and buy CDs ... if the music business started making money again fro sales in high street record shops, it wouldn't be so important to squeeze out every last penny from live events.

Whooahh!! ... oops, sorry, I almost tripped, getting down off my soapbox.

:o)

[joggerjayne]

"stream" ... not dream

[Old_Geezer]

There is no reason for the artist to take some of the additional cost of the ticket due to the fixed costs of holding the concert/whatever.

[Buenchico]

For Murraymints:

John Shuttleworth is the alter ego of Graham Fellows. He's probably best known for his various series on Radio 4 over the year but he's had Tv series and stage tours as well:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Shuttleworth_(character)

.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8eh72REd_s