Do ticket charges tick you off?

Sure, I can get my hands on the tickets quicker and the charge can often be cheaper than delivery costs. But I still find it almost insulting that I have to pay for a service that requires me to use my own electricity and printer ink, while essentially saving a company money on postage and packaging.

It always leaves me feeling like I’ve just had an encounter with Dick Turpin.

Why do we have to pay to print our tickets?

I regularly use self-service checkouts in supermarkets and pack items into my own shopping bags, yet I’m not required to pay extra for the ‘privilege’ of doing that. So why do companies like Ticketmaster impose such charges on customers when they buy tickets and print them off?

Ticketmaster has said the charges for its Ticketfast service – about £2.50 on average – covers staffing and technology costs at venues to read and validate tickets. But its website states that all customers pay a service charge which goes towards access control at venues, regardless of how their tickets are delivered. Commenter Lady Margaretta shared her frustrations on a previous ticketing Conversation:

‘I just bought tickets to an event at the O2 via Ticketmaster website and I’m pretty annoyed because I had to pay £2.75 for their “Ticketfast” service. This basically means I paid £2.75 for the privilege of printing off my own ticket, using my own printer and my own ink.’

Ticketmaster is, of course, not the only company that charges its customers to print tickets. Ryanair charges £6 to check-in online and print boarding cards. Anyone who forgets to print one faces a £60 fine for a replacement at the airport. Ryanair said its passengers agree to check-in online and print boarding cards, which lowers handling costs and fares.

Call for transparent ticket costs

I understand that companies have to cover their costs, but it’s bad enough when you get hit by card surcharges without having to deal with this as well. With most firms, the price you see is the price you pay, so why can’t ticket charges be more transparent?

We’d like to see all mandatory charges in the headline price, which we’re on the road to achieving with credit and debit card surcharges. So, don’t be shy, do extra ticket charges tick you off as much as they do me?

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