After payment, ＂Lin Junjie＂ becomes ＂Pan Weibai＂, and a 50% handling fee will be charged for returning concert tickets？ Lawyer interpretation

CCTV News(Reporter/Yao Shuting): A few days ago, some consumers complained on social platforms that they were suspected of encountering "bounced tickets" when purchasing Lin Junjie Nanchang concert tickets on a ticketing platform. After payment, they actually changed from Lin Junjie concert tickets to Pan Weibai concert tickets. Consumers immediately applied for a refund, and the refund page showed that 50% of the handling fee was charged.

Xiaojie snapped up tickets for Lin Junjie’s concert on June 2 on the evening of May 6, and entered the ticket purchase interface of Lin Junjie’s concert through the homepage of the platform. After swiping the ticket, she immediately paid without secret. Xiaojie introduced to CCTV News + reporter: "I bought a ticket of 1380 yuan, and Lin Junjie also has this ticket file, so I didn’t find anything abnormal until the payment was completed. But what I didn’t expect was that the message" Successful purchase of Pan Weibai’s concert tickets "popped up after the payment was completed. After finding out that she bought the wrong ticket, Xiaojie immediately applied for a refund. The page showed that the day was already on the 16th day after Pan Weibai’s concert was issued, and the refund fee was 50% of the ticket price.　

Consumer Tang bought Pan Weibai’s concert tickets for 1,180 yuan. She introduced to the "News +" reporter that all personal information had been pre-filled before invoicing. After Lin Junjie’s concert tickets were opened, the hot window on the platform was only Lin Junjie’s ticket purchase interface. Click to enter the ticket purchase interface, and there is no need to fill in other information again. When Ms. Tang received the ticket purchase text message, she found that she had purchased Pan Weibai’s Nanchang concert tickets.

"It’s obviously the first picture of Lin Junjie’s character, but the jump is Pan Weibai’s concert, and the system automatically jumps around. Isn’t this misleading and deceiving consumers?" Consumer Ms. Chen recalled that the evening of May 6 was during the time period for Lin Junjie’s concert to issue tickets, and the ticket purchase interface of Pan Weibai’s concert was in the state of "reservation and purchase", and tickets could not be purchased. Ms. Chen told reporters that many Pan Weibai fans under the relevant Weibo also raised questions: "I can’t get Pan Weibai’s tickets if I want to. How can so many people buy tickets?"

According to media reports, in early 2024, multiple consumers bought tickets for the "Lin Junjie JJ20 World Tour Concert Chengdu Station" concert on the same platform, but after payment, they found that the ticket information was "2024 Lin Zixiang 50 Jian Concert". Due to the approaching performance time, the platform refused to apply for a refund. The ticket buyers questioned the platform’s deliberate "bounce", and the platform denied the system problem, believing that the ticket buyer accidentally "clicked wrong", but agreed to a full refund.

In April 2024, after consumer Xiaoyu purchased tickets for Xu Song’s concert on the platform, he found that the order showed Su Youpeng’s concert tickets. He called customer service to complain unsuccessfully, but still received tickets for Su Youpeng’s concert the next day.

Ms. Chen told reporters that there are currently nearly 70 consumers with the same experience, and some consumers have received text messages from the Nanjing Jianye District Culture and Tourism Bureau after complaining: "Jianye District Culture and Tourism Bureau has contacted the organizer for communication and coordination, and the organizer has agreed to refund the ticket, but the publicity of the handling fee has been reviewed and filed by the Nanchang Public Security Department and cannot be changed without authorization. Moreover, the ticket purchase error was caused by the ticketing platform, and the organizer was not at fault and could not reach a full refund. In view of the failure of mediation, it is recommended that consumers protect their rights through legal channels."

On May 9, some consumers received a text message reply from the platform: Feedback has been confirmed, and full refunds are not supported.

Beijing Yuecheng Law Firm senior partner Yue Yushan said that the main point of the incident is whether the platform has breached the contract or infringed the situation. According to the "Consumer Rights Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China", consumers have the right to choose goods or services independently, and consumers also have the right to know the specific situation of the relevant goods or services. If the platform deliberately sets up a jump link, causing consumers to fail to buy the tickets they want to buy, which has damaged consumers’ right to choose and know, it is an infringement of consumer rights and interests. The platform needs to bear the corresponding responsibility. Once it constitutes fraud, it may have to bear the responsibility of refunding one to three.

According to the September 2023 "Notice of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Ministry of Public Security on Further Strengthening the Standardized Management of Large-scale Commercial Performance Activities and Promoting the Healthy and Orderly Development of the Performance Market", performance organizers should establish a ticket refund mechanism for large-scale performance activities, set a reasonable level of ticket refund fees, and protect the legitimate right of ticket buyers to refund tickets. Yue Yushan mentioned that even if the platform does not deliberately set up "bounce tickets," when consumers buy the wrong ticket or need to refund the ticket, they will directly charge a 50% handling fee, which may not be a reasonable and legal behavior.

Under normal circumstances, consumers rarely take photos and collect evidence in advance when purchasing goods and services, so they face the problem of "providing evidence" when protecting their rights. In this regard, Yue Jiushan introduced that consumers can prove the products and services they plan to buy through the background search records, as well as the final payment records, so as to prove that the final purchase results do not match expectations. At the same time, they should also keep relevant ticket purchase records and payment information. After finding problems, they can first negotiate and communicate with the platform. If the negotiation fails, they can call 12315 to complain, or report and report to the market supervision department, or they can directly file a lawsuit with the people’s court to solve the problem through litigation.

Yue Yushan suggested that when consumers conduct transactions on the Internet, they must determine whether the purchased goods and services are correct. In addition, merchants should operate in good faith during the business process and do not seek improper benefits through other means.

(At the request of the interviewee, all names are pseudonyms.)