Europe: Eventim, Barclaycard Arena Bags, bdv

Austrian Court Rules Ticket Surcharges Undue

A commercial court in Vienna, Austria, has ruled that apart from the standard commission, Eventim’s surcharges on tickets are illegitimate.

Eventim, which operates as Öticket in Austria, charges customers a print-at-home fee (euro 2.50), a pick-up fee (euro 1.90) as well as a fee for depositing the ticket at the venue box office (euro 2.90).

Charging customers for printing out their own ticket was “very surprising,” said Joachim Kogelmann, jurist of Austria’s consumer protection agency VKI.

The agency had filed the lawsuit on behalf of the country’s ministry for social affairs.

The court decided Eventim’s surcharges were illegal, as they constituted unusual clauses in the company’s terms and conditions and were unfavorable to customers.

Putting tickets at the disposal of the customer was a secondary obligation of the ticketing agency, the court said.

The decision isn’t legally binding yet. Eventim is facing similar charges in Germany, which the company is currently appealing.

Barclaycard Arena Hamburg Bans Bags

Barclaycard Arena – Barclaycard Arena
formerly O2 World in Hamburg, Germany. 

Starting Sept. 1, visitors of AEG’s Barclaycard Arena in Hamburg, Germany, won’t be allowed to bring bags bigger than A4 (14-inch paper) format. Promoters putting on shows in the venue may apply even stricter rules.

Visitors may leave oversized bags at the door for a fee. A year ago, the arena introduced metal detectors, but customers’ “need for safety” has increased further over the past months, Hamburg’s Abendblatt reports. 

A4 format is slightly longer but less wide than U.S. letter format. 

bdv Presents Live Entertainment Summit

The German promoters’ association bdv is presenting a Live Entertainment Summit at the upcoming Reeperbahn Festival, Sept. 20-23.

The summit will address the challenges of promoting in times of severe weather and terrorism. Speakers include Christian Doll (C2 Concerts), Felix Hansen (Landstreicher Booking), Daniel Rothammer (DEAG) and Stephan Thanscheidt (FKP Scorpio).

Another panel at Reeperbahn Festival, dubbed “Power Act vs. Market Power,” brings together Oliver Hoppe (Wizard Promotions), Philipp Jacob-Pahl (Landstreicher Booking), Ben Mitha (Karsten Jahnke Konzertdirektion) and Katrin Wedemeyer (Mittendrin) on stage.

Tags