Recently, some netizens said that they spent 1,200 yuan to buy the most expensive grandstand ticket for Jay Chou's concert, but they could hardly see Jay Chou. Subsequently, this topic became a hot search topic and triggered a lot of discussion.
It is understood that netizen Xiao Chen spent 1,200 yuan to buy tickets for Jay Chou's concert in Fuzhou. She said that she specially asked for leave from Zhejiang and wanted to see it clearly, so she chose the most expensive ticket in the grandstand.
However, when she arrived at the venue, she was dumbfounded. "You could barely see Jay Chou" from the 1,200 yuan seats for the entire show. You could even barely see the lyrics board and the screen, and the viewing angle was not as good as some of the audience members who paid 700 and 900 yuan tickets.
Pai Paijun combed through past reports and found that there are many consumers who have experienced similar experiences to Xiao Chen -
At the end of April this year, some netizens said that they spent 960 yuan on Damai.com to buy two tickets for the Phoenix Legend concert and went to the venue. Only to find out it was a "pillar ticket", I asked the platform for a refund but was refused. Later, Linghua posted a long post to support her fans’ rights protection.
In December last year, Ms. Wang spent 1,399 yuan to buy "bar tickets" at Liang Jingru's concert. She said that although she was in the first row, she could only watch through the gap in the railings. The railings blocked most of the stage, like "Jail".
The performance market has become increasingly popular in recent years. Data shows that the box office of large-scale concerts with more than 5,000 people in mainland China in 2023 will be nearly 14.6 billion yuan, a record high. However, this has led to frequent consumer rights protection issues surrounding the entertainment performance market. According to the report, the recent hot spots for consumer rights protection are mainly problems such as "pillar tickets", "water injection" and "difficulty in refunding tickets" at concerts. From April 15 to May 6, 2024, there were more than 12 consumer rights protection information about entertainment performances. Ten thousand.
Is it really that difficult for us ordinary consumers to watch a show in a down-to-earth manner?
Buying tickets -
There are many "pillar tickets" and "weird tickets", and scalpers are common.
Audiences who have bought tickets know that it is hard to get tickets for some popular concerts, and they are sold out as soon as they are available. The rules for grabbing tickets are complicated, the prices of "scalper tickets" are inflated, and it is impossible to grab tickets, which has become an obstacle for many people to attend the concert.
Audiences who couldn't get tickets but wanted to see the show had no choice but to turn their attention to "scalpers".
In recent years, the scalper business has begun to shift from offline to online. Some "scalpers" have developed software specifically for ticket grabbing, which can grab tickets as soon as ticket sales open, and even form a relatively complete ticket grabbing industry chain. There are also some "scalpers" who will hire a large number of students to grab tickets, hoard tickets, and then sell tickets on major platforms in the name of "snatching" or "cash ticket booking."
According to the investigation, the reason why ticket scalping continues to be banned is that in addition to the tickets normally sold on the official platform, a large number of tickets that are not within the scope of online sales channels flow into the hands of scalpers.
Or, even if we have worked hard to buy tickets, we are afraid of encountering "pillar tickets" and "weird tickets" when we go to the venue, making it difficult to protect our rights.
The reason is that the difficulty in obtaining tickets for concerts is the result of multiple factors such as the imbalance of market supply and demand, ticketing platform operation problems, and the proliferation of ticket scalpers. In order to alleviate this problem, the government, organizers, ticketing platforms and music fans need to work together. To cope with the difficulty of grabbing tickets, we should strengthen supervision, promote the real-name ticket purchase system, increase the number and diversity of performances, and improve technical means. Recently, some concert organizers have successively launched a strong real-name ticket purchase system, and some concerts have also tried models such as "limited time refunds", "electronic ticketing", and "only one transfer allowed" to prevent and combat "scalpers".
Watch -
The performance was seriously "watered", which affected the viewing experience
On April 20, 2024, terms such as "Xu Meijing's concert was flooded" and "Xu Meijing's concert shouted for refunds" and other terms were on the hot search. According to fans at the scene, the singer "sung less than 10 songs during the entire concert and interacted for an hour." He even had his masterpiece performed by the band, and turned the concert into a "chat party," which made fans angry. They all "bowed their heads" and shouted for refunds.
In fact, today’s audiences have matured both in terms of viewing experience and awareness of rights. They are no longer fans who unconditionally worship idols, but consumers who have considerable requirements for the perception and quality of performances. The audience has basic expectations about how large a performance will be and what audio-visual effects it should have.
According to the 2017 "Notice of the Ministry of Culture on Regulating the Operational Order of the Commercial Performance Ticketing Market", when selling performance tickets, performance organizers and performance ticketing business units should clearly indicate the minimum duration of the performance, the information about the cultural performance group or the main actors; when it comes to organizing For concerts, the main actors or groups and the corresponding minimum number of tracks should also be clearly stated.
In April 2023, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued the "Notice on Further Strengthening Performance Market Management and Standardizing the Order of the Performance Market", which also specifically mentioned cracking down on illegal activities such as "scalpers" and false propaganda in accordance with the law to effectively protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.
Nowadays, everyone is clamoring for "lip-syncing" in concerts, while "pad sound" and "half-open mic" are deeply involved in the whirlpool of public opinion. A performance with incorrect quality and serious "water injection" is not only offensive to the audience, but also disrupts the overall order of the performance market.
So, how to avoid concert "floating", it may be necessary to refine the binding measures in accordance with relevant laws and regulations, establish clearer rules for the performance market, and implement them into specific performance service contracts to ensure the interests of consumers and also It is conducive to better development of the performance economy. For the majority of consumers, when their identities are not respected and their legitimate rights and interests are violated, it is necessary not to be spoiled and not to be dazzled by the halo of celebrities - shouting "refund" and actively complaining. .
Refund -
Refund is not something you can just refund if you want.
From high handling fees to various restrictions on refund rules, if you want to refund a performance ticket, you may encounter endless difficulties in the refund process.
Why is it so difficult to refund concert tickets? In fact, there is a certain cycle from ticket sales to the start of the show. Although it sometimes happens that consumers are unable to attend performances as scheduled due to force majeure after purchasing tickets, tickets for performances under the strong real-name system cannot be transferred or gifted, and ticketing platforms often have a negative impact on consumers because of their interest relationship with the organizer. Delay or deny reasonable refund requests. Currently, our country does not have uniform laws and regulations on the refund of performance tickets. When purchasing a ticket, if it is shown that no refund or change is required, it cannot be refunded or changed. If you want to make a refund or change, you can only negotiate with the platform. This also results in consumers often being at a disadvantage when disputes arise.
Last year, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Ministry of Public Security jointly issued a notice to provide guidance on the standardized management of large-scale commercial performance events with more than 5,000 people, clarifying that "performance organizers should establish a refund mechanism for large-scale performance events and set reasonable tiered refund fees. , to protect the ticket purchaser’s legitimate right to refund.”
But in reality, generally no refund applications will be accepted about a week before the concert starts, and the refund handling fee can easily be hundreds or even thousands of yuan. In addition, there are still quite a lot of performance refund fees that are unreasonable, and the rights and responsibilities between consumers, platforms, and organizers are not straightened out. Consumers have no way to complain when they encounter problems and have difficulty safeguarding their rights. In the end, they have to bear the economic losses themselves.
Little wish -
Just want to watch a performance
Jiangsu Provincial Consumer Protection Commission recommends that before purchasing performance tickets, consumers should carefully check the performance, performance time and location, ticket price, whether real-name viewing is required, Refund policy, etc. Especially during the holidays, when the flow of people is large and travel costs increase, consumers should plan their itinerary well to prevent being unable to attend the show on time due to personal reasons. At the same time, consumers should choose formal, reliable and guaranteed ticketing platforms when purchasing tickets, and do not trust "scalpers" or ticket sales channels from unknown sources. It is recommended that everyone act according to their ability and try not to buy tickets at a price that is beyond their ability to bear.
It should be noted that some tickets that are not real-name tickets do not have clear policies on refunds, and general audiences can transfer them privately.In this case, it is recommended that consumers conduct transactions through formal third-party platforms and keep chat records, transaction records, etc. to prevent the need for rights protection in the future.
The Shanghai Consumer Protection Commission reminds that during the movie viewing process, if consumers find that they have purchased seats such as "pillar tickets" or "wall tickets" that affect the movie viewing experience, they can first try to communicate and negotiate with the on-site staff. Is it possible to change to a seat with a normal view? If negotiation fails, on-site evidence can be fixed by taking photos, videos, etc., and relevant evidence such as tickets and payment records should be kept. Complaints and reports can be made through online platforms such as the 12315 WeChat applet or directly to the local market supervision and administration bureau. You can also seek help from local people's mediation committees and consumer associations. If none of the above methods resolve the issue, you may also consider using litigation to protect your legitimate rights and interests.
(Source: CCTV News, Beijing News, Beijing Daily, Elephant News, Dayang.com, China Women's News, Shanghai Consumer Protection Committee WeChat Official Account, Jiangsu Provincial Consumer Protection Committee WeChat Official Account)
topic host | Reporter Chen Wanyun
