NATIONAL APPROACH NEEDED TO PREVENT CONCERT RIP OFFS

Labor welcomes the NSW State Liberal Government's announcement today issuing a public warning against the rip-off website Viagogo. Concertgoers continue to be ripped off through this website and Labor is demanding a national approach. 

 

As long as the major search engines continue to take Viagogo’s advertising money concertgoers will continue to be directed to sites that rip them off. Labor has previously raised this with the Federal Government and it is yet to receive a response.  

 

The Federal Government refuses to even raise this issue with the major search engines. This neglect cannot continue.  

 

Concerts, festivals and other live entertainment are one of the biggest discretionary purchases that consumers will make each a year. Good people pay good money to attend these events and they deserve to know their hard earned money will get them into the event they paid for. 

 

Today the NSW Government has made a small step in the right direction but the issue is far from fixed. 

 

Minister Kean has announced today that the NSW Fair Trading has had 187 complaints and 237 enquiries from concert goers in regards to Viagogo ripping off consumers in NSW. The department states around 600 consumers have been ripped off to an estimated cost of $130,000.

 

Labor has introduced a Private Members motion to the House of Representatives to force Government MPs to take a position on this issue. Labor has also issued a survey through Tony Burke's website to collect stories and data of consumers. 

 

Tony Burke's survey can be found here: www.tonyburke.com.au/get-active/2017/5/31/stop-fake-tickets