Ticket resale website Viagogo is being taken to court by a watchdog

The competition watchdog is preparing to take another round of legal action against ticket reseller Viagogo after warning the site it is still not compliant with a court order secured to protect consumers.
Viagogo only shows booking fees once personal details have been enteredViagogo only shows booking fees once personal details have been entered
Viagogo only shows booking fees once personal details have been entered

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it had warned Viagogo that it was still not complying with a court order requiring that it improve information displayed about the tickets listed on the site.

A CMA spokeswoman said: “Although some improvements have been made since we first demanded action to address areas of non-compliance, further checks have shown there are still issues of concern. For a company not to comply with a court order is clearly very serious. We are therefore now preparing to take legal action to ask a court to find Viagogo in contempt.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The watchdog formally raised serious concerns with Viagogo about its compliance with the order and said it must address them or face a return to court.

Viagogo claimed it had met the January 18 deadline to comply with the High Court order requiring it to make a number of changes to the way it collects and presents information about tickets for sale on its site, in particular about seat numbers, resale restrictions and face value as well as to the way it uses messages about the availability and popularity of tickets.

The CMA’s concerns followed its own monitoring of the site since the deadline and were in addition to an independent review of compliance with the court order.

In November, the CMA told the Switzerland-based company it must overhaul the way it does business to protect consumers under a High Court order. Under the order, Viagogo must also publish the names and addresses of touts - those selling more than 100 tickets a year via the site.