I often take the kittens to an event, a film, a show, and, at Christmas, a pantomime.
Puss in Boots is my favourite followed closely by Dick Whittington and his Cat. Nice to see us felines getting above the top billing for a change.
But the cost of going to events is getting ever more expensive. Yes, artists are getting paid more as are staff at the venue, but can someone please explain why somewhere likes the Sands Centre in Carlisle adds a commission charge of £2.98 and £1 ‘delivery’ even if I go into the centre and order, pay for and collect my tickets?
And the commission charge seems to change depending on the seat chosen – prime seats = £3.40, standard seats = £2.98 and in the gods, £2.13.
Simply, this cat thinks it is a con.
The Sands Centre has a seating capacity of 1,400 in its main hall. That means, for a sell out charging, on average, £2.98 commission on each ticket, they will receive £4,172 in commission. Okay, they sell through ticket agencies and those agencies can and will add their own fees and commission, but why does the Sands Centre do it?
And don’t I have a right to know what I am paying £2.98 for? Search the terms and conditions or the policies and procedures on their shop front website, Better box office (better for whom?) and there is no mention of ‘commission’.
Surely, if they have an act, just cop an extra £3 on the ticket price and make, say, a £25 balcony ticket, £28, or a stalls ticket at £35, £38?
And it isn’t just the Sands Centre. Kendal Brewery Arts Centre add 50p commission and Workington’s Carnegie charge a booking fee of £2.50. Does this mean they are asking me to pay £2.50 for the privilege of booking a seat? To be fair to the Carnegie, the £2.50 applies to the entire booking, regardless of how many seats I book, whereas the Sands Centre applies the commission to every single seat.
And it isn’t just show venues. Most holiday or hotel bookings are made online but these sites don’t usually add any sort of booking fee.
Okay, Expedia or Booking.com block book hotel rooms at a discounted rate then flog them for more to the punters, but if I book a flight through British Airways, EasyJet or Ryanair direct they don’t add a ‘commission’ or ‘booking fee’.
Yes, they do charge extra for choosing my seat, having a carry-on bag, breathing whilst on the plane, etc. but for those I can see exactly what I might get and how much it might cost so I can choose to pay or not.
A few years ago, if you used a credit card, then the purchase may have been subject to a surcharge because of the fees the credit card company (that’ll be Visa and Mastercard, then, with a few using AMEX) but it was made illegal to pass these on and I suppose ‘commission’ and ‘booking fees’ are simply a way to get around the inability to pass on fees from credit cards.
With a venue ‘commission’ or ‘booking fee’, I have no idea what it is for? Could it be flowers for the star’s dressing room? I have not a clue. And it this opacity that is worrying. Especially when it varies by seat.
Tell me what I am paying for and I will think about it. Hide behind a wall of silence and I will avoid you. Go on, Sands Centre, what is the £4,000 for?
About Cumbria Cat
Born in Cumberland and, now, back living in Cumberland, having spent most of the past 50 years in some place called Cumbria, this cat has used up all nine lives as well as a few others.
Always happy to curl up on a friendly lap, the preference is for a local lap and not a lap that wants to descend on the county to change it into something it isn’t. After all, you might think Cumbria/Cumberland/Westmorland is a land forged by nature – the glaciers, the rivers, breaking down the volcanic rocks or the sedimentary layers – but, in reality, the Cumbria we know today was forged by generations of local people, farmers, miners, quarriers, and foresters.
This cat is a local moggy, not a Burmese, Ocicat or Persian, and although I have been around the block a few times, whenever I jump, I end up on my feet back in my home county. I am passionate about the area, its people, past, present and future, and those who come to admire what we hold dear, be it lakes and mountains, wild sea shores, vibrant communities or the history as rich and diverse as anywhere in the world.
