ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION
Annual Report - Year 4
1 June 2020 - 31 May 2021
The report below represents those disputes that have come to STAR to be dealt with under the ADR process.
The report below is provided in line with the requirements and guidelines for reporting provided by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute.
| NUMBER OF DISPUTES RECEIVED | |||
| Number received | Domestic | Cross-border | |
| a) Total | 1,310 | 1,269 | 41 |
| b) Types of Dispute | |||
| Advertising | 9 | 9 | 0 |
| Booking and Processing Fees | 169 | 167 | 2 |
| Call Charges | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Cancellation | 7 | 7 | 0 |
| Customer Error | 10 | 10 | 0 |
| Customer Care | 253 | 245 | 8 |
| Delivery Issues | 19 | 17 | 2 |
| Double Booking | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Event Issue | 11 | 11 | 0 |
| Exchange | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| General Inquiry | 98 | 97 | 1 |
| Gift Card | 37 | 37 | 0 |
| Lost Tickets | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mailling List | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Membership | 6 | 6 | 0 |
| Non-Ticketing Issue | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Not Recieved Refund | 189 | 186 | 3 |
| Other | 10 | 10 | 0 |
| Paperless Ticketing | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Pricing | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Refund and Exchange Policy | 378 | 355 | 23 |
| Reselling | 84 | 83 | 1 |
| Restricted View | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Scams | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Seating | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| Ticket Error | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Ticket Insurance | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Tickets Selling Out Quickly | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Pricing | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tickets Selling out | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Website Error | 11 | 11 | 0 |
| The above figures include the following relating directly to the COVID-19 pandemic | 1,038 | 1,002 | 36 |
| c) & d) SYSTEMIC OR SIGNIFICANT PROBLEMS OCCURRING FREQUENTLY |
| Refunding of ticket cost to an account or card that has been closed or cancelled. The gap between the original purchase and an event date that may have been rescheduled because of the pandemic, sometimes several times, can mean that refunds may be issued to a card or account that has since been changed or closed. This can result in the refund being received by the bank but not provided to the customer. The ticket seller no longer has the funds and cannot reverse the refund or make a new refund to a different account. The customer must contact the bank or card provider for the funds to be located and returned to them. This is frustrating for everyone. For the ticket seller as the customer holds them responsible for something they are unable to change. For the customer who considers the ticket seller to be responsible. For STAR as we are unable to help either side in resolving this issue. We have found that different merchant agreements seem to require ticket sellers to process things in different ways. Some are able to refund to new account details if they are provided in advance by the customer. Others are required to only refund the original payment source. We are including this as a significant issue which has been exacerbated by the current difficulties because it is something that we are unable to help with in an efficient way, partly because of the number of variables and parties involved. |
| e) DISPUTES THAT HAVE BEEN REFUSED OR DISCONTINUED | |||
| Reason for Refusal | Number | % of Total | |
| A – Not yet raised with trader | 32 | 4% | |
| B – Frivolous, vexatious or malicious | 6 | 1% | |
| C – Previously considered by this or another ADR | 0 | 0% | |
| STAR - E - Event delivery (beyond STAR scope) | 5 | 1% | |
| STAR - G – Non-STAR member (beyond the scope of STAR) | 38 | 5% | |
| Non ADR (such as no purchase of tickets) | 682 | 89% | |
| Total | 763 | 100% | |
| Disputes Discontinued by Complainant | Number | ||
| Complaint taken elsewhere | 181 | ||
| Withdrawn by customer | 39 | ||
| Withdrawn by default (no response from complainant) | 86 | ||
| Total | 306 | ||
| TOTAL COMPLAINTS REFUSED OR DISCONTINUED | 1,069 | ||
| f) DISPUTES DISCONTINUED FOR OPERATIONAL REASONS | Number discontinued | % of total initiated | |
| Impair STAR operation | 0 | 0% | |
| Conflict of Interest | 0 | 0% | |
| g) AVERAGE TIME TAKEN TO RESOLVE DISPUTES | Average time taken* (days) | ||
| Domestic | Cross Border | ||
| *Some disputes reached resolution prior to complete complaints file. In these cases, the opening date of the dispute has been used as the start date. | 53 | 59 | |
| h) RATE OF COMPLIANCE | 100% | ||
| i) RESOLUTIONS | Number | ||
| Resolved in STAR Member's Favour | 41 | ||
| Resolved in Customer's Favour | 76 | ||
| Resolved Through Mutual Agreement | 124 | ||
| Total | 241 |
* It should be noted that the Covid-19 pandemic affected all live events from 16 March 2020 and throughout the period of the report above.