A man in front of a computer (illustration) - Damian Dovarganes / AP / SIPA

UFC-Que Choisir announced Tuesday that it was filing a complaint against the ticket resale site Viagogo. The association denounces "deceptive marketing practices" and calls on consumers to avoid it so as not to "be fooled".

The association claims to have received "nearly 500 testimonies" from victims of bad website practices and is complaining for "unfair, deceptive and aggressive commercial practices and resale of tickets without authorization". Founded in 2006, Viagogo is present in more than 70 countries and is a partner with many producers, artists and large sports clubs to resell tickets to concerts, festivals or sports meetings.

Urgent messages, invalid tickets

"Playing on the so-called scarcity of available places, the site multiplies the alerts, oppressive timers, biased messages to precipitate the act of buying the consumer, while obscuring essential information, namely the price" , says UFC-Que Choisir. “Until recently, the site added additional costs to the initial price, which the consumer only discovered once his order was confirmed and his account debited. "

🚨L '@ UFCquechoisir files a complaint against @viagogo because of their aggressive and deceptive commercial practices and calls on consumers not to use this site! ⬇️https: //t.co/c9knmQ6ZCn pic.twitter.com/7tVLDrz1X3

- UFC-Que Choisir (@UFCquechoisir) February 18, 2020

In addition, Viagogo sells tickets for events "without the authorization of the organizers". "There are many fans [...] who bought their tickets at a price two to three times higher than at the official ticket office", and who find themselves in a bad position or cannot ultimately access the event, adds the UFC.

Complaints all over the world

Based in Switzerland since 2012 and registered in Delaware (an American state with favorable tax rates for companies), Viagogo is pursued in several countries. In June 2018, FIFA announced that it had complained about illegal business practices at the World Cup in Russia.

Viagogo is being sued in France by numerous organizations which accuse it of speculating on prices. The website lost a round in December 2018 to the Constitutional Council, where it disputed the validity of French law. In the United Kingdom, the competition gendarme (CMA) accused her of bad practices and sued her. The procedure was suspended in September after measures taken by Viagogo.

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