Ticket buyers whose event had to be canceled due to the corona pandemic cannot claim their money back from internet portals such as Eventim.
This emerges from a judgment of the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) in mid-July, which was published on Wednesday with a written justification.
Claims are therefore only against the organizer.
(Ref. VIII ZR 329/21)
At the end of 2019, the plaintiff bought five concert tickets for just over 300 euros.
The concert was supposed to take place in Berlin on March 21, 2020, but had to be canceled due to Corona.
The woman refused a voucher from the organizer.
She reclaimed the money from CTS Eventim and eventually went to court.
However, there is no legal basis for this, as the BGH has now decided in the last instance.
A ticket provider is therefore usually not liable for the execution of the event - he has fulfilled his part of the contract as soon as he hands over the tickets to the buyer.
He has no influence on anything else - and "a reasonable average purchaser" is also aware of this, according to the judges.
Nobody can expect to only have to deal with the ticket office and not with the organizer in the event of a cancellation.
Voucher solution has expired
In this case, CTS Eventim even took over the processing and offered vouchers to those affected.
The legislature had created this instrument specifically to protect the organizers from mass refunds during the pandemic.
Anyone who has not redeemed their voucher by the end of 2021 can request payment.
The woman had not wanted to get involved.
According to the judges, that would have been reasonable: According to the law, the value must also include advance booking fees.
The plaintiff had therefore rejected the possibility of "ultimately being fully compensated for the cancellation of the event - albeit temporarily only in the form of a voucher".