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Viagogo MD comments on New Zealand court case
By Chris Cooke | Published on Tuesday 21 February 2023
The Managing Director of often controversial secondary ticketing website Viagogo has commented on his company’s legal battle with the New Zealand Commerce Commission, which has now reached court, arguing that the issues raised by the regulator “do not reflect current operations”.
The Commerce Commission first began legal proceedings against Viagogo back in 2018, claiming that the ticket resale platform breached New Zealand consumer rights law. The complaints made by the Commission echoed those raised by Viagogo’s critics elsewhere in the world.
That included allegations that the secondary ticketing firm uses misleading language regarding the status of the sellers on its site and the availability of the tickets being sold. And also that it fails to communicate the risk that tickets bought from touts might be cancelled by an event’s promoter.
Earlier on in the legal battle, the Commission sought an injunction forcing Viagogo to end some of its practices. Though that element of the case was ultimately dropped by the regulator when the ticket resale firm agreed to make some voluntary changes to its site. It’s because of those past changes that Viagogo reckons the ongoing legal case in New Zealand is unnecessary.
After the Commission’s case against Viagogo reached the High Court in Auckland last week, the secondary ticketing firm’s MD Cris Miller told reporters that although he “cannot make detailed comment on the legal claims while the matter is before the court … we can say that the issues raised by the Commerce Commission relate to the way our ticketing website worked in the past and do not reflect current operations”.
“We believe that we have addressed the matters of concern raised by the NZ Commerce Commission and have made it a priority to ensure the Viagogo website is operated transparently and in compliance with consumer expectations and consumer protection legislation”, he went on. “We remain committed to complying with these requirements”.
As for those following the case in the NZ courts, he added: “While it would be easy to prejudge Viagogo in this matter, we ask that you allow the court process to play out and hear the perspective of both sides”.
