On 29 July 2011, I purchased admission tickets in advance from OMNITICKET for entrance to Colosseum/Forum/Palatine Hill for my 76-year-old father and myself. Tickets are to be picked up on site and accrding to the Omniticket website, the visit time cannot be changed, and so you must the right day fr your visit and pick up the tickets on that date. Well, our date was Tuesday, 20 September 2011, which regretably was a strike day in Rome! All possible venues were closed, we could not pick up our tickets on that date because the Closseum/Forum/and Palatine Hill were all closed. I thought it would be easy enough to get refunded, since we could not even pick up the tickets, let alone get IN to the sites. I emailed Omniticet requesting refund and never heard from the company. I then requested from my credit card company that the charge on my credit card be disputed. Now, a little over a month later, I find out that the credit card company has rebilled the amount (around 70 dollars) because Omniticket claims they are not responsible for strikes and therefore, must charge me. It seems like a breach of their agreement that they will "reimburse the cost of the nominal ticket paid by the user just in case of events cancelled or postponed by the Organizers." Also, I did show up at the place where I was supposed to pick up my tickets and no one was there.
What do you think? Am I the only person who purchased advanced tickets on 20 September 2011 in Rome to discover that I was out the entire cost of the ticket because of the strike? A timely cavaet.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32212 posts
Valerie, I'm not sure you'll have much recourse in this situation, as there's usually something in the "legal fine print" that absolves the vendor of any responsibility in cases of "circumstances beyond their control" (such as Strikes). It's likely that your credit card firm will honor this charge, and you'll have to pay it. If you're planning to return to Rome at some point and want to visit the Colosseum/Forum/Palatine Hill at that time, post a note here and I'm sure the knowledgeable HelpLine members will be able to offer good suggestions on the best options for ticket purchase. Good luck!
Posted by
Texan in CA
4407 posts
...but also never take 'no' for an answer from your bank on your first try. If you haven't already, be sure to send your bank any supporting documents to support your position. The 'answer' you received - was that supported by any info you were given prior to purchasing the tickets? And I'm with Ken - (and I'm assuming something he didn't actually come out and say, but...) that was too much money for those tickets, and it's not where you wanted to buy them. And...Welcome to Italy!!! I love Italy, but it's NEVER going to go smoothly there LOL! It's the law...
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
32761 posts
Well it seems to me the organizers didn't cancel an event or postpone it - there was a general strike and that would be out of their control. Were these tickets a lot cheaper than the ones available at the door in Rome? Or did they include a lot more? I hear your frustration, and I'm sure you were upset at the strike and not being able to do what you had planned, as well as your Dad. How did the rest of the trip with your Dad go?
Posted by
Honolulu/Seattle, HI/WA, USA
2788 posts
Did you ever hear from OMNITICKET? Or are they just not being communicative? Guess I should think twice about using them if they are not responding to you.
Posted by
San Diego, CA, United States
864 posts
you just need to call your credit card company and dispute the bill. VISA, AmExpress, CitiCard they have the clout that you do not and they are well aware of the civil unrest that caused your cancellation. A disputed bill almost always works out in your favor especially in these situations since the vendor doesn't want to be black-balled by the credit card companies in the future. Note you may still be screwed but it'll make the vendor work for it.