Festivalgoers continue to face “problematic” payment systems at music festivals across Belgium, the Belgian consumer group Testachats warned last week.
As the festival season is underway in the country, the consumer group is once again monitoring practices affecting consumers.
Among its initial concerns, Testachats highlighted the terms of the widely used cashless system, in which payments on festival grounds are made using specific digital coins or tokens loaded onto a wristband or a card.
Cashless concerns?
The consumer group has previously criticised some cashless systems for not being clear, having “excessive” fees to recover unused credit, or enforcing an activation fee to use the cashless system.
To tackle the concerns, a voluntary festival charter was launched last year by the Federal Consumer Protection Minister Rob Beenders (Vooruit).
This included guidelines set to make payment systems more consumer-friendly by, among other things, keeping administrative fees associated with the payment systems to a minimum and encouraging the use of traditional payment methods, such as cash or bank cards.
"We are pleased that several festivals have already signed our code of conduct. By doing so, they are being fair and transparent with festivalgoers about the costs they may face when it comes to payments," Beenders told The Brussels Times.
However, according to the consumer group, some of the "problematic practices” surrounding cashless systems are back this year, including cost of refund fees and limited timeframes to request credit refunds.
Instalment payments
In addition to the cashless systems, the consumer group highlighted a "concerning trend” of allowing festival goers to pay for tickets in instalments. For Testachats, this system could encourage “an often-young audience to spend money they do not have.”
The organisation specifically denounced the "disproportionate” penalties for missing a payment, naming the festival Les Ardentes as an example.
“Visitors can pay for their tickets in two to six instalments. If a payment is missed, they lose not only their ticket but also all the amounts already paid,” a Testachats spokesperson explained in a statement.
The consumer group further condemned the "high cancellation fees" within some instalment plans. “Dour and Ronquières retain the first of the three instalments paid, and Pukkelpop charges a 15% cancellation fee,” the spokesperson added.
Reselling tickets
As cancelling festival tickets is not always possible, ticket holders often have to resell them to get their money back.
The process of reselling tickets via official platforms varies per festival, with some festivals managing resales with their own systems while others partner with official resale platforms.
In some cases, there are service fees associated with purchasing a ticket via these platforms, which can at times be "relatively high" according to the Belgian consumer group.
An example for Testachats is Pukkelpop's resale platform, which adds a €16 administrative fee to the price at which a ticket is resold.
Additionally, Testachats criticised the limited time some festivals give ticket holders to sell their tickets through official platforms, which can reduce their chances of selling their tickets.
According to a spokesperson for Beenders, the Ministry of Economy will once again carry out inspections at several festivals this year, to monitor compliance with rules and guidelines.
The Brussels Times contacted the organisers behind the festivals Dour, Ronquières, Pukkelpop, and Les Ardentes for comment, but has yet to receive a response as of the time of publication.
