An acquaintance of mine who lives in Texas has a problem, and I'm wondering if anyone in France can offer some advice on what, if anything, can be done to help her.

She bought two tickets on ebay to the June 3 Paris show just before Keith did his imitation of Gerald Ford. She bought them on ebay, 2 tickets with face value of $186 each, she paid approx. $400 for each ticket, from a ticket broker:

Alban Bennacer
Ticket Broker
Starlight
Frances

Here's her problem: the ticket broker has told her he'll only pay her back face value of the tickets, he's keeping the rest of the money/profit.

Can he _legally_ do this in France?

Is there anything she can do to force him to reimburse her for the whole amount of money? Keep in mind she's in Texas, the ticket broker is in France.

She's already complained to ebay, but as we all know, they do absolutely nothing about problems.

Any advice is appreciated.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009-05-07 05:08 by bv.

I don't have quite as much money at stake, however I am also having a problem with Alban. I e-mailed him 2 days ago about the possibility of refund but have not yet heard back from him... Perhaps if there are enough of us involved, eBay will provide us with some sort of assistance.

sorry to say that, but it´s legal that he will keep the rest .
she´s lucky that he will pay her the original value of 186usd.
all in all that´s the problem if you buy tickets on ebay.
sorry to say that.

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Oh, give me the beat, boys, and free my soul
I wanna get lost in your rock and roll and drift away

Can he do it legally? Who's gonna do anything about it? He's in France, she's in Texas...I don't think he's too worried about it. France is a pretty honest country (I live in Paris part time) but rip offs happen there like everywhere...It's just too small a thing for much to be done IMO...Somebody that knows all the laws inside out will come on eventually....

Really........ take the face value if you can.... this is more than you could expect!!! Specially from a broker!!

As far as i know, professionnal ticket broking is illegal in France (i'm not 100% sure). But it's all the problem with ebay, a lot of people make money with ebay and act and look like professionnals, but they are not, it's just underground job.
Anyway, it's not the problem here. Unfortunately, when the customer lives in Texas and the seller in France or when the customer lives in France and the seller in Texas, there is nothing you can do. Same thing if you have a problem with a company, How could you sue a company based 8000 kilometers far from you, especially for a few hundred dolars lost.

On the same note, will RS.Com (a ticket broker by any other name) be refunding membership payments to those requesting refunds for their tickets? I very much doubt it.

Once again, the shit hits the fan.

To Highanddry,

Ebay is a huge bid place, but in France there is a law from 1919 saying it is forbidden to sell this kind of ticket for a higher value than the original face one.

it seems that Ebay does not care at all !

There are two things : you could ask Ebay to cancel this transaction because it is illegal (they should not accept this kind of sale on their site)

Or, get the face value back from the seller.

or wait for the new date and if she can´t make it to the show try to sell the tix elsewhere. That´s probably what the scalper will do anyway - scalp them again, as there will likely be a new date...

Yeah, the guy started an auction for an item with a fixed price.
She paid the extra money to have those tickets she couldn't find herself, not for the show itself.
So I guess the broker is being very honest to give rher back the face value of the tickets.

TeleK Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> sorry to say that, but it´s legal that he will
> keep the rest .
> she´s lucky that he will pay her the original
> value of 186usd.
> all in all that´s the problem if you buy tickets
> on ebay.
> sorry to say that.

Unless it said so in the auction item, I disagree with this. I am not a French lawyer, but in most countries, there are remedies for situations such as this. I would consult with people who actually know the law.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2006-05-26 17:02 by drbryant.

How many days since she paid ?.

How did she Pay ?.
If paypal via a credit card there may be some hope.

I must add that if the seller said in the auction that they would only refund face value if the event was cancelled then she should abide by the rules.