Be careful when buying tickets for Rugby World Cup Japan 2019™! Make sure you are accessing the official website before purchase.
On January 19, 2019, the official ticketing website started the second general ticket sales for Rugby World Cup 2019™ (hereinafter called "RWC 2019") to be held in Japan from September 20 to November 2, 2019. These tickets are sold on a first come, first served basis. After that, local consumer affairs centers and the like across Japan received inquiries and complaints from consumers who got in trouble over buying RWC 2019 tickets.
Sample case
I accessed a ticketing website to buy RWC 2019 tickets. The site showed a message "Expected to be sold out soon", which made me feel rushed. Upon seeing a phrase "three tickets 49,000 yen", I thought three tickets costed 49,000 yen in total. After placing an order, a total price of about 190,000 yen was shown on a confirmation page. I received an order confirmation email from the ticketing website. The email indicated the price in dollars and mentioned that I had to pay a handling fee as well. Feeling suspicious, I checked the website. Then I found that the website where I had placed an order was not the official ticketing website, but an overseas ticket reselling website.
The official ticketing website states that tickets purchased through ticket reselling websites are invalid. I want to cancel the order. What should I do?
The overseas ticket reselling website says, "After placing an order, you can't cancel the order, but you can resell the ticket."
(contract signatory: woman in her 20s / inquiry in January 2019)
Advice for consumers
Buy through the official ticketing website.
When searching for RWC 2019 on the Internet, advertisements of unofficial ticketing websites such as overseas ticket reselling websites are also listed high. Some consumers access such an unofficial website to place an order, thinking that the site is the official ticketing website.
It is often the case that unofficial ticketing websites sell tickets at more expensive prices than those offered by the official website and charge a handling fee in addition to a ticket fee.
The official RWC 2019 ticketing website alerts that tickets sold through unofficial websites are invalid.
Before buying tickets on the Internet, make sure that you are accessing the official ticketing website.
- Official ticketing website (Rugby World Cup 2019 Organizing Committee)
https://tickets.rugbyworldcup.com/?changeLanguageTo=en
Names of unofficial ticketing websites are specifically listed on the official website of the Rugby World Cup 2019 Organizing Committee. See the following page for additional information.
- List of unofficial ticketing websites
https://info.tickets.rugbyworldcup.com
While some of overseas ticket reselling websites state a money-back guarantee in their terms of service, it is valid only under certain conditions.
When contacting an overseas ticket reselling site in case of trouble, it may be difficult to communicate and negotiate with them over conditions for cancellation and refund.
