Vienna Higher Regional Court overturns Ö-Ticket service fees

In March last year, the Association for Consumer Information (VKI) sued CTS Eventim Austria GmbH, which operates the “Ö-Ticket” ticket service, on behalf of the Ministry of Social Affairs. The subject of the proceedings were clauses in Ö‑Ticket's contractual terms and conditions, including those that regulate “service fees” for the purchase of event tickets and their refund. After the Vienna Commercial Court (HG) had already declared the service fee regulations challenged by the VKI to be inadmissible, the Vienna Higher Regional Court (OLG) has now confirmed that the clauses are illegal. The verdict is not yet legally binding.

There are text passages on the website, in the General Terms and Conditions (GTC) and on the booking form at Ö-Ticket that regulate the charging of a “service fee”. The Higher Regional Court of Vienna, like the Higher Regional Court of Vienna before it, judged these provisions to be non-transparent and grossly disadvantageous because they leave consumers in the dark about what specific services are actually provided for the service fee and what rights the customers have in return. However, customers must be able to identify which services are provided in this context, otherwise they cannot judge whether these services were provided properly by the company.

In addition, it remained unclear whether the service fee was charged once per purchase or separately for each ticket. For the Vienna Higher Regional Court, it was not enough that customers had the opportunity to find out the specific amount of the service fee due via a hyperlink. The courts were unable to identify any explanatory information directly in connection with the clause.

A clause that was also rejected by the Vienna Higher Regional Court stipulated that “service, shipping and worry-free fees” incurred would not be refunded in the event of an event being canceled. The Higher Regional Court also recognized this clause as inadmissible because, as a rule, the customer is not at fault for an event cancellation and the intermediary online platform operator is to be viewed as a broker.

“If a company charges an additional fee for the contractual obligations that usually have to be fulfilled anyway - and not for any additional services that may be required in individual cases - then this is not permitted,” explains Dr. Joachim Kogelmann, responsible lawyer at VKI. “Should the judgment become legally binding in this form, we will see consumer claims for repayment.”