It all started with a harmless ticket purchase, excited that the live musical production of "The Lord of the Rings in Concert" is finally coming to Budapest.
Years ago in Vienna, I experienced this extremely emotional and impressive experience in a live, symphonic rendition of the soundtrack, interspersed with huge projectors. Since I'm a big LOTR and classical music fan, I immediately invited my friends this year, and we bought 8 tickets for the Budapest show together.
All this at a price of nearly HUF 30,000, not even in the best place.
It was surprising that the Erkel Theater would host such a large-scale concert and not a larger venue, but this in itself did not give rise to suspicion, but it still struck a chord in my head. Everything seemed official on Eventim's ticket sales page, the address is the same as that of the official website ( lordoftheringsinconcert.com ) - in the advertisement, the performance is advertised with the music of Howard Shore, characterized by the voice of Sir Christopher Lee, and star guests are promised.
An image of Billy Boyd (Pippin) runs below the ad, thinking he will be the guest star. Starting from the ticket purchase, as it should be, seeing the advertisement more and more often, something was wrong.
A comment in the comment section drew attention to the fact that this is indeed an unofficial event and linked to the invitation . I quickly looked up which company it was and hoped that I was wrong about my intuitions and comments. Unfortunately, there were more and more posts about the fact that the organizer, Star Entertainment, is not in the crossfire of criticism for the first time.
Their sparse social media presence is probably no accident, because wherever you can catch up with them, you stumble upon outraged comments.
That's when I started to investigate the situation more deeply.
Howard Shore's official website has made it clear that this concert series is using his music without permission, and legal proceedings are underway against the series. I was shocked to read that
the material of the performance was compiled from unlicensed, pirated copies and does not meet the quality requirements expected by the composer.
He also draws attention to the fact that the venue of the first scandalous performance should not have booked the concert, nor allowed it to be held. And anyone who attended such an event should request a refund from the venue.
The story does not end here.
You can also find the 2022 report . The performance in the Portsmouth Guildhall was particularly disappointing. are calling attention to the fact that no one should buy tickets for these concerts, because they are a huge scam. This information confirmed for good that I needed to take action.
After I became aware that the concert for which I had exchanged tickets was probably not going to fulfill the promises, I decided to make an official complaint. first to Eventim, , who did not show much willingness to deal with the problem. In fact, they specifically state that the troupe has a permit, despite this, according to them, they never claimed that this was an official concert. As far as I know, the opposite has not been posted on their website to this day, despite the fact that they learned about the official information two months ago. I then went to consumer protection, documenting in detail all the available evidence - the misleading advertising, Howard Shore's statement, social media feedback and news stories about previous scandals.
In my complaint, I specifically addressed how Star Entertainment and Eventim violated my consumer rights. Eventim's not entirely clean business policy is not a unique case - this year they were also involved in litigation and had to pay compensation to customers. This Piac és Profit , which only further strengthened the legal basis of my case.
This case goes beyond a simple demand for ticket prices - it is also about preventing organizers and ticket distributors from taking advantage of the enthusiasm and trust of fans and holding the venues that host such activities accountable.
A concert marked with Morricone's name has already been given, as a commenter confirmed, it was fake and of low quality, and a Harry Potter themed performance is also being advertised, also organized by Star Entertainment.
As you may know, movie music concerts are hugely profitable, one of the biggest businesses in the entertainment industry at the moment. The fact that these misleading ads started in the run-up to Christmas is just icing on the cake.
According to the legislation of the Civil Code, the person who puts his name, trademark or other distinguishing mark on the product is also considered to be the producer of the service.
Does the ticket seller's procedure comply with Hungarian and EU consumer protection legislation?
The basis of the breach of contract is that the subject of the contract has a warranty defect, in Hungarian (Ptk 6:123 § (1) c)-d)-e) the service will not be suitable for its intended purpose at the time of performance, because (c) point) does not have the quality that is usual for services with the same purpose and that the right holder can expect, taking into account that the subject of the service is produced by the obligee or - if not by the obligee - the public statement of the service producer and their representative regarding the specific features of the service; and point (d)) does not have the features typical of the service included in the description provided by the obligee or presented as a sample to the entitled party; and point (e)) does not meet the quality requirements defined in the law (since it violates copyright).
Is it possible to detect the use of deceptive advertising?
A person who, when concluding the contract, was in error with regard to an essential circumstance, may challenge his contractual legal declaration if his mistake was caused by or could have been recognized by the other party. A mistake applies to a material circumstance if the party, knowing about it, would not have entered into the contract or concluded the contract with a different content.
Yet it still advertises the event on its website in a misleading manner.
Ptk. 6:102. § "when establishing the unfairness of a general contract term, all circumstances existing at the time of the conclusion of the contract that led to the conclusion of the contract, the purpose of the contracted service, and the relationship of the relevant term with other terms of the contract or with other contracts must be examined."
It can be trusted that, aware of all this, whoever demands a refund of the price of their ticket can do so completely legitimately, as well as the actors appearing in the advertisement and providing the venue are rightfully responsible for representing the standard, and for not investigating more ardently what kind of famous concert they are hosting. Since I initiated the procedure, the decision related to my complaint is in the hands of consumer protection.
PS: There are extremely good bands here, whose performances would be better to support than a fraudulent unknown company.
Author: Nagy D.
Cover image: eventim.hu
