Ontario woman thought she spent $39 on theatre tickets. She didn't. Here's what happened
An Ontario woman was "shocked" to learn she paid seven times more for her theatre tickets than she thought she did.
"I had no idea the tickets were going to cost that much," said Catherine Quinn, of Dundas, Ont.
Quinn enjoys theatre and wanted to see a production of "Something Rotten" at the Stratford Festival, so she searched on Google for tickets.
"I believed I was on the Stratford Festival website, I ordered tickets and I gave them my credit card," said Quinn.
Quinn thought she had paid $39 for two tickets, but when she got her credit card statement, she saw she was charged $283.
Quinn had purchased the tickets through a website called Go Tickets, a ticket reseller. While she did receive the tickets in time for the show, she said she had no idea about the additional exorbitant charges.
"You have to be vigilant, you have to make sure you are on the proper website. It's very easy to get on to third-party websites and not realize it," said Quinn.
According to Consumer Reports (CR), some companies pay Google a fee to be the first thing to "pop up" when you're searching online, including ticket sellers.
"There is a lot of unethical shady behaviour going on that is unfortunately allowed under the law," said Chuck Bell with CR.
When searching on Google, CR said the first choice may not always be the best option and stressed buyers need to take their time and triple-check to ensure they're on the correct website so they don't spend more money than they need to.
"They have to be on the look out for scammers and those selling counterfeit tickets, and then they also have to make sure they don't overpay for tickets. Your best protection is to go to the venue website itself," said Bell.
CTV News reached out to Go Tickets but did not receive a response.
Quinn wants to warn others to be careful when buying tickets online.
"It's so easy to end up on a website that says Go Tickets or some other website that is not the official website you're looking for," Quinn said.
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