World Swimming Championships 2007
We secured fairer ticket conditions for people attending the World Swimming Championships in Melbourne in early 2007.
Before our intervention, the conditions drafted by the Melbourne 2007 World Swimming Championship Corporation allowed it to reschedule a session or change a venue after tickets had been purchased.
Ticket holders were not entitled to a refund if the corporation changed a session time, date or venue. Only in the case of a venue change were consumers allowed to exchange their tickets.
The corporation could also make wholesale changes to the events included in a session after consumers had purchased tickets.
Attendance conditions stated that a consumer could only obtain a refund if:
- the ticket was for a session which was cancelled and not rescheduled
- the entire championships was cancelled
- he/she was entitled to a refund ‘by operation of the law’.
Attendance conditions were changed as a result of our intervention. Consumers were able to obtain refunds if:
- there was a change to a session date or venue
- the start time of a session was changed by more than two hours from the time advertised when the ticket was purchased
- after a session started, it was cancelled for reasons within the corporation’s control
- there was a substantial change in the events included in a session.
A number of other changes were also made to the attendance conditions including the narrowing of terms which sought broad exclusions of liability.