Coronavirus: Tonic Support
It’s an extremely challenging time for the industry as a whole, and we here at Access Tonic are feeling every closed door, just like you.
We are 100% committed to supporting you during this difficult time and want to work with you to ensure that both Tonic and your business, can continue once day to day life resumes. From support, through to software, we will still be providing you with the key assistance that has underpinned Tonic as a platform from day one.
You may be wondering what your options moving forward are and therefore we have put together the following information to help you plan your next steps.
The payment of ticket funds
Whilst we understand you may have concerns about cash-flow over coming weeks, please be aware we cannot pay out the ticket funds for events that have not gone ahead. We and you need to ensure that customers' money is protected. Nonetheless, we will continue to support alternatives to refunds, if the customer is happy for us to do so. Options include:
Rescheduling/postponing event dates
A good first step is asking customers if they would like to move their booking to a future event date. The ticket funds will then be paid out 4 working days after the event has taken place.
If you do not have a confirmed date as of yet, we would suggest having some preliminary dates which purchases can be moved to. Customers can be advised that these dates are subject to change depending on new coronavirus updates.
In the case that you are not able to suggest a new event date to customers to which their booking can be moved, we are unable to hold onto ticket funds until arrangements are made and therefore the purchases will need to be refunded.
Please be aware that the rescheduling of bookings needs to be reflected in the Tonic admin. We cannot take your word for the fact that a customer may have agreed to move their booking to a future date.
Please keep your Tonic Account Manager updated with the rescheduling process you have decided to take and how this is being communicated with your ticket holders.
Donation of ticket funds
In the case that customers are happy to donate their ticket funds, you will need to refund the booking and ask customers to donate the money to you through an official donation service such as Just Giving: https://www.justgiving.com/
Tip - when refunding customers, you have the option to add a custom message in which you can include your donation link.
Vouchers
You may wish to offer customers a voucher instead of a refund. Key points for you to note are:
- Vouchers can be offered instead of a refund, but if the customer is not willing to accept the voucher, we cannot refuse to refund them.
- Vouchers are not refundable through our Soda platform and any queries will need to be managed directly with the customer.
See our user guide here on how to use the Ticket/Booking Voucher Exchange tool on our gift voucher platform Soda.
Refunds
In the case that a customer does not wish to reschedule their booking to a later date or accept another form of payment, the guidance being given by Citizens Advice is that customers are legally entitled to a refund.
In the case that you refuse a customer a refund and therefore the customer disputes this with their bank, the money will be refunded to the customer and you’ll be charged the dispute fee of £15.
Haven’t heard back from a customer?
If you have reached out to customers offering to reschedule their booking but you haven’t heard back from them by the date of the event, we cannot hold onto the customers' funds and therefore the purchases will need to be refunded.
DesignMyNight Terms and Conditions
We’re here to help you put your next steps into practise so that you can effectively and clearly communicate with your customers on what is happening and the options available to them.
In the case that customers are not being communicated with or not being given the appropriate options, DesignMyNight has an obligation to the customers to ensure their money is protected. We, therefore, reserve the right to enforce any of our terms and conditions deemed appropriate as outlined here:
https://www.designmynight.com/terms-and-conditions
In the case that a customer does not wish to reschedule their booking to a later date or accept another form of payment, the guidance being given by Citizens Advice is that customers are legally entitled to a refund.
In the case that you refuse a customer a refund and therefore the customer disputes this with their bank, the money will be refunded to the customer and you’ll be charged the dispute fee of £15.
Haven’t heard back from a customer?
If you have reached out to customers offering to reschedule their booking but you haven’t heard back from them by the date of the event, we cannot hold onto the customers' funds and therefore the purchases will need to be refunded.
DesignMyNight Terms and Conditions
We’re here to help you put your next steps into practise so that you can effectively and clearly communicate with your customers on what is happening and the options available to them.
In the case that customers are not being communicated with or not being given the appropriate options, DesignMyNight has an obligation to the customers to ensure their money is protected. We, therefore, reserve the right to enforce any of our terms and conditions deemed appropriate as outlined here:
https://www.designmynight.com/terms-and-conditions
Useful links:
Move a booking: https://tonic.uservoice.com/knowledgebase/articles/1075891-switch-tickets-by-type-or-date
Move a booking to a different event page: https://tonic.uservoice.com/knowledgebase/articles/1923346-move-purchase-from-one-event-to-another