Uefa to refund Irish fans charged multiple fees for delivery of tickets

Irish football fans may be in line for a refund after European Football’s governing body admitted that some supporters were charged multiple fees for their delivery of tickets to this summer’s European Championships.

Earlier this year, Uefa launched an online ticket resale platform to provide an official outlet for fans to buy unclaimed tickets to Euro 2016 matches.

Each ticket transaction was subject to a €15 delivery fee — meaning that supporters following Martin O’Neill’s men around France for all matches in the group stage would pay a minimum of €45 in courier charges.

This fee could be even greater for those who made several transactions for the same match or fans who bought tickets for the knock-out stages of the tournament as well as group games.

The resale portal closed at the end of March, and tickets were dispatched in the past week.

However, supporters this week started receiving their orders in a single delivery, despite being charged multiple courier fees.

“having bought 2 lots of tickets at different sages of the portal and paying the 15 eur [sic] postage fee they have the same tracking number,” one fan wrote on the You Boys In Green online supporters forum.

“fair play to uefa for the postage scam,” the supporter added.

“Tickets delivered,” another fan wrote. “Only downside is I paid €15 postage four times for one delivery.”

Uefa yesterday confirmed that it would look to refund charges to the fans affected.

“In such cases, these fans have purchased their tickets in different orders. Therefore, for each order a delivery fee is charged,” a UEFA spokesperson told the Irish Examiner.

“However, when possible, orders are put together to reduce the number of shipments. In this case, customers also receive only one tracking number. Once the delivery process is done, the number of shipments per customer will be analysed. In case it is possible to save some money, the fans will receive their additional delivery cost back to their credit card.”

Uefa said these refunds “will most likely happen after the end of the tournament”.

Ireland open their Uefa 2016 finals campaign against Sweden on June 13.