Heritage Malta and maltaticket.com have continued to blame each other for the fact that several paying customers planning to visit the Hypogeum were turned back and told their tickets were invalid.

Heritage Malta said in a press release yesterday that it contracted maltaticket.com some years ago but told the online agency last year the contract would not be renewed.

In November, Heritage Malta informed maltaticket.com that online bookings for visits to the Hypogeum for this year would not be accepted.

“In spite of instructions to the contrary”, maltaticket.com kept selling tickets and only agreed to stop after Heritage Malta requested an injunction in December.

Maltaticket.com was now “holding back” funds collected on behalf of Heritage Malta, which was also denied access to information about the ticket sales.

“Consequently, Heritage Malta holds no information whatsoever on tickets purchased via maltaticket.com and as a result cannot contact those clients who bought such tickets nor confirm the validity of tickets issued by maltaticket.com,” Heritage Malta said.

In line with Unesco instructions, Heritage Malta decided it would not allow more than the 80 daily admissions to the sensitive site but tried to assist visitors who had bought invalid tickets visits at other hours without charge. It also filed a lawsuit against maltaticket.com.

Meanwhile, maltaticket.com has written to those who bought invalid tickets, claiming Heritage Malta was “illegally” refusing to honour its legal responsibilities.

The online company said it was contracted until December 2015 but Heritage Malta wanted “premature termination” of the contract.

“We have charged them fees for this early termination and are also seeking other damages in various court proceedings due to numerous illegal and abusive acts on their part surrounding theirpremature cancellation.”

Maltaticket.com added that such situations should never affect customers and Heritage Malta was still bound to honour the terms of the contract made with clients.

In a letter sent to its customers, obtained by The Times, maltaticket.com urged them to demand their tickets be honoured and to resist asking their banks to chargeback their credit cards.

“Do not do this. Anyone who files a chargeback will have the charge re-presented and will not receive any refund... Their asking you to chargeback the transaction is like a store telling you to get a refund from their cash register manufacturer,” maltaticket.com told the ticket buyers.

“Demand that they give you a new ticket for the date and time you booked, or in other ways fulfil their legal obligations to you. Don’t take no for an answer. Persist and they will most likely concede to do this, as they have done for many others, but it might take several e-mails.”

As a last resort, maltaticket.com invited customers to complete a form for which they will receive a refund while the company pursues customers’ claims against Heritage Malta in court.

Customers will only be eligible for the refund if they do not attempt a chargeback and agree not to attempt one later, if they contacted Heritage Malta to demand the honouring of the ticket and if Heritage Malta denied admission.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.