In his Independent column, David Lister has reported a complaint from an OHP patron who has complained about additional charges. David rather dramatically proclaims that our charges have increased the cost of the booking by 22.5%. Terrible I hear you say.
Well, let me explain: the only charges applied by OHP is a 2.50 admin fee on each transaction. So if you spend fifty quid or five hundred, it is the same. If you book online the company who manages our online bookings charges £1 per ticket. Not ideal but on the industry low-side. Therefore it is hard to imagine a 22.5% charge? Actually, no, because what David signally fails to point out is that this patron booked two of our several thousand £10 seats (seats I can assure you we would sell out at three times the price). His booking therefore in total cost £24.50. That for two tickets in fantastic seats for great opera. If he had booked on the phone he would have paid only the two-fifty. If he had bought twenty seats on the phone he would have paid £2.50 and so on and so on. If he had purchased two seats at £57 each he would have paid the same; or in other words 4%.
I understand that people don't like fees but ours are very low and Lister's piece was disingenuous and unfair. I haven't heard him praise us for foregoing over £100,000 in real money in order to make these seats available in the first place. I am beginning to wonder if we should bother at all. No doubt we will be attacked for that too?
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