Belgium’s biggest music festivals are under fire after a consumer watchdog exposed cashless payment systems riddled with hidden fees and refund hurdles, calling them a rip-off for fans.
Brussels Times reports that Belgian consumer rights group Testachats published a report about the payment practices at Belgium’s summer festivals. The report, a follow-up to their 2024 similar report, found that the situation has not improved compared to last year.
The report comes as many consumers switch to cashless payments at music festivals across Europe. While this reality is something many, especially younger people, do not mind, the report warns that it has morphed into practices that can be described as possibly illegal, but certainly unfriendly.
Several festivals use trendy payment systems that end up costing visitors extra. Festivalgoers are often given virtual coins—dubbed as pearls, or douros at the Dour festival, for example—on a bracelet or card. But using them is not free: Les Ardentes, for instance, charges a €1.25 activation fee, while Tomorrowland requires visitors to pay €13.50 to have their bracelet shipped. At Dour, people have to top up their bracelets with a minimum of €10 via an app, and are only allowed to add €5 increments.
To further complicate matters, virtual currencies rarely correspond to euros, which means that you might even need a calculator to know how much you spent or how much currency you have left on your wristband, with the value of coins almost never corresponding to a round number.
On top of that, anyone with any money left over at the end has to pay to get their money back. This may cost anywhere between €3.50 and €3.75, while at one festival, Ronquières, you only get a refund if you have at least €3 left on your bracelet.
Not all festivals use their own payment methods, with some still allowing payment in euros.
Following repeated complaints, Belgian federal consumer protection minister Rob Beenders drafted a charter that festivals can sign voluntarily. According to the charter, festivals are allowed to offer their own payment method, but consumers should be able to purchase those with cash or electronically, and with no minimum purchase. Also, festivalgoers must have at least one month to recover their money. However, festivals are still allowed to charge fees for activation and money recovery.
By contrast to this veritable rip-off, Hungary’s Sziget Festival, albeit cashless, allows contactless cards as payment, besides also offering the option of topping up bracelets—but in real currency.
With ticket prices already through the roof everywhere, festivalgoers should not be expected to pay surcharges that enrich organizers and which can be hardly considered legal.
