OLYMPICS/ Spotlight
Buyers risk consequences, if late to pay
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-09-24 15:14
BEIJING -- A large number of people who successfully booked tickets for the 2008 Olympic Games have yet to complete payment procedures, Olympic Ticketing Center officials said.
The Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympics (BOCOG) said last month that more than 300,000 people across the Chinese mainland became the first group of luck buyers of Olympic tickets.
Rong Jun, director of the Olympic Ticketing Center, told reporters that the Bank of China started to collect payment from buyers' accounts as of September 12 but a "considerable" amount of people have yet to complete payment.
"In order to avoid cancellation of bookings, people must present their identity cards and ticket booking numbers to complete payment procedures at the 1,000 designated Bank of China branches as of Tuesday," he said.
Rong added that though the deadline for payment has not been decided yet, delays in making payment may result in a ban to buy tickets in the future.
"If people have not paid for their tickets by the deadline of the first stage, when it is announced, their bookings will be canceled and those tickets will go on sale again in the second stage," said Rong.
"Furthermore, if the second phase of sales starts before the deadline, these people will be temporarily banned from booking other tickets."
According to BOCOG, tickets will be sold on a "first come, first serve" basis in the second phase. Besides booking through the official ticketing website and Bank of China branches, people can also book through the hotline (952008).
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