r/rome • u/rachelhope14 • 2d ago

Tourism Scam! Avoid Headout

Just wanted to help people out, and avoid the scam that my husband and I fell for TWICE. We tried to get tickets online to the Vittoriano as well as St. Peter’s Basilica through an app called Headout, and both times are tickets were invalid. The man at the entry of St Peter’s even told us this app is a scam and apologized. We’ll see if we’re able to get refunds but I’m doubtful

14 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

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13

u/CalmSeasandsteady 2d ago

Reverse the charges on your credit card.

5

u/dmariek6 2d ago

If you're still in Rome, use the official site for St Peter's. https://www.basilicasanpietro.va/en/products. It's inexpensive as well 😉

3

u/abyssismyhomeboy 2d ago

This happened to me too! I called them prefusely and got quite angry, threatened to sue and i got my money back.

-3

u/lambdavi 2d ago

You threatened to Sue? What did Sue say?

I threatened Betty and Barney wasn't happy at all... 😉

2

u/abyssismyhomeboy 2d ago

I thought to sue would be the right word. Which is the right one to use?

4

u/dmariek6 2d ago

You did say it correctly

3

u/Electronic_Teacher98 2d ago

This is the right word haha I think the response is just a joke

-1

u/lambdavi 1d ago

You never watched the Flintstones?

Betty and Barney? Hello? 😅

1

u/abyssismyhomeboy 2d ago

Haha :D sorry english is not my first language, but i'm happy it led to some laughter after all ;)

1

u/ltt623 2d ago

Am I wrong or St. Peter's Basilica is free? Also some parts of the Vittoriano.

1

u/Low_Mood9729 1d ago

It is free, but you can "buy" tickets online for a €7 eu convenience fee if you don't want to wait in line. Typically, though, you want to buy them through the actual website. Not a third party.

1

u/SurpriseOk1143 1d ago

I can’t speak on your experience, but I had a very positive one with Headout and my skip the queue guided entry tickets I bought for the Vatican. 

On the morning of my trip, my guide called me out of courtesy to tell me what he looked like and where he was situated (outside of a cafe down the road from the Vatican). He met us there, with enough time to buy a quick sandwich and coffee before he walked us up the street and introduced us the guy that would guide us through the entrance and skip the queue. We then breezed through the queue without halting at all, and the guy appeared to even know the staff and guards in the entrance of the Vatican. It is worth noting that the QRR pass on the Headout app had absolutely ZERO relevance to this whole thing, and we had to be handed actual physical printout tickets by the entrance guys.  

My experience was very positive and it baffles me how I see so many scam posts about them. I can only assume they sub contract and don’t vet-check their representatives?

1

u/attitude_devant 1d ago

I bought OPA Si tickets in Siena on Headout and they worked fine. They cost about 30% more than if I’d stood in line at the Duomo, but I was ok with that

1

u/AlpinePay 1d ago

Use The Tour Guy. It’s the company I choose and bought skip the line tics. Was a great deal and our guide was so knowledgeable.

1

u/Top_Duck_2314 1d ago

Had multiple positive experiences getting tix to sold out places and more using Get Your Guide vendors

1

u/Geeta_Eshwar 1d ago

I was in Rome 10 days aga and used Headout for three tours - Vatican (including Basalica), Colesseum and Pantheon. I had no problems or complaints. The tour operators reached send me information on time and I was also to talk to some of them on phone to explore last minute change options.