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Time for O2 to cut ties with Ticketmaster

welshsteve76
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O2 Priority tickets appears to use the Ticketmaster site.  My experience with Ticketmaster this morning has made me think it is time for Ticketmaster to be punished for their bad practices.  They are ripping people off in the name of making as much money as possible.

 

This morning I tried to get tickets for Myles Kennedy at the O2 Institute in Birmingham in March.  I was on the site ready and refreshed the browser at 8:59. Not on sale yet. Clicked to 9:00, clicked refresh and I could then select tickets. But they were already sold out.  Ridiculous.  But they were almost immediately available for £100 EXTRA PER TICKET on their secondary resale site (GetMeIn).

 

Absolutely disgraceful practice!!  Nobody should be able to list tickets on a secondary site unless ALL tickets for an event are officially sold out.  Surely there is a way that can happen.

 

I think Ticketmaster deliberately hold back tickets to make profit from this practice.

 

On top of this, if you are ever lucky enough to actually get through to buy the tickets, they charge you a delivery fee, even if you go with the electronic print-at-home option for your tickets. I mean £2.75 to receive a PDF on email is just a complete rip off.

 

This is not an isolated experience for me. I have experienced this a number of times in the past for other events.  It just really annoys me.  venues no longer have booking offices themselves either, so you can't even phone the venue to purchase tickets.

 

There really does have to be something that can be done about this practice. It's just simply not fair to fans.

Thanks

Steve
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Cleoriff
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@welshsteve76Getting tickets for gigs via Priority is a nightmare. Many people on here have said the same. Ready to buy the minute the site opens only to find they are all sold out.

What's even more annoying is seeing the tickets on sale on Ebay or other sites for ridiculous prices.

Not sure it's just Ticketmasters fault. All ticket selling sites should have a system in place where each purchase only allows a maximum of 4 tickets. Also, if Priority have an arrangement with agents to sell tickets they should ensure these are only sold to Priority customers (not sure that happens if honest).

When I last bought tickets for a gig, I had 3 sites open waiting for the countdown. I could only get them directly from the bands website. Priority wouldn't connect and Get Me In didn't have the venue I wanted....Yet when I got to the gig early, there were only a few people in the Priority queue.(Certainly not enough to warrant a 'sellout')

Veritas Numquam Perit

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welshsteve76
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All sounds very familiar.

 

I give up getting tickets for Metallica last year through O2 priority and used my Metallica fan club Live Nation presale code instead.  Metallica limited sales to 2 tickets per transaction, and as I needed 3, I had to go for standing, when I wanted seating (mainly because I knew my wife would struggle in a Metallica moss pit LOL).  So I have to have 2 browsers open on the site and get the tickets reserved as quickly as possible.  I was successful, but it was the most stressful experience of my life!!

Thanks

Steve
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Cleoriff
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Same here @welshsteve76 Mine was to see Prodigy. (I know.. but I love them)

I got them from the bands website with no issue. My son who was also desperate to get in (and was at the time with O2) tried and failed with Priority. He got his from Get Me In (The bands website had sold out) He paid double the price of mine...

 

Veritas Numquam Perit

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welshsteve76
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I refuse to use secondary ticketing sites.  It should literally be illegally to sell tickets at more than the face value

Thanks

Steve
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Cleoriff
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@welshsteve76 wrote:

I refuse to use secondary ticketing sites.  It should literally be illegally to sell tickets at more than the face value


And the worse thing? Ticket touts outside venues are still alive and kicking...Evil

Veritas Numquam Perit

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welshsteve76
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At the Metallica show there was a guy stood next to a police car calling out "TICKETS". You just feel like telling them where to go.  Nobody could possibly have got in with tickets that weren't originally their's because you name was on your ticket and you had to produce ID or the credit card you bought the tickets on to get in.

Thanks

Steve
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Anonymous
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I totaly agree with the suggestion of cutting ties with Tickermaster. On several occasions recently I have tried to purchase concert tickets for my daughter to be told in a very short space ot time -" all tickets sold" and then to find same tickets being sold at a hell of an increase on a get me in site.  Something wrong there!!

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welshsteve76
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Another thing to point out is that the O2 Priority Tickets pre-sales actually don't offer anything special, as they go through Ticketmaster anyway, who have their own pre-sale at the same time for their registered members (as do the promotion arm of the company, Live Nation).  So there really isn't anything special being offered that non-O2 customers cannot access.

Thanks

Steve
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Cleoriff
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At one time you were allowed access into the venue first. Good idea if it's a standing only gig. Pointless if you have allocated seats.

I'm sure there was also a VIP pre show lounge at some venues. I don't see that advertised now.

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