It's been reported to me that Ticketmaster might be up to no good when it comes to the pre-sale of tickets for the Crosby, Stills & Nash concert dates in the UK this summer. It would appear that 3A Entertainment, promoters of the shows, made duplicate seat allocations to
both Seetickets and Ticketmaster for the Crosby Stills Nash concert scheduled
for Manchester on July 10, 2009.
The CSN fan discovered that the 5th row Block A ticket, which was originally bought through
Seetickets' Friday presale, was also for sale (at twice the price) through
Ticketmaster's 'Marketplace' website tab.
Despite repeated telephone assurances from
Seetickets that the original purchase was valid, that the seat was safe and that the
Ticketmaster website details were wrong, this was completely untrue. Seetickets informed the fan verbally today that the promoter, 3A Entertainment, issued duplicate ticket
information to both Ticketmaster and Seetickets, that Ticketmaster had
precedence and that the Seetickets seat was therefore no longer valid. As a result of this
duplicitous behaviour, the concertgoer had to pay £200+, through Ticketmaster, to
buy two tickets adjacent to the seat originally bought in good faith from
Seetickets for £50. The concertgoer states:
"It was my decision to pay this
'proximity' premium one might argue, but I have waited 38 years
to see this band perform live. I wanted a decent seat for this event, thought I
had one and will not be fobbed off with a third rate seat subsequently
offered by Seetickets as a consolation prize.
Besides myself, I assume that many other
concertgoers have suffered the same disappointment today, through what appears
to be, at best, the promoter's incompetence, or at worst an egregious attempt to
gouge ticket prices.
I have no way of establishing to whom my
original Seetickets' seat was allocated. Ticketmaster might argue that they are
only acting as the facilitator for other legitimate sellers on their
'Marketplace' site and have acted in good faith. However, recent events
involving Bruce Springsteen and Ticketsnow remain front and centre in the minds
of many concertgoers and the finger of suspicion may still remain despite the
public assurances.
This state of affairs is simply not good enough
and my heart tells me that heads should roll for this debacle which can but add
only further disrepute to the industry."
Take heed, all those concerned in what appears to be a cavalier disregard for the rights of the fans. You cannot continue to get away with this sort of behavior without paying the same high price you expect fans to pay.
Take heed, all those concerned in what appears to be a cavalier disregard for the rights of the fans. You cannot continue to get away with this sort of behavior without paying the same high price you expect fans to pay.
