Don't pay rock star prices for music tickets

By Sarah Modlock

27 June 2006

It's that time of year again. No, not Wimbledon and Cartier polo. I'm talking wellies, tents and moshing. Summer music festivals are well underway. Unfortunately, the risk of ticket rip-offs is now as high as the stench from the chemical portaloos.

'The Isle of Wight and Download events attracted more than 125,000 visitors between them. And things have changed a lot since the first Glastonbury gig in 1970 featured Marc Bolan and tickets read ' £1, at Worthy Farm, includes a jug of milk from Michael Eavis.' There is no Glasto this year but in 2007 you are likely to be confronted with a 12ft-high security fence. And for middle-class hippy-wannabees, sleeping under Cath Kidston designer canvas is so last season. Expect more Winnebagos and luxury cabins.

It's easy to see why touts and fraudsters target festivals and gigs. Some fans queued for more than 18 hours to pick up T in the Park festival tickets, which sold out in record time. Clearly demand is much higher than supply.

In January last year the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) called for a shake-up in the way concert tickets are sold. They discovered that even legitimate agents were charging as much as two-thirds on top of the face value of a ticket and have recommended that all press ads for concert tickets include full pricing details so it's easier to spot the size of the mark-up.

Licence to print money

Last summer, a site called Getmetickets was offering £125 Glastonbury tickets for £237 at an 'early bird discount', despite the fact that the tickets didn't exist and the festival wasn't even confirmed. The same mob sold 500 tickets for 2004's festival for as much as £477 each. A seat to see the Rolling Stones could have set you back £1,777. But many customers were lucky if the tickets they paid so much money for ever turned up.

This spring, the Department of Trade and Industry asked for the company to be wound up in the public interest after endless complaints and several investigations by the media, including the BBC Watchdog programme. The ticket agency was also attacked by music figures including Sir Cliff Richard, who called the site 'a terrible rip-off'.

But some existing websites are still advertising tickets to gigs and concerts which are not even booked. A recent investigation by the Times newspaper found that anyworldwideevent.com was advertising illegal tickets for the London 2012 Olympics, unavailable tickets for the Last Night of the Proms and £500 debentures for the Wimbledon tennis championships.

Melvin Benn, ticketing manager for Mean Fiddler, the promoter at Reading and Leeds , told the Times that the website was one of many such operations. 'It seems what sites like this can do is take the money for tickets and keep it in the bank for a while to earn interest,' he said. 'They exploit a legal loophole which requires them to give a refund when people complain, but they can still keep the booking fee they charge and the interest gained.'

Supply and demand online

Another site frequently used for re-selling tickets is eBay. It came under fire last year when users posted Live 8 charity concert tickets for sale and regularly features thousands of auctions for concert and festival tickets. Many could be legitimate fans who buy an extra ticket to sell in an effort to help them cover their costs. But others are thought to be posted by professional touts profiting from huge mark-ups.

Scarletmist.com is a free independent, non-profit website which helps sell unwanted tickets at face value. It introduces buyers and sellers, making no charge for sellers but encouraging buyers to make a donation to one of the site's chosen charities. Even so, Scarlet Mist states that it '..is not totally safe. We don't know who you're dealing with. We hope it is safer than dealing with a stranger in the street, but we cannot offer any assurances and we cannot prevent frauds or rip-off merchants. If we hear of any such problems we will take whatever action we can, but we are not the Police. Take precautions. Beware of forgeries scams and rip-offs.' The site urges buyers and sellers to meet in person to exchange tickets and money or use its escrow service, Autionchex, for a small charge.

Another way to nab precious tickets is to log onto the band's official website. Messageboards often have tickets for sale, usually because someone cannot make the gig. Signing up to a mailing list may also provide you with advance notice of concerts and dates on which tickets will go on sale, sometimes with a pre-sale for fans.

The OFT has identified five key points for consumers to check before buying an entertainment ticket:

•  what is the face value of the ticket and how much will I pay in total including additional fees such as booking fees, transaction charges and postage?

•  can I get a ticket elsewhere – will I get it cheaper by shopping around or going direct to the box office?

•  how will I receive my tickets and what happens if they don't arrive?

•  will I get a refund, including additional fees, if the event is cancelled, changed or I cannot go?

•  what is the seat location and does it have a restricted view?