Forum Topic

Grrrrrrrr!

Yes, I confess it, I am a Barry Manilow fan, so imagine my delight when I heard he is at Wembley and the O2 next May. So I went online to book tickets which I knew would be a bit pricey, but what really got me boiling was the £20 fee! For what? The privilege of spending my own money and doing all the booking myself presumably, then the cheeky sods didn't include postage! What a con, the government should stop all these people who are making a fortune for doing absolutely nothing now that all this can be done online, it is outrageous. If Tesco charged us all £5 entrance fee to go shopping I can only imagine what they'd be told...........

Vanessa Smith ● 4452d13 Comments

So you call me mean, then you imply that I am a Barry Manilow fan?  Some of my neighbours read this forum you know.

Phil Andrews ● 4448d

Oh Phil, that's so mean.  Springsteen is a top man and his concerts are great value.  But if you're more of a Barry Manilow kinda guy you could always tag along with Vanessa and Alan.

Chris Calvi-Freeman ● 4449d

I didn't go and I didn't miss much either ;)

Phil Andrews ● 4449d

In Oz Bruce Sprinssteen was sold out, I turned up after he had been on stage for approx mins and bought a ticket at  less than half price. As he played for over 3 hours I didn't miss much.

Neil Chippendale ● 4449d

Adam, Mr. Smith will do as he is told! So there!

Vanessa Smith ● 4449d

In my experience (I did occasional work at the rugby ground many years ago) touts always buy and sell tickets in pairs.

Phil Andrews ● 4449d

Are you suggesting Mr. Smith might not share Vanessa's fondness for Barry Manilow ? ;-)

Adam Beamish ● 4449d

Who knows, Mr Smith may prefer to sit elsewhere.  :-)

Chris Calvi-Freeman ● 4449d

Vanessa, the touts often get their tickets from insiders associated with the show. In football, it is the players who most often get in trouble for profiting from this practice.The cheapest way to get a ticket is to turn up on the night and wait till the show is due to commence. The touts at that point just want to shift what is left, and I have seen tickets go for half the face value at some major "sell out" events. There is almost always someone holding a ticket for a friend who has not managed to turn up, though they usually are looking for their money back.I appreciate that you may be expecting Mr Smith to attend with you. If that is the case it is not always possible to get 2 seats together.

John Connelly ● 4450d

Some smarmy wide boy on BBC Breakfast trying to justify getting hold of tickets, in this case Monty Python and trying to justify asking for hundred of pounds as an arrangement fee. Question no-one could answer was how do these conmen get the tickets in the first place?

Vanessa Smith ● 4450d

Conversely, a few weeks ago only afew days before the tournament I booked tickets via Viagogo for one of the sessions at the O2 for the ATP World Tour tennis.  Although the booking fee was around a tenner and we still had to pick the tickets up on the day, when we arrived to collect them, which was in a part of the O2 usually used as a club/bar, we were given 2 free drink tokens for use (on any drinks) at the bar and a card giving us £20 off our next ticket purchase - I was impressed !.

Adam Beamish ● 4451d

Ticketline are charging only £8- £11 booking fees for this event:https://www.ticketline.co.uk/order/tickets/13287503/barry-manilow-london-wembley-arena-2014-05-13-20-00-00JL

Jim Linwood ● 4451d

A complete rip off.Funny that eventually after ripping off thousands, the likes of Ryanair were reigned in. But only after far too long had passed.This is one for BBC watchdog, which magazine and newspapers at least those still with the guts not to be manipulated by advertisers.

Anthony Waller ● 4452d