Consumer watchdog probe urged into rising prices of ‘in-demand’ Oasis tickets
A controversial pricing system that saw the cost of Oasis tickets surge during the sales window has prompted calls for a consumer watchdog probe.
Many fans who waited in huge online queues for tickets to the band’s two gigs at Dublin’s Croke Park were left shocked when they found that prices for standing tickets had rocketed by the time they finally got the opportunity to make a purchase.
Some were quoted at €415.50 each.
Irish MEP Regina Doherty called for an investigation into the pricing structure for the sell-out gigs in August next year.
The Fine Gael representative for the Dublin constituency urged Ireland’s Competition and Consumer Protection Commission to examine the process.
“When ticket prices were advertised earlier this week, standing tickets in Croke Park were €86.50 plus booking fees, but when many people eventually got through the online queue this morning, they were faced with the exact same ticket at a price of €415.50,” she said.
“That’s not transparent advertising and certainly not fair to consumers.
“The EU’s Digital Services Act has sections included specifically to ensure large platforms that control aspects of the digital economy don’t just make up their own rules that are unfair for consumers.”
She said the “in-demand” pricing structure needed to be examined.
“Every ticket for these gigs was always going to be ‘in demand’ so slapping an extra label and €300 on some standing tickets is just extortionate,” she added.
The Ticketmaster website said the prices of platinum and in-demand tickets were set according to their market value and were subject to change.
When asked about this issue by the PA news agency, Ticketmaster made clear it does not set the prices.
It is understood that the prices are set by the promoters, not the artists.
The promoter of the Irish gigs, MCD, has been approached for comment.
While thousands got the chance to buy prized tickets to the Croke Park concerts, many thousands more never made it that far and missed out completely.
The sales window opened at 8am on Saturday – an hour earlier than for the UK gigs – and within minutes the online queue for both nights was in excess of 500,000 people.
Many of those experienced frustrating technical issues, including being ejected from the lengthy queues, being logged out of their accounts and being presented with error messages as the Ticketmaster website seemingly struggled to cope with the exceptionally high demand.
A number of residents around Croke Park were also left disappointed. A set number of tickets was set aside for people living close to the landmark stadium in north Dublin, with householders asked to submit a form asking for a code to purchase them.
However, the number of applications exceeded demand, with those residents who were unsuccessful being informed by email on Saturday.
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