A DUNFERMLINE man has been left looking back in anger as he got through the Ticketmaster queue to buy an Oasis ticket – only to be slapped with a £350 price tag.
Matthew Verrecchia, 22, joined millions on Saturday morning hoping to be able to walk away with a coveted ticket to the hottest gig in the UK.
However, he was left “disgusted” after waiting six hours to make it through to the front of the queue and find out that his only options were tickets being sold five times their face value.
He said: “I was in the queue from around 8am on my laptop and as I got into the queue at 9am, the website timed out.
“Ticketmaster said I was showing signs of bot activity and booted me to the back of the queue.
“I ended up being 65000th in the queue and any time I tried to do anything, it would show up error codes.
“I finally got through and there were no regular standing or seated tickets left, all that was available was in demand and premium options.”
Matthew's story is one that will be familiar to millions, being hit with Ticketmaster's dynamic pricing system
This is a practice in which businesses push up prices at times of high demand.
In this case, a seated ticket for Oasis, originally priced at £74 for the band’s Murrayfield dates, was inflated to £350 to account for the number of people trying to buy it.
Astounded that Ticketmaster was offering a ticket for such an inflated price, Matthew made the decision to step out of the queue.
“These were going for £300/£400,” he went on. “I think it’s disgusting to see the price of a gig be so high so I left it.
“There was no chance I was paying more than face value, nobody should have to pay above original selling price, it’s just profiteering.”
Like hundreds of thousands of other fans across Scotland, Matthew was hit with Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing.
This is a practice in which businesses push up prices at times of high demand.
In this case, a seated ticket for Oasis, originally priced at £74 for the band’s Murrayfield dates, was inflated to £350 to account for the number of people trying to buy it.
Matthew went on: “I first noticed Ticketmaster doing this on gigs around two years ago but I didn’t take too much notice from it.
“I think it’s got to a stage where this has become the norm for Ticketmaster which is just shameful.
“If you charge face value, it has to be with no extra charges or else you’re just pricing people out of these gigs.”
In response, Matthew contacted Cllr Graeme Downie, newly-elected Labour MP for Dunfermline and Dollar.
He said: “I asked him to advocate for a ban on dynamic ticket pricing and resale profiteering. I want tickets to be sold at face value and dynamic pricing to be stopped.
“Tickets should not be sold for profit and it’s unfair for people to be paying through the nose to go to a gig.”
The Labour Government have been urged to take a stance and act on dynamic pricing and resale touts for gigs.
While they have yet to announce definitive action, Cllr Downie pledged to support the UK Government’s move.
He added: “Thankfully, there are always great local bands to see around Dunfermline’s thriving music scene, which offer fantastic value for money and a great night out but it’s not right that fans like Matthew are being priced out of getting tickets for gigs like Oasis.
“I will fully support the UK Labour Government’s commitment to improve consumer protection that will end the scourge of touts and rip-off resales to create a fairer system and fairer prices.”
Ticketmaster have defended their ticket pricing system, explaining: “The event organiser has priced these tickets according to their market value.”
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