Watchdog, 04/06/14

Transcript for Ticketing part 3

Presenter: Chris Hollins

NICK BLACKBURN, EVENTIM CHAIRMAN
So the lead customer – his name will be on the ticket he bought plus the tickets he bought for other people – whether it be one, two or three because there was a maximum of four tickets per person. He will have to show identity when he goes into the venue and he will have to have the people he bought the tickets for – with him. And they will have to go in with him.
We’ve used this method before a couple of times with other artists – once with the same promoter – and it had proved successful in the past. And that’s why we again applied the same methods for Kate Bush.
CHRIS (VOICEOVER)
It’s the morning all of us Kate Bush fans have been waiting for…
At nine thirty tickets go on sale for the singer’s first live shows in 35 years.
CHRIS (VOICEOVER)
The face value of the tickets for the twenty-two shows ranges from £53 and £145.
But Kate Bush doesn’t want ticket touts taking advantage. So will the action taken by her concert organisers work?
CHRIS (TO CAMERA)
Well this morning we are going to find out. In just a few minutes those tickets will go on sale and we’ll be monitoring the official websites and four of the biggest companies on the secondary market.
CHRIS (TO CAMERA)
OK, it’s 9.30am – let’s see what happens.
CHRIS (VOICEOVER)
Immediately, the websites of the official sellers are inundated.
WATCHDOG OFFICE WORKER
Watchdog Office Worker: Five minutes in and there are no tickets left.
Chris: No tickets at all?
Watchdog Office Worker: No.
CHRIS (VOICEOVER)
Demand is so high, Eventim sells out after just five minutes.
And yet almost immediately, tickets begin popping up on the secondary market – on viagogo, Seatwave and Getmein.
It’s highly unlikely that these are tickets being resold by fans.
Kate Bush hasn’t toured for decades, so why would you sell your tickets on just moments after they went on sale?
What’s much more likely is that they’re simply being bought and resold to make a profit. And this is borne out by the sort of prices we begin to see.
CHRIS CHATS TO WATCHDOG TEAM
Andthey’re £328 each?
£750 - is that right?
Yeah, they are steep aren’t they?
CHRIS (VOICEOVER)
We decide to buy a ticket from Seatwave for £583 – a mark-up of over £400.
CHRIS WITH WATCHDOG OFFICE WORKER
So, you’ve got the ticket - despite the fact that everybody else on official sites can’t get anywhere near. They’re still waiting. You now have one ticket – admittedly a very expensive ticket. Extraordinary.
CHRIS (VOICEOVER)
By ten o’clock all three authorised websites – the primary sellers - have sold out.
Remember - their most expensive ticket was £145.
And yet dozens of second-hand tickets continue to appear on the secondary market – at truly mind-boggling prices.
We found one for £1,999.
But hang on.
What about those extra security measures?
Only people with the correct names printed on their tickets and matching photo ID will be allowed into the concerts.
That’s only possible if you bought your ticket directly from one of the three authorised websites.
But ours is a second-hand ticket - so it’ll have someone else’s name on it.
So how will we get in?
Well the secondary sites have already thought of that.
They tell customers they’ll have to pick up their tickets on the night of the concert somewhere in Hammersmith.
Sounds dodgy… so how will it work?
CHRIS (TO CAMERA)
Well let’s give Seatwave a call to find out.
SECRET RECORDING OF PHONECALL
CHRIS: It says I have to meet someone to collect the ticket how does that work?
SEATWAVE CUSTOMER SERVICES: The seller of your ticket will need to be, will need to go to collect the ticket at Hammersmith and you will need to be with him at this moment and as soon as he will collect the ticket he will give it to you and you will be free to go to the event.
Because all the tickets will be released by the organisa…..by the people who organise the event only on the night of the event.
CHRIS (VOICEOVER)
So the only way I can get in is if I meet a stranger in Hammersmith and go in to the venue with him, using his ID.
Once I’m through the door, that person will most likely leave.
The ticketing industry has a name for these people, they’re called “walkers”.
And it’s a practice that the secondary market considers to be totally acceptable.
REG WALKER, SECURITY AGENT FOR THE 02
Touts who harvest large numbers of tickets will employ ‘walkers’. And they will give them the credit cards they purchased the tickets with and other forms of identification. They then use the ticket themselves to get into the event with the person, present the credit card, come back out, meet the next group that the ticket is sold to, walk those through, present the next form of ID and come back out. And so on and so forth.
It’s all designed to circumvent any form of entry restriction.
CHRIS (VOICEOVER)
By doing walk-throughs sellers are able to cheat the security measures put in place by the concert organisers. And they are using the secondary market to do it.
Yes, they bought the ticket, but they’ve resold up to 3 others at a massive profit, thereby excluding those fans who AREN’T wealthy enough to pay anything greater than the face value.
We saw a couple of hundred second hand Kate Bush tickets for sale on three of the 4 main sites.
But for Nick Blackburn, this still represents a success. There would be far, far more if they hadn’t decided to take a stand…
NICK BLACKBURN, CEO EVENTIM
Ninety-eight per cent of the tickets went to the right place. If two per cent didn’t – I’m still happy with the result we got. And it’s going to be very difficult on the night for people to get in who haven’t bought tickets the right way and I believe we did the right thing.
CHRIS (VOICEOVER)
So Kate Bush had a go.
And she did alright.
But when the secondary market fights so hard to help ticket touts bend the rules – even our Kate struggles to come out on top.

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