ZARIA7ETAN said:

Good for you. i'm in the same boat as u. Ticketmaster are cocksuckers!!!!!

Yeah, it's the auction thing that's really terrible. How can they expect to be taken seriously when they criticize scalpers?

ZARIA7ETAN said:

Note how the line confines the "money does not matter" sentiment to 1 night?
That is how it should be read if you want to understand what Prince is about.

3121 said:

Ticketmaster is just the middleman, I doubt they can do much of this stuff on their own without approval of the supplier of the tickets.

I completely agree with much of what has been said here, it is outgrageous and disgusting that Ticketmaster can get away with changing the name of a product once it has been sold, without offering any explanation to already current ticketholders - U could not get away with this kind of behaviour in any other line of business.

So much has been said here about the disappointment and confusion that has been caused that I feel we should all get together as one voice and make an official complaint to Watchdog - die hard fans have been willing to show their support for the artist they love and stump up the cash for VIP tickets - only to find that if they had waited (as if a fan would wait) they could have got better seats cheaper.

Let's report this to watchdog now!! We don't want refunds we just want honest and genuine business to be done and to receive the tickets as they were sold.

I also put forward that I feel we should let Prince know how we feel about this - he wants music to be free to all and then lets this debacle happen - to announce your only European dates in London and then allow such confusion seems arrogant and a little hypocritical - I want to hear the man himself speak about the events that have taken place so far - after all this is his show and he fought to have total control over everything so many years ago, you would have thought he would have a bit more input here and at least announce stuff on his website first.

At the moment I feel we should show our disappointment by boycotting the album - after all we will receive a free copy at the countless shows we have bought tickets for! Let's make our feelings known.

If U R still reading - thank u for putting up with my rant - I will now go and ponder about Prince and how it use to be.

Appollonia said:

I actually think you might have something there.... Watchdog, or whatever their governing body is - maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to make a moer formal, public complaint, that way, maybe Prince would hear about it....

I thought his record deal was with Sony?

proceeds from the auction seats are all going to charity, right? that's my understanding. which doesn't make it great, but it makes it okay. he did the same thing for the target center show in MPLS, and i'm assuming the auction deal is part of his "seven charities" dealio, which ties into the whole "planet earth" theme. i guess.

Just taken another look at the ticketmaster web site - the auction now actually states the block, row and seats going under the hammer...

3121 said:

FuzzyD said:

i can't see that info but i see that the auction for the last 02 show ends on friday 15th june while for all other shows its tuesday 19th, i wonder why

Anxiety said:

I was not aware of this, but then there's so many different deals it's hard to follow. Last i understood was that 7% of "something" (proceeds, "profits"?) was going to 7 different charities, but I only saw that tied in with the 1600 tickets sold through the perfume site.

Edit: the ticketmaster UK site has no mention of anything going to charity, and it's not legal in the EU to take money a customer gave for A and then channel it to B. Prince is free to give his own money (after he got it from us) to charity, but he cannot say we are giving to charity if this is not announced beforehand. After all, we might not agree with the charities he is choosing to support.
[Edited 6/12/07 13:42pm]

m3taverse said:

Ticketmaster do these auctions for most gigs now...

btw I have an angle on this that makes Prince look a lot better!
I call it the What If theory

What If
The tickets up for auction are simply VIP tickets that did not sell so far. It'd look silly to have the first rows empty, it'd look equally silly to lower the price on a package that people have already payed a lot for... they'd want their existing purchase converted to the new price as well. So it makes sense in this context to introduce a new package that gives us a second shot at getting the good tix, except now we would never be paying more than we think those tickets are worth.

This will definitely help me sleep tonight! How 'bout you

TheEnglishGent said:

I thought that had already sold out the 21 dates? So, are they saying that he only sold out 15 nights and is adding 6 more? Does that mean that he really hasn't sold out 21 nights? The way that this article is worded, it makes it seem as if he had already sold out 21 nights and is adding ADDITIONAL dates? Am I the only one confused?

m3taverse said:

This is what I think may be happening. Being in Australia and having no chance of being there, I look at this objectively and think that they may only be auctioning the VIP tickets that didnt sell. But surely Ticketmaster would be able to give you this information when complaining.

Maybe someone needs to ask them a more direct question:

I bought a VIP package , where will I be sitting?

and then,

Are the auction tickets the VIP tickets that didnt sell?

So no one here at all is going to have a go at the front row auction then. I might as well then, I may just get front row for £40.

GoldiesParade said:

They're already up to £100 per ticket

Seeing as it does look at least a bit dodgy in terms of the Trades Descriptions Act - has anyone tried phoning Trading Standards at Greenwich Council (as it's on their turf). Their website has a contact number 08454 04 05 06, and more info is here:

http://www.greenwich.gov....merAdvice/

blacksweat said:

http://www.theindigo2.co.uk/

Contrary to some reports, the London shows will not see Prince playing his greatest hits “for the last time”...

On 3121.com, it states,

The 21 shows in London will see Prince perform his greatest hits for the last time ever...

I'm assuming the latter is true, since it's on Prince's official website.
Any thoughts?

bkchavez said:

Yeah, my thought is "where did I hear that one before".

On 3121.com it states that he will "perform his greatest hits for the last time, cntre stage in the round." Maybe it just means this is the last time he'll perform them on a centre stage! Maybe it doesn't. Who knows? Who really cares? The Rainbow Children concerts weren't a greatest hits package, but we still fought, borrowed, begged and stole to get to the shows.... And why is everyone being so negative? Prince in concert. In London. Nuff said!!!

I work for Ticketmaster and can assure you that you are blaming the innocent here. Ticketmaster is simply an agent - a means of booking tickets. It has nothing to do with the complaints about prices, package name changes, seating allocations or anything to do with the actual concert itself. All we do is put the events on sale and wait for the calls. Does anyone really think that Ticketmaster decided how to sell these VIP seats, what price they are and changed the selling policy when they didn't sell?? The promoters AEG are 100% to blame for all of these issues so please criticise them. I agree that it is incredibly unfair that the first 10 rows are overpriced and not on general sale. I was shocked when I saw the seating plan of tickets available before the gigs went on sale. Blame AEG for this stupid idea. And the front row seat auctions are simply Ticketmaster selling guaranteed good seats at an acceptable price to whoever wants to bid for them. Would you rather they were on ebay at 5 times the price with no guarantee of the buyer getting what he paid for?? If a genuine Prince fan wants to sit in the front row then he/she has much more chance of getting a ticket this way than booking normally.

One last thing - when the tickets aren't in your hands 2 weeks before the gigs then blame AEG as they probably won't give Ticketmaster the ticket stock until then as is the norm for any hot gigs these days. And guess who will get the blame and angry calls from customers??

Anyway, enjoy the gigs everyone. I'll be in Row 11 for 13 of them.

i might considering logging a complaint about this with aeg and perhaps trading standards. Its basically illegal!

What?!!! 13 concerts?!!! No wonder they are selling out when you have ticketmaster staff grabbing them all!...

Anyhow of course Ticketmaster are going to hear the complaints, they are who the customer contacts to purchase the tickets and must take some responsibility.

I 100% understand everyones outrage. Its simple - you book a VIP ticket coz you want to be up the front. Next thing you are told the ticket isnt quite where you thought it would be. If thats the case, VIP ticket holders might as well have just bought the standard ticket (like myself) I would be very p*ssed off if I was a VIP ticket holder.

Finally, I dont know London that well, is it easy to get back into the city centre from the 02 arena? I havent booked my hotel yet

i would advice u 2 stay in the greenich/canary wharf area , it might be difficult getting back in2 london city centre if the tube has closed at 11pm... this hasnt been confirmed yet as the 02 hasnt actually opened yet (at least i dont think it has)

also i have now logged a complaint with aeg and expect a reply soon, i will consider taking relevant legal action via the appropriate consumer protection bodies and making this public

we (the fans) shouldnt be screwed over like this.

Cheers for that. Better get a move on and book the room! Yep, I would certainly log a complaint. Its a total joke. Of all people to "do over" - the true fans that have forked over dosh for supposedly the best tickets. Furthermore, who came up with the bright idea to sell the best tickets last when its pretty obvious the real fans would have bought their tickets as soon as they first were released?

As someone said earlier, all the fans will be up the back and the front rows will be full of people who might as well be at any other concert. Doesnt he want his real fans in front of the stage, dancing, singing to the music???!!!!!

PANDURITO said:

You're so upset you're writing the date like an American!