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Conference marvin::uk_music

Title:The UK Music Conference
Notice:Welcome (back) to UK_MUSIC on node MARVIN.
Moderator:RDGENG::CROOK
Created:Mon Mar 28 1988
Last Modified:Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1381
Total number of notes:39269

727.0. "TOUTS & FORGERY" by YUPPY::FELLM () Tue Aug 28 1990 13:08

    My sister went to Wembley on Friday night hoping to get
    a ticket to see Prince on his last night and was quite 
    willing to pay 20.00 quid or so for a ticket from a tout.
    
    She came across a few touts who were asking 35 quid upwards
    and decided that was too much although they assured her the
    tickets were for the front row!!
    
    Anyway a little while after she came across a guy who had
    paid 35 quid for the 'best seats in the house' only to find
    that someone else was sitting in his seat and that his ticket
    was forged!!  He was promptly ejected from Wembley and told
    tough luck buster.
    
    I just thought I'd let you know that forgery is still rife in
    the touting business.  Anyone else ever been caught out?
    
    Mazzer
T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name		DateLines
727.1ScumCHEFS::PRICETOh no its...Tue Aug 28 1990 17:3710
    
    The problem is that people are still willing to buy tickets from touts,
    if this changed then the touts would disappear.  I'm sure that the
    relevant box offices must be able to do something about this problem
    as well i.e. only sell a small number of tickets to each applicant and
    only issue tickets to buyers a week or so before the gig to limit
    forgery.
    
    Tim
    ---
727.2SHAPES::FIDDLERMTue Aug 28 1990 17:496
    There were a lot of forgeries for the fest this year also.  I think the
    emphasis should be on the box offices to apply more intelligence to
    sales.  Often you can't get tickets because the touts have bought up
    huge amounts, and it really is a]n organised business by all accounts.
    
    Mikef
727.3They are called scalpers in the USSRFSUP::BERZERHappy in the haze of a drunken hourTue Aug 28 1990 20:3118
    When I used to worked in a record store that sold tickets, I used
    to see the same guys buying as many tickets as they could for all
    the popular shows.  They used to sleep outside the store the night
    before the tickets went on sale, so that they would be the first
    in line, and consequently get the best seats.  
    
    The ticket agency tried to curtail their activities buy limiting
    the number of tickets they could buy.  This only meant that more
    of them needed to sit there.  There was nothing we could do about
    them because it isn't illegal to buy tickets for every show.  
    
    Many of these people worked for someone else, like independent ticket
    agencies, that sold good seats at ridiculously high prices for people
    who didn't stand on line.  This is also legal.
    
    C'est la vie.
    
    -Vicki
727.4legal it may be....CUCKOO::SPENCERtiggers hate mondaysThu Aug 30 1990 16:4111
It isn't just for concerts either, I recently saw tickets for Miss Saigon on
sale in an "agency" (read ripp off merchant) for over �50, when the face value
was under �20. I must admit to having bought tickets from a tout, but I did
get excellent seats (forged I don't know), and many rows in front of tickets
that I bought from a large ticket agency who charged more than the tout. I 
hate dealing with agencies who have an allocation of tickets but don't know
where they are.

my 2p

Nigel