Fans of UK rockers Oasis could have been tricked into shopping for “platinum” seats that provided no extra benefit throughout the much-criticized ticket sale for his or her upcoming reunion gigs, Britain’s competitors watchdog say.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched an investigation into agent Ticketmaster following widespread public anger over the exorbitant price of some tickets to see the Britpop band’s tour this yr.
Fans attempting to purchase tickets on official websites mentioned costs skyrocketed throughout the sale, whereas some tickets went for hundreds of kilos on unofficial resale websites.
The CMA issued an replace Tuesday on its probe into Ticketmaster, which bought greater than 900,000 tickets for the gigs.
It is worried that the agent could have breached client safety legislation by promoting “platinum” seats at a excessive worth “without sufficiently explaining that they did not offer additional benefits and were often located in the same area of the stadium” as equal customary tickets.
Ticketmaster additionally didn’t inform shoppers that there have been two classes of standing tickets at completely different costs, with the dearer ones launched when the cheaper ones had bought out.
This resulted in “many fans waiting in a lengthy queue without understanding what they would be paying and then having to decide whether to pay a higher price than they expected,” it added.
“We’re concerned that Oasis fans didn’t get the information they needed or may have been misled into buying tickets they thought were better than they were,” mentioned Hayley Fletcher, the CMA’s Interim Senior Director of Consumer Protection.
“We now expect Ticketmaster to work with us to address these concerns so, in future, fans can make well-informed decisions when buying tickets,” she added.
The chaotic scramble for the prized tickets adopted the announcement in August that brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher had ended their notorious 15-year feud and had been reuniting for a worldwide tour.
© 2025 AFP