'Olympics ticketing system – a psychic booking process that's anti-consumer' blog 26 April 2011 at 4:44PM edited 26 April 2011 at 4:51PM in Martin's blogs & appearances & MoneySavingExpert in the news 56 replies 6.1K views

Former_MSE_Helen

This is the discussion to link on the back of Martin's blog. Please read the blog first, as this discussion follows it.

Read Martin's "Olympics ticketing system – a psychic booking process that's anti-consumer" Blog.

Please click 'post reply' to discuss below.

anitalg

Its utterly stupid. I could afford to buy two tickets which is what I would need, but wouldnt want to go on my own if I get one.... why cant they have a proper system where you go to whatever you want to see and buy x tickets...release so many per day if you cant cope with the demand. or just set up a system that could cope maybe....

catnicex

I had to book for £1400 pounds...the maximum I could potentially afford in the negative situation where I win them all...

Another stupid thing is that, given the process, you are pretty much forced to apply for many events in the same time slots and of course you will be able to go to only one.
They could have add a simple war for ranking the events so that they are allocated in respect of your preferences and availability and you just get one per time slot.

Idiotic.

Yogibear1969

I fear I may have erred on the side of caution! I have only ordered tickets I actually want. I am worried now I won't get any! It's daft and agree with every word Martin says (as usual!) It's a once in a lifetime opportunity!
We live up North so have to plan travel and accommodation too!
Will wait to see if I get any, and then wait till 2012 to buy the unwanted???
Edd.

harrycrac

To add complication to tickets ordering, Tesco decided to change my credit card (without my permission) from visa to mastercard!! So although i made some purchases for tickets I had to then go in and cancel the order and re order again using a pre paid visa card. Tesco offer no apologies except to say I should have opted out of change over. I read all my correspondence and was never given that opportunity. Bad timing Tesco finance.

jjackson42

I think the answer is to do what I did:

Order the seats you want for the events you want to attend.

Dont order more tickets than you can afford to pay for!

Simples!!!!

JJ - waiting to see what I get - and happy with, hopefully, ANY of the three sessionls I've requested.

halibut2209

anitalg wrote: »

Its utterly stupid. I could afford to buy two tickets which is what I would need, but wouldnt want to go on my own if I get one

Assuming they are for the same event, you would either get 2 tickets or 0. You wouldn't just get 1

Huggie

I don't see why everyone is getting worked up. The system is a fair ballot and it seems more unfair that people should be allowed to apply for loads of tickets and then pick and choose the ones they want. That would simply result in everyone applying for everything because there is no penalty in doing so. This way at least means that people have to go for things they want to see making the chances of real fans of a particular sport getting tickets greater. There will be plenty of tickets left for those that just want to get the Olympic experience. I have included sessions I am confident won't be over-subscribed for that very reason.
I am pleased it is does this way because it discourages time wasters.
I don't like the VISA only rules, but if you think the tickets are expensive now, think how much they would be without the sponsors. They have to get something for the millions they pay.

Peter_Palladas

Quite agree Martin with what you've just said on Radio Five Live. LOCOG's attitude is: "You are little people and you count for nothing." They have no concern for consumer loyalty - it's a one-off - and no bother about customer satisfaction - so long as the cameras show full stadiums that's all that they care about.

Above all, though, I would not dream of registering my Visa debit card details with them for over a year before any processing is done. Who's favourite you reckon for the Olympic long-distance hacking race? Some Swedish teen? The entire Russian !!!!!? Or an insider - always a strong prospect.

ViolaLass

Add to that the fact that when you buy, you don't know how good or bad a seat you're getting - there's no information beyond 'we can't give a seating plan but every seat will provide a great Olympics experience'.

Why can't they give a seating plan? Some of the buildings are already in use e.g. Wembley so why can't they give an indication of where a £20 ticket would seat me versus a £50 ticket? How many £20 tickets are there? Will it be the crappiest 10% of the seats or are most of them for one event at that price? They won't even tell me whether the view is restricted!

I haven't bought any in protest at having to buy 'blind' (on top of all the other issues mentioned). The ballot was the only good idea they had.

mrs_deadline

As another Martyn put it:

"There must be a better method of selling tickets than this. In fact, I might just not bother. As I live in East London, I could rent out my flat while the Olympics is on. If you’re interested, send me your bank details by 26 April. I’ll take the payment on 10 May and will let you know by 24 June if you’re the successful bidder.

I won’t tell you how far from the Olympics action you’ll be staying until then. And if you want to cancel, you’ll have to wait until next year to get a refund, and that’s only if I can find a replacement tenant. Sounds unfair? Tough, it’s the only show in town."

There must be a better way


There's nothing to stop them changing one part of the procedure even now, which is debiting people's cards/accounts with unspecified amounts without notice. This is not just very poor practice, but a total lack of courtesy to the public that is kindly subbing them an interest-free loan for OVER A YEAR before anyone sees any tickets!