'Olympics ticketing system – a psychic booking process that's anti-consumer' blog

mynameisclare

mgmidget66 wrote: »

The system may or may not be flawed, I happen to think it's the least worst way of distributing millions of tickets, but it's not exactly like London 2012 have been hiding this in the small print, they have been pretty up front about it all. Apply for the tickets and if you win you pay.

I think the lottery system is ok, but I really don't see why they can't tell you what you've won and what it costs a couple of days before they take the money. It's crazy to give such a large window where they might take some amount of money, especially as so many people have had to use their current accounts because of the visa rule.

I only applied for £40 of tickets this time. If I don't get it I'm sure I'll be able to get something in the resales.

Regshoe

I note a number of people have mentioned that if it was a ballot with no commitment to buy then ther would be massive oversubscripions and the need to re-offer tickets as people would only accept one of the offers.

Some ways around this might have been:

1) You get so long to accept tickets and then they get offered to the next person down the line (as suggested in an earlier post).

2) Price reduction for tickets being offered in a second ballot (or a price premium on the first ballot, whichever way you want to look at it). This way those who aren't so bothered might wait for the second round to get even cheaper tickets.

3) A nominal fee to enter each ballot (in the order of 50p to £5 per set of tickets), refundable for ballots you don't win, knocked off the amount due for ones you do win and non-refundable for ballots you win but choose not to accept.

That would allow people to enter for a number of events for a reasonable fee. This would mean you can pay a premium to raise your chances of getting tickets, without being so excessive as to favour the rich and more importantly you would know the costs and pay then up front and not have potential multiple thousand pound charges out of the blue. At the same time the charges would be enough to dissuade people from entering for everything.

This still has the drawback that those with more cash to throw around can buy better odds of getting tickets, but it's not nearly as bad as the current system.

These are just off the top of my head with no real experience of ticket booking systems, but surely there must be a better way than the shambles of the system they've used.

On another note - part of the reason for the current system is so that they don't end up having events with empty stadiums, one possible response to this is why bother putting on events that nobody cares about?

I would also agree with the comment posted/re-posted above regarding customer service. If you are a temporary public body (so long term public image doesn't matter) doing a one off event with no repeat customer possible and no competitors - what is your motivation to provide good customer service or a fair system? From a commercial standpoint your only goal is get the maximum amount of cash in.

mgmidget66

mynameisclare wrote: »

I think the lottery system is ok, but I really don't see why they can't tell you what you've won and what it costs a couple of days before they take the money. It's crazy to give such a large window where they might take some amount of money, especially as so many people have had to use their current accounts because of the visa rule.

I only applied for £40 of tickets this time. If I don't get it I'm sure I'll be able to get something in the resales.

That I agree with. If money is being taken then you should know what it is for, be it £20 or £2000!

topdoghoward

I was lucky enough to visit Vancouver 2010, you may say its not the same.
But I too went through the same process as 2012, I'd applied for 16 events, many months ahead had to pay upfront (oh tickets I paid for I couldn't get until after the Olympic Games) but I manage to get only 4 events including opening ceremony, a little disappointing but I was able to get the remainder of the events I wanted in Vancouver and get even much more like curling and speed skating. But my horror was when I went to some events which I didn't get in the UK was a stadium that had full of empty seats.
Ice Hockey and Figure Skating, I love the Olympics but and sponsors who leave empty seats shouldn't be aloud to Sponsor these or other major games. I just hope I get a bit more than last time no chance of me getting the 100m mens final just like me trying to get mens ice hockey final

bargainhunter12_2

melancholly wrote: »

i would have liked to see seating plans - i have no idea what the difference in view will be between the tickets and i felt like i was ordering blind. in some locations it may be worth paying more than the cheapest option but it's impossible to know.

i'd also like to hear more specifics on the proportion going to corporate sponsors. they must already know this to be allocating tickets to the rest of us and it strikes me as odd that they won't give the details.

i think a ballot is the fairest way but it does seem the details could have been a lot better.

I was thinking the same when I 'ordered' mine. There seemed to be huge differences in prices on some seats. Perhaps the cheaper seats will be in front of pillars - really obstructed views. There's no way of telling.

hethmar

What gets me is, you have to state the max price you are prepared to pay for the ticket. As they jump from £20 to £150 - how the **** do we know whether we may pay £130 more to sit in a row in front of the twenty quidders! God that would be sickening.

markbernstein

mgmidget66 wrote: »

The re-sale will be driven by the people who have the tickets but don't want them. This could be for sold out events or for sessions where hardly any tickets have been sold. The organisers won't have any control over this. Also it won't be in their interest to add a high fee, especially for events which haven't sold out (or people won't buy them from the exchange but from the box-office leaving empty seats which they don't want!

Has it been stated anywhere that people will be able to sell unwanted tickets even if the same type of ticket is still available from the box office? I can only speak from experience with classical concerts, where this is usually not the case.
And the exchange handling fee will have to be paid by the seller, of course. Won't make a difference to what the purchaser pays.

DKH_2

Can anyone tell me why and how the London Olympic Committee are able to withdraw the ticket fee from our cards in May, but are unable to tell us which tickets we have been allocated until after (June) the transaction has taken place?

hethmar

I think they are saying the "latest" you will hear is June? They will make a tidy bit of interest though

Strapped

mgmidget66 wrote: »

You're having a laugh, right? Remember the angst caused by the Take That concert? Imagine that on a *MUCH* bigger scale. On a scale it's hard to imagine in fact! It would have been utter chaos and the organisers would have faced even more criticism than they are getting now! This isn't a 2 hour music concert over 2 nights we're talking about here but a 3 weeks of sport across lots of venues inside (and outside) London. The process was designed so that people could take their time and see what it had to offer.

To the people commenting about travel costs, can I just repeat again what I have said? Your ticket to an Olympic/Paralympic session will include FREE travel in London. As you have a year's notice of what sessions you will be lucky enough to go to you have plenty of time to buy cheaper advance rail fairs. As the Oyster area now extends almost out to the M25 in some places (e.g., Watford) you can stay further out of London and reduce costs there too.

Cheaper tickets will mean you're further from the action but at a lot of venues you will still have a superb view. Modern sports stadia are designed with sightlines in mind.

Lastly, I assume that everyone who will be upset at missing out on Oympic tickets will therefore be wanting Paralympic tickets? I hope you do, as they are truely inspiring events (and will probably be cheaper and easier to get hold of!)

At which ones though? Surely that's the point?

I personally didn't fancy forking out for tickets and travel (from the South West to stay with friends/family) and then struggle into London - because let's face it the train will be horrendous - only to discover that I couldn't see a thing!

Fortunately decision made for me as it clashes with another event I am (fingers crossed!) competing at myself - if not then I'll take my chances with the resellers nearer the time.