Theatre Tickets and the London Riots

moredeadthanalive

My daughter and her friend (17 and 16) had booked to see Wicked in London for her friend's birthday treat using her money. They were due to travel via coach for a matinee performance from Dorset.

On Wednesday morning, with the news of the riots, we decided that it would not be a good idea for them to go so we called Ticketmaster to see about a refund or transfer. We were told that a decision had not been made and than they could only talk to my daughter as she was the card holder. We assumed from this that there was a chance we could transfer if we phoned on Thursday. We were never told one way or the other.

We tried many times on Thursday but kept being cut off due to unavailable service reps and the call timing out.

Today, my wife spent about an hour waiting to speak to a person and then getting someone who could make a decision. The duty manager was insistent that we could not transfer as the show had gone ahead and would not appreciate that riots in London were not a usual circumstance and to send teenagers to London was not a good idea.

National Express had no trouble with us transferring tickets within 10 days.

I am fed up with the lack of concern from Ticketmaster and will be making a complaint through their website.

Are there any other channels I can go through to encourage/persuade TM to allow us to transfer the tickets and claim back the 2 or so hours of phone calls?

moredeadthanalive

Ticketmaster FAQ says

We regret that we cannot exchange, refund or transfer tickets unless the event in question has been cancelled or rescheduled. This is part of Ticketmaster's Purchase Policy customers agree to when purchasing tickets.

So are we expecting too much from TM to make a special exception?

pulliptears

I would guess that an official statement from Police asking people to stay away from the area would perhaps go in your favour, but ticketmaster are not known for being reasonable.

I feel for you OP, in your situation I wouldn't have let my teen daughter go either.
Good luck

custardy

what is the venue saying regarding tickets?

scheming_gypsy

Were the riots near the theatre? the riots didn't cover every area of London so if the area wasn't affected (which it doesn't sound like it was as it went ahead) then they won't issue a refund.