Ed Sheeran Tickets - Downgraded to Balcony Seating

MiltonRX

Hi everyone,

I’ve used this excellent site for a while but have not felt the need to post anything up until now.

I bought two standing tickets for an Ed Sheeran gig at the HMV forum from HMV tickets on Friday and received confirmation that the purchase was successful. Ed Sheeran tickets are not easy to come by so me and my other half spent most of the weekend talking about how excited we were about seeing him and I honestly could not wait until the 22nd October. I then receive a voicemail message on Monday informing me that we had been moved to unreserved balcony seats and if that wasn’t acceptable then I could get a full refund. I called them back and they obviously had not been told anything so said I should e-mail them and request a call back from a manager. The following e-mails are the result, apologies for the length but I am getting increasingly frustrated with the way this is being handled.

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Original Message

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From: MiltonRX
Sent: 22 August 2011 22:23
To: HMV Tickets
Subject: FAO: HMV Tickets Management - Re: Q Awards Ed Sheeran - Change
of ticket

Dear Sirs,

Booking reference: 2C21C4

I received a voicemail message today from Hayley at HMV tickets
informing me that I had been re-seated in the balcony area for the Ed
Sheeran gig at the HMV Forum and if that wasn't accetable I could get a
full refund. I called the number I was given and whilst the lady tried
to be as helpful as she could be with the information she had it was
clear that she had not been told anything and therefore could not
really help at all. They did not even appear to know what the gig was
called beyond it being the "Q Awards". The main questions they could
not answer however were why we were having to move and how had we been
chosen? These are both important questions which need answering.

I'm sure you are aware how difficult it is to obtain tickets for Ed
Sheeran gigs at the moment so I am not prepared to give up the chance
to see him perform live. However, I have always felt that balcony seats
are a vastley inferior product and would not normally buy them. I quote
article 5.5 of your Terms and Conditions which states:

"We, the Ticket Provider, Promoter and Venue reserve the right to
provide alternative seats at an Event to those specified on the Ticket
if the staging of the Event reasonably requires, provided they are
similar to and of no less value to that stated on the Ticket."

I do not consider balcony seats to be similar to general admission
standing and therefore this T+C is not applicable. I bought standing
tickets in good faith the moment they went on sale and the excitement
felt over the weekend has now been spoilt by an unexplained change to
our tickets which frankly just isn't good enough.

In conclusion I do not consider either of the options given so far to
be acceptable and request a call back from a manager at HMV tickets
with an explanation. My mobile number is 07850553539.

I look forward to hearing from you and trust we can reach a solution we
are both happy with.
Regards
MiltonRX

From: "HMV Tickets" <[EMAIL="hmvtickets&#64;theambassadors.com"]hmvtickets@theambassadors.com[/EMAIL]>
Date: 23 August 2011 11:55:46 GMT+01:00
To: MiltonRX
Subject: FW: HMV Tickets Management - Re: Q Awards Ed Sheeran - Change of ticket
Dear MiltonRX

After contacting the venue in regards to your questions I have some more information for you

The venue works to a fixed capacity which is determined by law and also includes an internal capacity whereby a certain number of people can go downstairs and a certain number upstairs. Regrettably, someone at the venue made a mistake and put too many downstairs tickets on sale. These cannot be honoured as it would break the capacity of the downstairs area, breaking health and safety regulations. In this situation the only fair option would be to move the last people to book upstairs, as had the tickets gone on sale for the right area, these would have been the tickets available at the time that person booked. Your order falls into this category.

In regards to your reference to the terms and conditions quoted here, as you seem to have taken 'value' to mean what in fact is a case of personal preference rather then financial value. Many would actually say that a better view is enjoyed from upstairs. In any case, 'value' actually refers to the price of tickets, which is the same throughout the venue.

While this is unfortunate, we are unable to offer any alternative to the re-seat other than a refund. Given that we are constrained by health and safety issues there really is no other option. Please confirm which you would prefer us to process with

Regards
hmvtickets Customer Service



From: MiltonRX
Sent: 23 August 2011 14:18
To: 'hmvtickets@theambassadors.com'
Subject: RE: HMV Tickets Management - Re: Q Awards Ed Sheeran - Change of ticket

Hi,

Thank you for your response, I appreciate that you can not break the capacity of the downstairs area for health and safety reasons but fail to see how this is my problem and would like to know how you calculated the order in which people bought tickets as I assume this was spread across multiple sites and methods. I checked on your website after I had bought my tickets and you were still selling the general admission tickets so how many did you oversell by and where have all these extra balcony seats come from?

Your second paragraph manages to be condescending whilst also appearing to be incorrect. I said nothing about the value of the ticket and agree that this is the same, however they are not “similar” and I quote your T+Cs again highlighting the relevant wording “…provided they are similar to and of no less value to that stated on the Ticket.". How can sitting in a seat on a balcony be considered “similar” to standing in the stalls? Also, if “Many would actually say that a better view is enjoyed from upstairs” then why at most gigs do the general admission standing tickets (of which there are usually many more) always sell out before the balconies/seating? Live music for most is all about the atmosphere not the view but if the seating is unreserved then I do not even buy into the fact that the view will be that good unless I get there early and make sure I get a good seat.

I therefore still do not consider either option to be satisfactory and will not be accepting either until you can come up with something more reasonable. Please copy in both of my e-mail addresses to any response.

Apologies if this e-mail comes across as slightly argumentative but I feel that this whole situation has been handled poorly and the e-mail below certainly did not help this. Patronising and arguing with your customers because you or someone you are acting on behalf of has made a mistake is never a good way to do business.

Regards

MiltonRX

They have forwarded my last e-mail on to the venue and I am now awaiting their response. How do people think I should play this next? I still really want to go to the gig but feel that balcony seats are not a worthy substitute for the tickets I bought and can't see anything in their Terms and Conditions that would justify this. I'm normally a very laid back person but the tone of their response has really riled me and made me want to fight this one.

Anyway thanks for listening.

Milton

Gleek

Hi, Sorry to not be much help and I'm sure someone else will be along soon to give you fab help - but wanted to give you the heads up to remove your mobile number from your message, you don't want people giving you prank calls etc

Rhiannon01

I had the same from Ticketmaster, got worse seats than I bought. It's apparently in T&C's. It was very annoying as they were pre ordered so would have been ahead of most people. I'm afraid I can't help you but am interested in knowing if there is anything you can do. Good luck, hope you sort it out