Mountain Biking Ticket Prices

goalhanger

I could have bought £20 tickets when I bought my £45 ones but I assumed as I think they wanted you to that you got something more . How dumb of us to not think we were being scammed - because thats what it is . Class A better that Class B - Simples. What dumbass can say any different . I loved the Olympics and the MTB ( I went to both days at Hadleigh) but the ticketing has been a shambles .

jh2009

Did the £45 tickets ever clearly say "grandstand access/seating" or promise any other benefit? If not then although its annoying, its difficult to see any real grounds for complaint or redress.

I always saw the £20 tickets as more symbolic allowing the games organisers to say they had issued x number of affordable tickets that provided the same access as more expensive ones. The more expensive tickets, including an element of the £45 tickets, would then go some way to subsidise these.

The £20 tickets were issued within a ballot system that operated fairly which we could all have applied for.

I understand Locoq will publish the numbers of each tickets issued so we'll get some idea then I assume how many £20/£45 tickets were issued. Its difficult to judge that from what was heard at the event as I suspect the only people complaining at the event were those with £45 tickets.

barbarawright

goalhanger wrote: »

I could have bought £20 tickets when I bought my £45 ones but I assumed as I think they wanted you to that you got something more . How dumb of us to not think we were being scammed - because thats what it is . Class A better that Class B - Simples. What dumbass can say any different . I loved the Olympics and the MTB ( I went to both days at Hadleigh) but the ticketing has been a shambles .

You assumed based on what evidence? When the ticketing started, there wasn't really any explicit information about what sort of seats were available at different prices. You could have just as easily assumed it was airline-style pricing where the earlier you book, the cheaper the ticket is. I very much doubt if Watchdog is going to be running any stories about Olympic ticket scams - it wasn't perfect but given the fact that there were never going to be enough of the really hot tickets to go round, I think they did a pretty good job. Ditto the Paralympics - people had 10 months in which tickets were easily available. It's not really Locog's fault that so many waited until the last moment.

goalhanger

Barbara, according to you if i go on-line today and bought Paralympic tickets for the opening ceremony i have a choice of £500-A down to £20-E and as it doesnt say you get anything better then all the seats could be the same ? ( i know the're all sold now) that would be even more anoying wouldn't it?
I did try in the very first and second batch for MTB tickets but was unlucky . I got mine when the re-sale came up . Not sure why they kept so many MTB tickets back as when I bought mine I had the opportunity to but both £20 and £45 but I thought as I was taking the missus and my son I would splash out so we might have a beter experience ( what a fool I was ). I suspect alot of the £45 tickets were bought for this and not because they were the only ones available .

barbarawright

goalhanger wrote: »

Barbara, according to you if i go on-line today and bought Paralympic tickets for the opening ceremony i have a choice of £500-A down to £20-E and as it doesnt say you get anything better then all the seats could be the same ? ( i know the're all sold now) that would be even more anoying wouldn't it?
I did try in the very first and second batch for MTB tickets but was unlucky . I got mine when the re-sale came up . Not sure why they kept so many MTB tickets back as when I bought mine I had the opportunity to but both £20 and £45 but I thought as I was taking the missus and my son I would splash out so we might have a beter experience ( what a fool I was ). I suspect alot of the £45 tickets were bought for this and not because they were the only ones available .

I didn't say anything of the sort. I said that you made an assumption with no evidence. Now, you know what the ticketing strategy is, so your assumption would be different. I also said I bouth £60 10k swimming tickets and have no real evidence they were better than the £40 ones. As for keeping back tickets - the stands would have been built fairly late in the day so there's bound to have been a few changes as they realised where screens needed to be etc.

As for the Paras - I have £30 athletics tickets on two days. One set are category A and one category B. I suppose I should be complaing about that but you know what? I'm just pleased to be seeing some top athletes for what is really a bargain price :T

However, if you want to involve Watchdog or someone similar in your plight, good luck to you. I very much doubt there will be much public sympathy for complaints from people lucky enough to have had tickets.

goalhanger

All I mean is that surely when the ticket price says cat A , cat B etc and the price is different that implies some thing extra . I would say if there were selling somethiing which is the same for different prices by calling them different categories then that is morally wrong ? But I suspect they intended to have the G/stand and when they didnt get it they decided not to re-imburse those people who (rightly) assumed thay would have access to that stand.
I did assume by choosing the £45 tickets I would get something for that- maybe that was wrong .
I should be more cynical - I thought it was all above board.

goalhanger

By the way Barbara , I didnt mention Watch Dog and I do think that might be a bit over the top !

goalhanger

This is a reply from Locog:
Thank you for your enquiry regarding the pricing of tickets for Cycling - Mountain Bike at the Olympic Games.

Tickets for general admission/standing were sold at £45, with a limited number of £20 tickets also available in that category, based on our commitment to provide a number of £20 tickets in at least one session of every sport at the Olympic Games. The tickets priced at £20 sold out very quickly, and the remainder were priced at £45. All our literature regarding these events clearly advised this.
We are therefore unable to issue refunds to customers who paid £45.
Interesting that it says £45 and £20 tickets in the same category , which if I recall correctly isn't quite right as they were A and B category and sold at the same time.

jh2009

goalhanger wrote: »

This is a reply from Locog:
Thank you for your enquiry regarding the pricing of tickets for Cycling - Mountain Bike at the Olympic Games.

Tickets for general admission/standing were sold at £45, with a limited number of £20 tickets also available in that category, based on our commitment to provide a number of £20 tickets in at least one session of every sport at the Olympic Games. The tickets priced at £20 sold out very quickly, and the remainder were priced at £45. All our literature regarding these events clearly advised this.
We are therefore unable to issue refunds to customers who paid £45.
Interesting that it says £45 and £20 tickets in the same category , which if I recall correctly isn't quite right as they were A and B category and sold at the same time.

In defence of LOCOQ this sounds a fair answer and backs up what has been said on here in earlier posts.

In my case, I was lucky enough to get Velodrome and Athletics tickets for £40 each (cat . Despite there being a £20 cat A potentially available I went for Cat B tickets for tactical reasons as these became available, which paid off, but no doubt there were £20 people in similar seats to ours.

The £20 tickets were introduced for political reasons for affordability for lower income londoners, sold at a loss and subsidised by the other ticket holders. Maybe it wasn't on Locoqs website but this was well publicised during the build up that the ticket prices would allow all londoners to attend.

A more interesting question is how many £20 tickets were actually ever issued, with some speculating the numbers were quite low. I understand Locoq will confirm these numbers after the paralmpyics.

goalhanger

Yep, I think my moan is over. I just would have liked a £100 refund :j
The actual event was superb. The volunteers were great , loads of food places and toilets . Fantastic viewing all around.
The weather did its bit aswell. I did not envy those cyclists in that heat going round and round that track .:T