Right to refund on concert tickets?

moroc

Hi everybody

Long time lurker, first time poster... some good advice from here in the past without ever having to ask for it, so hoping for more of the same when I do...

I attended the Eminem concert at Wembley on Saturday, and it was bar none the worst gig I've ever been to. Nothing at all against the artist, but against the terrible sound system which was akin to listening to someone drive down the road with their windows up and the bass on their stereo turned up too loud - I could hear barely any music, minimal, inaudible and instinguishable vocals, just hugely distorted bass. This was the case both in the unreserved seating, and in the floor standing area towards the back (couldn't get near the front so can't confirm it was the case there too).

I bought four tickets for the event, one of which a birthday present for my sister, and all four of us were hugely disappointed by the audio - having made a near 600 mile round trip to attend, with associated travel and stopover costs, I feel that my experience at the concert was not as it should have been - I've been to stadium gigs numerous times and have never suffered such poor sound quality.

I've already contacted Ticketmaster, to whom I paid circa £350, to voice my disgust, and by way of response received an impersonal mass email requesting I direct all complaints to a company called Metropolis Music, who don't even have a website. Now, I don't feel that Ticketmaster should be able to collect money from concertgoers and then refuse to address their complaints, instead passing the buck to an unknown third party - am I right in thinking this?

Please can anyone advise on how I could go about pursuing a refund, i.e. under what grounds, what consumer acts to read up on? I'm aware that a huge number of people were very dissatisfied with the event, so fairly sure that will stand against me, but surely there must be some protection for consumers in this type of case, or what's to stop a band mumbling through three songs and calling it a night if nobody's ever going to be financially liable for them doing so?

Many thanks in advance

SuperHan

I'll think you'll be hard pressed to get anything.

I have a number of friends and family who did 400 mile round trips and stayed over at the concert (and who have been to a significant number of other concerts) who said it was amongst the best they had been to. This includes people who were sat to the back of the unreserved seating.

[STRIKE]Do you go to many concerts? [/STRIKE] *edit* I read the OP better But how about open air ones? (I don't know if all stadia are open air?!) I saw him at Leeds Fest, and it wasn't great for some of the reasons you mention, but apparently Wembley was much much better.

Somebody may be financially liable, but given that others are satisfied, it could just be your expectations were too high?

moroc

Appreciate the response but I'm not sure hoping to hear the vocals is too high an expectation. I've been to a number of gigs both inside and open air and this is the first time I've encountered such an appalling level of sound quality.

I was wondering if there was any precedent for refunds being offered - if this was a product it would be deemed unfit for purpose, being as it was a concert where a huge proportion of the crowd were unable to hear the performance - significantly outnumbering those who have indicated otherwise. Part of my research into this has involved looking on various social media sites, where negative feedback vastly outweighs positive, and positive seems to be of the "it was fine for me so I don't see why you had a problem" variety, and therefore immediately discounted... I'm not saying it was terrible for everyone, but in the areas we were in, it most definitely was.

Gavin83

I also attended this gig and agree with you, the sound was terrible. I've probably been to 200 gigs in my time in a variety of venues (including several at Wembley) and this is probably the worst sound I've ever heard. I also live in London so didnt travel nearly as far as some.

Still I think the chances of getting your money back is slim to none. I've been to a festival where the headliner didnt play and another one where the entire sunday was cancelled and no refunds were given.

Takeaway_Addict

Better together....if there are two of you on here that thought it was terrible there will be more!

westiea

You are both not alone! here , here and here .
Twitter appears to be the place to vent your frustration.......nothing like social media for forcing a response.

Faith177

A lot of my friends were complaining about the sound quality the next day too so it seems your not a lone op

bex_28

I also attend the gig and had exactly the same experience as you...it was TERRIBLE! I actually struggled to distinguish what song was being played and, having been to numerous gigs of different sizes in my time, know that this was nothing to do with my expectations.

All companies involved who I have contacted have been very rude and are refusing to even take a call. Surely as a consumer you have a right to a refund if you do not get what is promised? There are so many people publicly complaining that this is clearly not simply a case of a few people having a different opinion.

Any advise would be appreciated.

Thanks

kloerose

Bex_28 have you got anywhere with this? i am still emailing the company. They've not been rude yet but they are pretty ridiculous with their responses.

bex_28

Not got anywhere yet...They are now just ignoring my emails! I called them again but they are so rude on the phone. I asked someone to call me back but I doubt it will happen.

I plan to send a letter recorded delivery and hope they will respond to that.

Very frustrating!

kf1

Has anybody managed to get anywhere with Metropolis music?

My attempts to get refunded were met with the same template email they appear to have sent everyone "Somebody else liked it so tough sh*t"

I bought 6 tickets at a cost of just under £660, and to not be able to make out which track is being sung is ridiculous!

Now they are ignoring my emails.

Cheers