02 Dome ticket rip-off

wurlitzerwilly

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Did you pay with a credit card? If so, and if you have any evidence of what this tout promised you were getting for your money, then contact the credit card company. If there is evidence that you were cheated, they may well be able to reclaim (chargeback) the money from the agent.

Actually to put things in perspective, it was not MY big night out. I accompanied my wife who is a Streisand fan. We had already eaten as we'd been warned by a colleague that food queues were horendous with a typical wait for a free table of 1[html]¹/₂[/html] hours, so I was in a happy enough mood, with plenty of time to enter the arena. My wife had some wine, I chose not to. The water bottle incident was before we entered the arena, so at that point we had no idea that the seats were not as expected. So that nobody is misled, we were both fairly happy with our 'lot' at that point, my wife was not inebriated and I was quite calm and rational, albeit inclined to get annoyed very quickly with any form of petty burocracy.

As to your point about the credit card use, yes my wife paid the entire bill via the Internet with her credit card and we are now trying to put all of the evidence together to present to them.

I obviously have three separate issues. One over the water, which will probably never be resolved, but I am forewarned to take spare bottle tops whenever I go to venue, or learn sleight of hand. :rotfl:
Secondly over the ticket scam which I have hopes of putting right and thirdly the bad production business, which if they're any sort of a bunch with decency, will admit their mistake and recompense accordingly. At least I have ways "through the business" of putting that one right.

Regards,

Alan.

asea

what description had the touts put for the tickets?

wurlitzerwilly

uktim29 wrote: »

Here we go again!

"Despite a very heated argument"

Hasn't it occured to you that the members of staff don't make the rules. This rule turned out to have a vaild reason. Rather than having arguments with people who have nothing to do with it couldn't you have just left it. Anyway a top removed from a bottle is no health risk anyway, were you planning on holding your breath as well?

Agreed, but neither does a police officer make the laws, but they interpret and attempt to uphold them. They are the person "on the ground" at the time and therefore the only one available to argue with. They of course can invite you to speak with a more senior person who may or may not uphold your argument. Unfortunately, my wife was also there, and out of respect for her, I climbed down ungracefully, rather than request an official interview.

No health risk removing bottle tops, hold my breath, why? My breath would be my germs so not a problem. Why do you think bottles have tops put on them? It's not just to prevent spillage - which is a valid argument not to remove them any longer than necessary. It's to prevent air borne contamination. In case you hadn't noticed, "droplet" diseases are spread by filthy humans who cough and sneeze directly into the air without at least using their hand as a barrier. Our noses are designed to filter out these air borne particles as best possible, open topped bottles do not have that basic filtration. At least by keeping the top on until taking a drink, I can minimise the risk and know that if some filthy b*st*rd sneezes directly at me just as I've removed the top, I will be able to decide whether to drink or not. I think that squashes that unfounded statement?

Regards,

Alan.

yeslek

wurlitzerwilly wrote: »

BTW, O2 have a really wierd rule about bottles of water!!!
I bought two small plastic bottles of water, from a licensed vendor inside the O2 Dome, to drink during the show, at the rip-off price of £1.50 each. I was then requested to remove the PLASTIC tops from each bottle and discard them in a bucket, for security reasons.
Despite a very heated argument, they would not back down, or tell me why the rule existed, despite me telling them that I refuse to have other peoples' dust and germs in my open topped bottles, so rather than give in, I went without the bottles and will be claiming damages from them for ill-health due to dehydration! I'm all for safety and anti-terrorism, but that petty burocracy beggars belief. :huh:
So if you want tops on your bottles, take some spare ones in your pocket.

Regards,

Alan.

its not just O2, many arenas have that silly bottle top rule

its apparently to stop people throwing the bottles full off liquid as they can hurt!! (so by taking the lid theres like what, about a mouthful of liquid that can fall out before it cracks someone on the head?!)

its a silly rule and has p**s'd me off on plenty of occasions as i've still ended up battered and bruised from topless bottles

uktim29

wurlitzerwilly wrote: »

I think that squashes that unfounded statement?

That would mean if I only breathe through my nose, I should never get ill? I know the nose is designed for that but I don't think it's quiet been perfected by evolution yet. Also most people spend 50% if the time breathing through their mouths, probably more so at concerts. You breathe through the mouth when speaking, singing (which is frequent at concrets) or if more excited so your nose won't do you much good at a concert.

My personal reason as to why I think bottles come with tops on is to keep the liquid in during their distribution. Not to minimise health problems, otherwise glasses which we all drink from in pubs and restaurants would then be a health problem (if your suggesting there is a risk)

As to the member of staff being the person on the ground. You don't need to argue or be unpleasant to get a point across, it isn't their fault.

Many people think it is a right to have a "heated argument" with someone because their a "person on the ground" but don't realise the thin ice their treading on. Customers having heated arguments often get excited whilst doing it, even show off to bystanders, partners etc and become aggressive or abusive thinking their perfectly intitled to do so. If they do they may well find themselves committing an offence under the public order act:

"
The following types of conduct are examples which may at least be capable of amounting to threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour:

• threats made towards innocent bystanders or individuals carrying out public service duties; "

http://cps.gov.uk/legal/section11/chapter_a.html

They might be the one on the ground, but you really should try to be nice!

wurlitzerwilly

uktim29 wrote: »

That would mean if I only breathe through my nose, I should never get ill? I know the nose is designed for that but I don't think it's quiet been perfected by evolution yet. Also most people spend 50% if the time breathing through their mouths, probably more so at concerts. You breathe through the mouth when speaking, singing (which is frequent at concerts) or if more excited so your nose won't do you much good at a concert.

My personal reason as to why I think bottles come with tops on is to keep the liquid in during their distribution. Not to minimize health problems, otherwise glasses which we all drink from in pubs and restaurants would then be a health problem (if you're suggesting there is a risk)

As to the member of staff being the person on the ground. You don't need to argue or be unpleasant to get a point across, it isn't their fault.

Many people think it is a right to have a "heated argument" with someone because they're a "person on the ground" but don't realize the thin ice their treading on. Customers having heated arguments often get excited whilst doing it, even show off to bystanders, partners etc and become aggressive or abusive thinking their perfectly entitled to do so. If they do they may well find themselves committing an offence under the public order act:

"
The following types of conduct are examples which may at least be capable of amounting to threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour:

• threats made toward innocent bystanders or individuals carrying out public service duties; "

http://cps.gov.uk/legal/section11/chapter_a.html

They might be the one on the ground, but you really should try to be nice!

Of course noses are not deemed to be perfect, but knowing that, why would you increase the risk by taking the tops off bottles. My son has the same attitude over smokers and the M25. He says that there's far more particulate pollution discharged by vehicles on the M25 than there is by a group of tobacco smokers. 'Fraid my attitude is that if you have to travel the M25, so be it, but there's no point in increasing the risks from pollution by standing near a bunch of smokers as well.
(Please folks no arguments over the rights and wrongs of smoking - this ain't the place).
Milk bottle tops are a nuisance and don't stop spillage once loosened, so why does everyone that I know replace the top on the bottle before they put it back in the fridge?

On reflection perhaps "heated" was the wrong word and "lively" might be more appropriate. (Yes folks, some of us will admit when we think we're wrong)! I was not rude to the guy, he was not rude to me. Neither of us made threats to anyone, but both stood our ground, whilst I demanded answers and he attempted to answer. The only rudeness I perceive was when he lied to me (whether by misinformation or not).

Regards,

Alan.

wurlitzerwilly

yeslek wrote: »

its not just O2, many arenas have that silly bottle top rule

its apparently to stop people throwing the bottles full off liquid as they can hurt!! (so by taking the lid theres like what, about a mouthful of liquid that can fall out before it cracks someone on the head?!)

its a silly rule and has p**s'd me off on plenty of occasions as i've still ended up battered and bruised from topless bottles

What really p*sses me off is the fact that the people sitting in front were allowed in with glass bottles and food. Their prohibition is clearly stated in large icons outside the main entrance and it's the duty of security staff to care for my safety by upholding all of the regulations. Seems when it suits them, they can be very selective and then I believe it is right and proper to remonstrate politely with the ground staff.

Regards,

Alan.

Dead_Eye_Jones

I went to Wembly Arena once and they didnt even let us take water in! If you were thirsty you had to come out! I've since been back and this policy seems to have gone thankfully.

I do think arenas are pretty unfriendly these days but then its probably due to all the crazy health and safety laws. These exist because people dont like taking responsability for their own actions (anyone see the case of the guy slipping on a petal in that station!). But the poster is no better - he wants to sue for dehydration. So eventually we wont be able to have concerts at all! Nice!

We all claim we dont want a nanny state yet we are the first to blame the authorities when something goes wrong - amazing but true!

Oh all touts are scum, dont buy from them. If we all did that, they wouldnt exist. Job done.

wurlitzerwilly

Dead_Eye_Jones wrote: »

I went to Wembley Arena once and they didnt even let us take water in! If you were thirsty you had to come out! I've since been back and this policy seems to have gone thankfully.

I do think arenas are pretty unfriendly these days but then its probably due to all the crazy health and safety laws. These exist because people dont like taking responsibility for their own actions (anyone see the case of the guy slipping on a petal in that station!). But the poster is no better - he wants to sue for dehydration. So eventually we wont be able to have concerts at all! Nice!

We all claim we dont want a nanny state yet we are the first to blame the authorities when something goes wrong - amazing but true!

Oh all touts are scum, dont buy from them. If we all did that, they wouldnt exist. Job done.

O2 have a no re-admission policy so it's not possible to go outside for anything.

I consider myself to be far better than the person suing over a flower petal. Clearly if he wasn't so bloody fat, he'd be able to see where he's going and maybe avoid falling over his own feet. (Yes, I can say that because I'm 18 stone fat obese over-weight, so it's one fat git to another ).

You don't seriously think I really want to sue for dehydration do you? The comment would be merely made to O2 to get up someone's nose and make me feel better. Purely an indulgence on my part.

Agreed, touts are scum, but I naively didn't take Double8tickets.com as touts, and chose to believe that brokers are not touts. With hind sight................... :mad:

Regards,

Alan.