Double 8 tickets website - genuine tickets or a scam?

kitty123

My friend has just booked tickets for the New Years Eve Take That concert at the O2 Arena in London using double 8 tickets. I am very concerned because the only official site selling them is gigsandtours, and they are almost sold out.

I understand this double 8 website is for sold out events. My husband found some reviews.... A few people say they had no problems and the tickets all arrived OK, but some say their tickets never arrived and they couldn't get their money back/could never get through to the company by phone and have reported them to Watchdog.

We have just tried phoning double 8 and they are closed (?until Monday). I am really having my doubts. They are charging £145 per ticket (up to £200 for "best seats"), when the face value of the tickets on gigsandtours is £99.

I got scammed BIG TIME on ebay buying tickets for the current Take That tour,so I am not going to let it happen to my friends.....

Any advice? If they are dodgy should my friend try to get a refund, or cancel her credit card??

dmg24

Anyone selling above face price will not be an official agent. I don't know anything about this particular agent to say whether they are dodgy or not.

As she has entered into the transaction without duress she has no right to back out now I'm afraid, and the credit card company will not get involved until something is proven to be wrong.

Ticketline are also selling the tickets as official agents.

kidder44

Hi Kitty

I have also just purchased two tickets for the Take That Gig on New Years Eve from Double 8 Tickets. I tried Ticket Master first but they said none available, also tried Seetickets.com and again no luck.
The wife really wanted to go and found tickets on the Double 8 site.

I have just looked at Ticketmaster again, and also the actual O2 website, both have better tickets for sale. than Double 8 [can't understand why TicketMaster didn't have them earlier??] and they are approx £100 cheaper.

Double 8 claim to sell mostly the first ten rows of seats, and says you can choose your seat. I was never given the chance to choose my exact seats.
As the other poster says, once you have authorised the payment it probably can't be stopped, their terms are no cancellation whatsoever, refunds only at face value.

Ah well i have learnt a hard lesson there, i'm usually so thorough with these things, but looking on the web there are a lot of disgruntled people who now realise they have paid toooo much !!!!
hopefully the tickets will arrive, if not at least i paid by credit card.

I suppose the lesson is if you don't take, care then TAKE THAT!!!!

kitty123

Thanks for the replies. My friend cancelled her credit card but then found payment was already taken. Dose anyone know how long tickets take to arrive (if at all?!) New Year's Eve takes some planning, so finishing work at 5 and possible having to drive 2 hours to London can't really be done on the spur of the moment. If I know the tickets have a chance of turning up we'll just have to bit the bullet, pay the price and go....which would be amazing if it actually happened.

I have just been on the 02 website and seen tickets for sale there too. They still charge a £9 booking fee on top of the £99 though...

allig_2

This company claims to sell sold out front row tickets. I just spent 100 pound each for tickets that I thought were priority seating for a xmas gift to my husband... I ended up getting crappy 30 pound tickets that are off-center and 30 rows back! tickets available on the o2 site were actually closer and only 30 pounds. total rip off.. do not use them!

Veronica316

I bought 2 tickets at the London O2 under "Option 1" for what was supposed to be a premier block, with seats in the front 5 rows.

I paid for the tickets, received them by mail, and although the correct block was assigned, I was given row V, which is nowhere near the front 5 rows.

I checked my confirmation e-mail and found THE BIT ABOUT THE FRONT 5 ROWS WAS DELETED FROM MY CONFIRMATION e-mail, even though their website CONTINUES to advertise "Option 1" as the costlier front 5 rows.

Be Careful, and make you sure you read the confirmation e-mail thoroughly, to ensure the tickets you bought were exactly the ones confirmed.

kitty123

kitty123 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. My friend cancelled her credit card but then found payment was already taken. Dose anyone know how long tickets take to arrive (if at all?!) New Year's Eve takes some planning, so finishing work at 5 and possible having to drive 2 hours to London can't really be done on the spur of the moment. If I know the tickets have a chance of turning up we'll just have to bit the bullet, pay the price and go....which would be amazing if it actually happened.

I have just been on the 02 website and seen tickets for sale there too. They still charge a £9 booking fee on top of the £99 though...

The outcome of this story (over a year ago now), was..... my friend received a messgae from double8 tickets the day before the show. They were asking her to meet someone outside the venue who would give her the tickets in person. My friend ignored the message and checked her credit card statement again...only to find that all her money had been credited back to her account. Therefore we didn't go to the show and never persued double8 tickets any further!

dacouch

Double8 tickets were mentioned on the last episode of Watchdog, have a read by clicking on this link

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/watchdog/2009/03/avoid_scam_festival_tickets.html

*onlyme*

Oh 2 posts in favour of this company...both first posts...one admitting to be from the company....

So Tinkerbellfairy, is your name Hannah by any chance?

Fenella

As you can see I am a regular on this forum.

I have had only one experience with Double8. Last year I wanted to see Michael Buble at Wembly Stadium. The only seats available from Ticketmaster were a long way from the stage so I bought from Double8. The tickets came within a week of the concert and the seats were as promised right near the front and central.
I did pay over the odds for them but it was worth it.

kitty123

Hannah_From_Double8ticket wrote: »

Also, with regards to customers receiving there tickets, it is stated in our terms and conditions that tickets may not be dispatched until 7 days before the concert as we ourselves have to wait for the tickets to be printed by the promoters.

That doesn't explain my friend repeatedly phoning double8 tickets with no response, no reply to numerous emails and no word of the tickets until THE DAY BEFORE the event. Would you trust a random person telling you to turn up on new years eve outside a london venue to meet someone who apparently has the tickets???? I don't think so!

I must add that when some tickets were dispatched late from a different ticket company for another concert, there was a designated ticket collection point in the box office which I went to and had to take proof of ID etc. to prove I had booked the tickets myself. Therefore I don't see how it is necessary for people to expect someone to arrive at a venue on the night and meet a stranger to collect tickets.