Viagogo blamed as 200 refused entry to Dunedin concert

March 12, 2019

About 200 concertgoers were refused entry to the Six60 concert at Dunedin's Forsyth Barr Stadium last Saturday night having tried to enter with "fraudulent tickets".

As reported by the New Zealand Herald, Eccles Entertainment promoter Dave Munro believed the vast majority of the fake tickets presented at the gates were obtained from resale ticketing site Viagogo.

Advising that the situation was upsetting for both fans and the organisers, Munro advised "this is incredibly disappointing and something that no-one wants to see happen."

He said those affected were not prevented from attending the concert and were given the opportunity to buy legitimate tickets at the gate.

Munro added "we've been pushing the message really hard that people need to only buy from the official ticket seller, Ticketmaster.

"Because there were still legitimate tickets available, there was absolutely no need for people to pay an inflated price, let alone go to an online scalper.

"It's a really unfortunate problem and people need to be really careful when they're purchasing tickets that they make sure they're buying from the official ticketing agent."

The incident comes a month after promoters cancelled 24 tickets to Norah Jones's show at the Regent Theatre next month, because they had been sold multiple times through Viagogo.

Resale of the tickets is in violation of the terms and conditions, and Viagogo is now being sued by the New Zealand Commerce Commission for allegedly breaching the Fair Trading Act.

A Frontier Touring spokeswoman said her company, along with the Regent Theatre, had taken action against scalping on Jones' show and cancelled 24 tickets which were made available again through TicketDirect.

Last week the New Zealand Government announced it would take measures to prevent ticket scalping including a price cap on resale tickets, enforcing rules around information that needs to be disclosed to better inform consumers, and banning ticket-buying 'bots'.

Advising that scalpers use ticket-bots to buy large quantities of tickets online then resell them at greatly inflated prices, New Zealand Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Kris Faafoi stated "while misleading and deceptive behaviour is already prohibited under the Fair Trading Act, I am concerned that this doesn't go far enough towards protecting consumers."

4th March 2019 - New Zealand Government to legislate on ticket scalping

19th February 2019 - New Zealand High Court Judge rejects Commerce Commission injunction against Viagogo

18th February 2019 - 2018 the biggest year for Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr Stadium

11th February 2019 - Concert promoter Michael Chugg says Viagogo is ‘out of control ... f***ing thieves’

6th February 2019 - Commerce Commission describes Viagogo as a ‘marketplace for scalpers and fraudsters’ in Auckland High Court

5th February 2019 - Commerce Commission interim injunction against Viagogo set for New Zealand High Court hearing

11th January 2019 - ACCC warns against social media ticket scams for sold-out concert tickets

12th September 2018 - Viagogo responds to calls for Google AdWords service to reject its resales

9th August 2018 - Forsyth Barr Stadium events contribute $55 million into the Dunedin economy

8th August 2018 - New Zealand Rugby calls meeting to help fans tackle ticket resellers

17th March 2018 - Commerce Commission issues warning over buying event tickets through Viagogo

1st November 2017 - Hamilton event patrons urged to purchase tickets from official vendors

13th January 2017 - Southlanders warned about overseas ticketing websites

26th July 2016 - Diverse attractions underpin success of Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr Stadium

1st May 2016 - Frontier Touring issues Facebook warning on ticket scalping and unauthorised resellers

10th August 2015 - Frontier Touring named the Number One Concert Promoter in the World

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