Ticket selling site Viagogo, found itself on the defensive this morning over accusations that the company routinely rips off gig goers.
Channel 4’s Dispatches programme exposed a culture of “immorality” at Viagogo as employees made huge profits buying up tickets in bulk and then reselling them, usually at many times their face value.
One ticket for a Coldplay gig was shown to be selling on Viagogo for over £2000.
Tickets for gigs and tours by the world’s biggest artists such as Rihanna and Coldplay have been subject to the dubious practice of secondary selling with accusations that concert promoters themselves are allocating large of tickets directly to companies such as Viagogo and Seatwave.
Viagogo director, Ed Parkinson, this morning defended his company’s actions as providing “a secure market for people to buy and sell tickets”.
He continued by adding that secondary selling ensures that tickets are legitimate and that they get to customers in time with a money back guarantee if anything goes wrong.
Responding to accusations from Radio 6 of a culture of immorality amongst his employees, Parkinson said: “It is easy to misrepresent (practices) through editing and secret cameras”.
A previous attempt by Shadow Education Minister Sharon Hodgson to introduce a bill to cap the amount at which tickets for sporting and cultural events could be sold was scrapped earlier this month. A second attempt later this year will see the private members bill debated by a number of MPs.
Appearing on the same radio programme as Parkinson this morning Hodgson said: “It will be hard for the government not to listen to the volume of outrage from the public”.
In response to Parkinson’s assertion that there is as much chance as him playing for Chelsea as there is of a law being brought in to cap ticket prices, Hodgson said: “Who are you to decide what laws are brought into this country?”
Parkinson argued that legislation would “drive ticket selling underground, leaving consumers open to fraud and scams”. He continued: “A market solution is better than a free for all”.
However, it would appear that it is the business model of companies such as Viagogo that is driving up prices and causing the need for consumers to seek out alternative sources of tickets in the first place.
Gigs by Blur, One Direction and Pulp all appeared to sell out in minutes and then appear on Viagogo’s site soon after at marked-up prices.
Hodgson urged people to raise the issue with their MP.