Getmetickets.net 'wound up in public interest'

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Dr Lobster*
Posts: 2104
Joined: Sat 30 Aug, 2003 20.14

Getmetickets.net which has featured on bbc watchdog several times has been closed by the government. whilst anybody who plays £200 for a £45 ticket is pretty stupid I found the director Michael Rangos to be totally unsympathetic and arrogant.

anyway here is the full report.


From BBC News:
Ticket agency Getmetickets.net, which provoked anger from many music fans, has been shut by the government.

The site gained notoriety after customers complained that they paid high prices to get into sold-out shows but their tickets never turned up.

The company did not appear to have enough tickets to supply its customers, the official receiver has said.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has asked for the company to be wound up in the public interest.

Getmetickets.net became the most high-profile ticket resale agent after being investigated by the BBC's Watchdog programme twice and in the national press.

It offered sought-after tickets to fully-booked concerts, festivals, sports events and theatre shows at prices well above face value.

But it provoked attacks from music figures including Sir Cliff Richard and Glastonbury festival organiser Michael Eavis.

Sir Cliff called the site "a terrible rip-off" after it advertised £45 tickets for £377 before they had even officially gone on sale.

As well as charging high prices, Getmetickets.net gained a reputation for only delivering tickets at the last minute or not at all.

In a notice on the company's website, the official receiver said: "When my staff attended the company's premises a number of tickets were recovered.

"It appears that the company does not have sufficient tickets to supply all its customers who have ordered and paid for tickets.

"The court has therefore ordered that those tickets held by the company should be distributed to customers in the order that customers paid for the tickets."

All recovered tickets are being sent to customers but no other tickets will be available and the receiver said he could not make exchanges or refunds or enter into discussions with customers.

'Guarantee'

A DTI spokesperson said petitions to wind up companies in the public interest are made when firms do not do what they claim to do, but refused to give further details.

Getmetickets.net managing director Michael Rangos, who billed his company as the UK's largest independent ticket agency, was unavailable to comment.

In November, he told the BBC News website he could guarantee his customers received tickets.

"The delicate web of relationships that we have built over a number of years provides us with more than a guarantee - utmost certainty - that we have access to thousands of tickets for the most popular concerts," he said.

The closure comes three months after concert, theatre and sport promoters called for the unauthorised resale of tickets to be made illegal.
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