Seatwave urges fans to follow its
simple guide to avoid disappointment at this summer's hottest
festivals
LONDON, 26 January 2009 - With Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, Neil
Young and Blur all rumoured to be playing in the UK this summer,
the festival season is definitely figuring to be one of the hottest
in years. As fans start to think about which festivals to
attend, Seatwave, Europe's largest fan-to-fan ticket exchange, is
urging festival goers to watch out for bogus ticket sites to avoid
disappointment this festival season.
Last year's ticket scandals, involving Xclusive Tickets and SOS
Master Tickets, saw thousands of fans left empty handed after
buying fake or non-existent tickets, for Reading, Leeds and V
Festivals. This year, Seatwave is calling for fans to follow its
simple guide to buying festival tickets to guarantee they don't get
ripped-off and more importantly don't miss out on securing access
to their pick of the festivals this year.
Seatwave's top 5 tips for buying festival
tickets
- Make sure the site or seller you're buying from is reputable.
Check for a registered office in the UK, and a UK-based
customer support telephone number. If in doubt, call up and speak
to a member of the customer services team.
- Look to see how many fans are selling their tickets through the
exchange. The more fans selling, the wider the choice of tickets
available for you to purchase.
- Check your customer protection guarantees. Any good
ticket exchange wants to protect its fans so ensure that customer
guarantees are in place to ensure you receive your tickets or if an
event is cancelled, you receive a full refund.
- Avoid buying tickets outside the festival grounds. Although it
may be tempting to try and pick up a deal at the last-minute, you
will have no transparency about the tickets you're buying and no
protection guarantees.
- Pay by credit card if you can as most major credit card
companies have card protection policies. Always keep a record
of your ticket purchase and print out a copy of your transaction
and a copy of any acknowledgement of receipt.
- Shop around for the best deals, but beware. If prices
look too good to be true, then they usually are.
Joe Cohen, CEO and Founder of Seatwave said: "We're looking
forward to another great festival year which, unfortunately, brings
with it fraudsters and scammers looking to make a quick buck off
fans who are desperate to get tickets. When buying tickets, fans
need to be cautious to avoid the shocking online scams we witnessed
last summer. We want to help fans stay safe and urge them to
follow our tips for buying tickets this festival season."
Seatwave has the strongest consumer protection guarantees on the
market. Seatwave's TicketIntegrity™ guarantees that buyers
will receive the tickets they ordered in good time for the event
otherwise they will refund 100% of what was paid.
TicketCover™ ensures that all tickets sold are provided with a full
refund should the event be cancelled, and even for a range of
circumstances that may prevent the buyer from attending the
event.
V Festival, Reading and Leeds topped the popularity charts in
2008 as the top grossing festivals on Seatwave of the year.
European festivals also had a strong presence as fans opted for
sunnier climates against the increasingly damp summers the UK is
experiencing.
Top 10 grossing festivals of 2008
Based on total Euro volume of tickets sold
- V Festival
- Reading & Leeds Festival
- T in the Park
- Rock am Ring
- Isle of Wight
- Benicassim
- Hard Rock Calling
- Bestival
- O2 Wireless Festival
- Lowlands