Fans were gutted to get through the Tickermaster only to find tickets had risen in price (Picture: Matt Cardy/Getty Images)
Consumer group Which? has called on Oasis and Ticketmaster to ‘do the right thing’ and refund fans hit by inflated ticket prices.
Many fans were shocked by the price of standard tickets for the Liam and Noel Gallagher reunion tour more than doubling on Ticketmaster due to the ticketing giant’s dynamic pricing model, which sees costs fluctuate depending on demand.
Originally fans were told tickets would be £148 but after queueing for hours, many finally got into the page to find the only option was £355 tickets.
Taking to social media in outrage, the Government and the UK’s competition watchdog to pledge they will look into the use of dynamic pricing.
Following the controversy, Which? asked Oasis fans to send in screenshots of the ticket-buying and checkout process to see if they were warned that ticket prices could surge due to high levels of demand.
Which? said it received dozens of screenshots from fans who had tried to buy tickets – both before and after prices increased – none of which showed a warning message that Ticketmaster would increase prices during the sale.
Noel and Liam said they had no part in the decision to use dynamic pricing (Picture: Dave Hogan/Getty Images)
Fans took to social media furious with the increase in price (Picture: Simon Ritter/Redferns)
Instead, Which? said it saw evidence that fans were shown one price for tickets, only to have that price taken away at the last second and replaced with a far higher, and unexpected, ticket price.
Which? cited one screenshot showing that due to ‘in demand’ pricing the cost of standing tickets at a Heaton Park show – originally advertised for £148.50 – surged to £337.50 each.
Under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations (CPRs), traders must not mislead consumers with how prices are presented or leave out key pricing information that they might need to make an informed decision about their purchase.
Which? said many fans were not informed about the increases until after they had already tried to add cheaper tickets to their baskets.
While the use of ‘dynamic pricing’ was mentioned in the terms and conditions on the website, fans were not warned that this practice would be used for Oasis tickets, the watchdog said.
Last week the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched an investigation into Ticketmaster over the sale.
The CMA said its investigation would include how so-called ‘dynamic pricing’ may have been used and would scrutinise whether the sale of Oasis tickets by Ticketmaster may have breached consumer protection law.
Tickets were said to be £148 but fans landed on the page to find only £355 ones left (Picture: Paul Bergen/Redferns)
Ticketmaster has said it does not set concert prices and its website states this is down to the ‘event organiser’ who ‘has priced these tickets according to their market value’.
Oasis have previously stated that they had no involvement in the decision to implement dynamic pricing.
Which? said it would share its findings with the CMA.
Over the weekend, Oasis sent out invites for a private invite-only ballot for their ‘final’ Wembley Stadium dates, having extended their Live ’25 tour to include two more London shows on September 27 and 28.
Which? consumer law expert Lisa Webb said: ‘It seems extremely unfair that Oasis fans got up early and battled through the queues only to find that ticket prices had more than doubled from the originally advertised price.
‘Which? believes that Ticketmaster’s “in demand” pricing practices for Oasis tickets could have breached consumer law as it appears fans weren’t properly warned about the use of “in demand” pricing until far too late in the purchase journey – leading to a nasty shock at the checkout.
‘Oasis and Ticketmaster should do the right thing and refund fans who may have been misled into paying over the odds for tickets that would have been half the price just hours earlier.’
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