Ticketmaster 'may have misled' Oasis fans, the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) says
Ticketmaster needs to make changes, the CMA has said in light of its review of the site's dynamic pricing system following the Oasis reunion tour ticket chaos.
Ticketmaster "may have misled" Oasis fans trying to buy tickets to their reunion tour, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has stated.
The non-ministerial government department in the UK is investigating the ticketing giant over its controversial dynamic pricing system, which broke the hearts of fans of the reuniting Britpop legends when ticket prices went through the roof based on demand for the 'Oasis Live '25 Tour'.
The US-owned company was warned it could have breached UK and European laws over the inflated prices with some tickets raising from £135 to £350.
More than 900,000 tickets were sold to the comeback tour, and recently, thousands of fans had their tickets cancelled after a crackdown on bots.
Hayley Fletcher, Interim Senior Director of Consumer Protection, commented on its latest findings: "Fans reported problems when buying Oasis tickets from Ticketmaster and we decided those concerns warranted investigation.
"We're concerned that Oasis fans didn't get the information they needed or may have been misled into buying tickets they thought were better than they were. We now expect Ticketmaster to work with us to address these concerns so, in future, fans can make well-informed decisions when buying tickets.
"All ticketing websites should check they are complying with the law and treating their customers fairly. When businesses get it right, consumers benefit - and that's the best outcome for everyone."
The CMA is now in consultation with the platform to implement changes that will ensure fans receive accurate information in a timely manner.
The CMA released its findings on www.gov.co.uk on Tuesday (25.03.25), which noted: "Since the opening of the investigation, Ticketmaster has made changes to some aspects of its ticket sales process, but the CMA does not currently consider these changes are sufficient to address its concerns.
"The CMA has provided Ticketmaster with details of the further steps required to address its concerns and is seeking changes to Ticketmaster’s processes – including to the information it provides to customers, when it provides that information, and how it labels some of its tickets. The CMA is now consulting on these changes with Ticketmaster."
The areas Ticketmaster must address include: "Labelling certain seated tickets as ‘platinum’ and selling them for near 2.5 times the price of equivalent standard tickets, without sufficiently explaining that they did not offer additional benefits and were often located in the same area of the stadium. This risked giving consumers the misleading impression that platinum tickets were better."
The document added: "Not informing consumers that there were two categories of standing tickets at different prices, with all of the cheaper standing tickets sold first before the more expensive standing tickets were released, resulting in many fans waiting in a lengthy queue without understanding what they would be paying and then having to decide whether to pay a higher price than they expected."
