No-show business

In the immortal words of Johnny Rotten: "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?" Steve Sutherland does as he rails against the practises of secondary ticketing sites

- Steve Sutherland

I'm an idiot. You knew that, right? But just in case you needed concrete proof allow me to relate a bad situation I got myself into recently, entirely due to my own idiocy. My son, just turned 18 and a big Korn fan, expressed a desire to attend Download Festival and, considering he'd been robbed by COVID lockdowns of two full years of teenage gig-going, I thought it only fair to get him a ticket. Mistake number one: he said the gig was sold out and I believed him.

Gaff number two: I decided to get him a ticket from a secondary ticketing site. I know... I know... Anyway, the first one I checked was asking £489 for a £260 ticket so no way Jose. The second was asking £340 quid including all the dubious add-ons, so that's the one I went for.

Once I'd been through the process of establishing an account with the company, my bank card details were duly taken and accepted and I was, as they so joyously put it, IN! I was informed the ticket would be with me before the event and that a tracking number would be sent to me so I could check the ticket's delivery progress, via UPS.