Music fan hit by ticket blow

8:20am Saturday 23rd August 2008

Music fan Howard Grater is missing out on his favourite bands at the Reading Festival this weekend after falling victim to a suspected online ticket scam.

Mr Grater, 21, from Arncott, near Bicester, was unable to get a ticket from festival organisers before the event sold out to 250,000 fans.

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But he was so keen to go that he decided to buy a ticket online. The drama student paid £200 to SOS Master Tickets agency - but did not receive his ticket.

He is now resigned to missing the festival, after hearing thousands of other music fans have been let down in the same way.

Mr Grater said: "I was really looking forward to my first big festival, but there's nothing I can do about it."

SOS, registered to an address in Islington, North London, is thought to have sold between 400 and 800 tickets to last weekend's V Festivals in Essex and Staffordshire and 1,000 to this weekend's Reading and Leeds festivals - each for up to £200 - but failed to provide any tickets.

Last night, the Oxford Mail was unable to make contact with the agency. Mr Grater added: "SOS Master Tickets was the first company listed on Google so I thought it would be OK. I did have a look through the terms and conditions but, unfortunately, I don't think that means very much.

"I did get a confirmation email, but it said I could expect to get my Madonna tickets, so from that point on I was a bit worried.

"I paid £200 - money I got for my 21st birthday - and I was looking forward to camping at the festival, which has got an incredible line-up.

"It would be nice if these people were caught because this is text-book fraud. I would also like the money back in my bank account.

"I'm talking to my bank Barclays about the possibility of getting my money back."

SOS's website was taken down on Wednesday and all phone numbers and fax numbers are now unavailable.

The company is thought to have retained thousands of names, addresses and credit card details. When SOS's customers had not received their tickets for the V Festival with a week to go, they were told to go to the venue and collect them in person.

But the company representative did not turn up and mobile phone calls went unanswered.

Reading and Leeds festivals both warned music fans against buying tickets from unofficial sources.

Chris Roe, a spokesman for Islington Borough Council, said: "Our trading standards are aware of SOS Master Tickets and are in the process of carrying out an investigation into their activity. So far there have been more than 300 complaints to the national consumer direct helpline."

Advice from Oxfordshire trading standards GET information from the official event website or organisation.

Only use established, reputable ticket agencies that are very well known.

Do not judge the seller's reliability on the appearance of the website.

Make sure you know the company or individual seller's full postal address.

Never rely only on an email address.

Do not assume an Internet company is based in the UK because the website address ends in .co.uk.

If you cannot find a UK address on the website you should be cautious.

Always check out the landline and postal address - if it does not check out, don't buy.

Using a credit card will offer some consumer protection for any one ticket purchase for £100 or more.