The Cure's Robert Smith forces Ticketmaster to refund fans for 'sickening' extra fees
The process of purchasing tickets for a gig can turn what is supposed to be an exciting moment into an incredibly stressful one.
Whether you are met with the ticket site crashing as you are just about to put the tickets in your basket or are stuck in a queue with 500,000 people ahead of you - it certainly isn't a fun time and is sadly becoming a common occurrence.
And the latest debacle in the ticketing mess comes with The Cure's tour of the US as tickets went on sale for the band's much-anticipated gigs earlier this week.
But when excited fans went to purchase tickets on Ticketmaster on Wednesday (15 March), they noticed some hidden fees.
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For example, one customer ended up buying four $20 tickets for the event, but actually paid over $172 after service fees, a facility charge, and an order processing fee were added.
After many of these reports, Robert Smith of The Cure tweeted that he was "as sickened as you all are by today’s Ticketmaster ‘Fees’ debacle," after seeing screenshots from aggrieved fans on Twitter.
He continued: "To be very clear, the artist has no way to limit them. I have been asking how they are justified. If I get anything coherent by way of an answer, I will let you all know."
But on Thursday (16 March), Smith provided a positive update to fans that Ticketmaster would be providing a partial refund to fans after talks with the band.
On Twitter once more, he wrote: "After further conversation, Ticketmaster have agreed with us that many of the fees being charged are unduly high, and as a gesture of goodwill have offered a $10 per ticket refund to all verified fan accounts for lowest ticket price transactions.
"And a $5 per ticket refund to all verified fan accounts for all other ticket price transactions, for all Cure shows at all venues.
"If you already bought a ticket you will get an automatic refund; all tickets on sale tomorrow will incur lower fees."
Prior to tickets going on sale, The Cure said that they wanted to keep tickets for this US tour as affordable as possible.
In a post on Twitter on 10 March, The Cure wrote: "We want the tour to be affordable for all fans, and we have a very wide (and we think very fair) range of pricing at every show.
"Our ticketing partners have agreed to help us stop scalpers from getting in the way; to help minimise resale and keep prices at face value, tickets for this tour will not be transferable."
UNILAD have reached out to Ticketmaster for comment.
Topics: Music
Callum Jones