Watchdog calls on Oasis and Ticketmaster to refund fans hit by inflated prices

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 reunion tour more than doubling from £148 to £355 on Ticketmaster amid surging demand, prompting 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.

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.

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 has 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.”

A Ticketmaster spokeswoman said: “Fans can resell their Oasis tickets at the full price they paid through Ticketmaster or Twickets.”

In a House of Commons debate on Tuesday evening, culture minister Sir Chris Bryant said his goal is to ensure dynamic pricing in the gigs and concerts market is “transparent and fair”.

Conservative Dame Caroline Dinenage, who chairs the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, raised concerns over the experience for fans who tried to buy Oasis tickets.

Sir Chris said of people waiting hours in an online queue: “You have no idea how somebody gets to be number 1,273 rather than 1,884 in the queue. It seems completely and utterly random but one suspects that there might be clever means that other people with very deep pockets who know how to navigate the system are able to manipulate.

“And it’s clear that there are many instances of bots effectively hoovering up a large number of tickets using lots of different IDs, using different credit cards and the rest of it, and so there’s an issue of fairness.”

The minister added: “I acknowledge that dynamic pricing can help match supply with demand, resulting in both higher and lower prices, but when it is used as a business model, it needs to be transparent and fair, and that’s what we want to ensure.”