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Post by danb on Mar 2, 2018 21:35:53 GMT
For those asking, Cardiff isn't being offered as an alternative to see the show in as it is not an ATG venue. It shouldn’t matter. I thought that they were acting on behalf of the tour. Again, its all on their terms. How is that any sort of recompense?
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Post by Paul on Mar 2, 2018 21:40:39 GMT
I just read this article from the Bristol post: www.bristolpost.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/man-who-travelled-somerset-watch-1290145I found this particular extract amusing: 'However, the venue has just put out another update on social media saying that ticket holders who can no longer make the Bristol performance of Wicked will be able to watch it at the Apollo Victoria theatre in London instead, where it is headed next on its UK tour.' I didn't realise the London production had closed 😂.
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Post by andrew on Mar 2, 2018 21:51:30 GMT
I just read this article from the Bristol post: www.bristolpost.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/man-who-travelled-somerset-watch-1290145I found particular extract amusing: 'However, the venue has just put out another update on social media saying that ticket holders who can no longer make the Bristol performance of Wicked will be able to watch it at the Apollo Victoria theatre in London instead, where it is headed next on its UK tour.' I didn't realise the London production had closed 😂. Reminds me of this
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Post by The Lost on Mar 2, 2018 22:42:02 GMT
A friend tells me that Elphaba didn't fly tonight. She also didn't fly last night.
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Post by shady23 on Mar 2, 2018 22:49:11 GMT
For those asking, Cardiff isn't being offered as an alternative to see the show in as it is not an ATG venue. It shouldn’t matter. I thought that they were acting on behalf of the tour. Again, its all on their terms. How is that any sort of recompense? No "rival" company is going to agree to taking another company's patrons in for free. Its the theatre (ATG) offering the deal and not Wicked themselves I guess. That's business for you. They can come up to Sunderland if they want, that's an ATG venue 😉
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Post by shady23 on Mar 3, 2018 8:56:48 GMT
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Post by danb on Mar 3, 2018 9:27:49 GMT
Yeah, it’s nobodies fault, but handling it a lot speedier would have helped their case massively. I’ve no idea how long it will take them to respond re: refunds and replacement tickets, but they might save a bit of face by moving quicker on it! 😂
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Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2018 10:34:09 GMT
It's an easy one. Unless the weather is sufficiently severe that the show has been cancelled, any refunds or exchanges the theatre or promoters choose to provide is purely a voluntary act of goodwill. The terms and conditions are clearly advertised at the time of the booking. If anyone is negligent, it is the group-leader for not taking out ticket insurance, which is these days widely available. I find myself with no sympathy for his ridiculous remarks. “This whole thing could have left them with blood on their hands.” - No. If he chose to travel in dangerous weather, it is his decision alone. "It may not be a lot of money to them, but it is to a small club like ours." - It's still only the cost of an individual ticket for each person. You don't deserve special treatment. "Especially as you learn about the huge figures they made from this show." - Yes. "They" earned the money by producing an extremely popular show. This is how money works. "They appear to be more concerned about profit and bums on seats rather than health and safety." - There's also the responsibility to put on the show for the other ticket holders who were able to attend despite the weather. Cancelling unnecessarily would cause substantial further disruption.
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Post by TallPaul on Mar 3, 2018 14:11:49 GMT
We know how ATG loves adding extras onto the cost of a ticket, so I wonder if insurance now becomes compulsory, rather than optional, especially for groups.
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Post by ensembleswings on Mar 3, 2018 14:26:48 GMT
I never purchase ticket insurance when buying a single ticket but if I'm buying a significant amount (or the price is over £100) then I'd usually take it out. It doesn't seem worth it for £30 or less but if I'd already spent £1300 in tickets I wouldn't hesitate to add an extra £3.50 for the insurance.
The roads around here seem to have improved significantly since Thursday evening so I'm going to attempt attending tonight's performance. Fingers crossed I may it there and back seeing as this is one of the two shows I'd booked before Wicked actually arrived in Bristol (therefore cost me twice as much as the other tickets)
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Post by The Matthew on Mar 3, 2018 16:03:48 GMT
I find it quite depressing that some people have this attitude of "It's not fair that I should end up out of pocket for something that's not my fault, but it is fair that someone else should end up out of pocket when it's not their fault either".
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Post by ensembleswings on Mar 3, 2018 17:33:49 GMT
Made it to Bristol with ease, we left over an hour earlier when we didn’t need to but oh well. I get to see the final show tonight which is all that matters. It’s been three no fly shows in a row on the tour so far, secretly hoping there’s another one tonight. I mean it probably won’t happen knowing my luck but still, I can dream
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Post by danb on Mar 3, 2018 17:36:32 GMT
Made it to Bristol with ease, we left over an hour earlier when we didn’t need to but oh well. I get to see the final show tonight which is all that matters. It’s been three no fly shows in a row on the tour so far, secretly hoping there’s another one tonight. I mean it probably won’t happen knowing my luck but still, I can dream Fantastic, enjoy!
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Post by shady23 on Mar 3, 2018 20:11:02 GMT
Made it to Bristol with ease, we left over an hour earlier when we didn’t need to but oh well. I get to see the final show tonight which is all that matters. It’s been three no fly shows in a row on the tour so far, secretly hoping there’s another one tonight. I mean it probably won’t happen knowing my luck but still, I can dream I think you'll be pleasantly surprised... 😉
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Post by Being Alive on Mar 3, 2018 20:33:41 GMT
I've been sat in my own Box Office all weekend, as we've had to cancel the festival we were running this weekend due to a) artists not being able to get to us, and b) the roads into the town being literally unusable. So in this instance, the customers are getting a refund, because the event is no longer taking place.
I've also been reading the Hippodrome facebook page all weekend, and applaud the staff for what they are going through. People yelling and hurling abuse at you (both of which I've dealt with in bucket loads this weekend because there was a period of time the events were still going ahead, and thus I was in this exact situation) is not going to get anyone anywhere. In the Ts and Cs when you book, it clearly states that if a performance goes ahead, you will not have your tickets refunded. You know that when the tickets are booked. I just don't understand why, after all these years, we are still having this argument of 'you should refund if I can't get there.'
I surely can't be the only one who feels like the customers are acting ridiculously, can I?
(And if I've come across a little aggressive, sorry, it's been a long weekend... )
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Post by danb on Mar 3, 2018 20:59:53 GMT
I've been sat in my own Box Office all weekend, as we've had to cancel the festival we were running this weekend due to a) artists not being able to get to us, and b) the roads into the town being literally unusable. So in this instance, the customers are getting a refund, because the event is no longer taking place. I've also been reading the Hippodrome facebook page all weekend, and applaud the staff for what they are going through. People yelling and hurling abuse at you (both of which I've dealt with in bucket loads this weekend because there was a period of time the events were still going ahead, and thus I was in this exact situation) is not going to get anyone anywhere. In the Ts and Cs when you book, it clearly states that if a performance goes ahead, you will not have your tickets refunded. You know that when the tickets are booked. I just don't understand why, after all these years, we are still having this argument of 'you should refund if I can't get there.' I surely can't be the only one who feels like the customers are acting ridiculously, can I? (And if I've come across a little aggressive, sorry, it's been a long weekend... ) The issue in this case for me was the speed with which it was dealt with, and not acknowleging the fact that there was a red weather warning in place and being encouraged to ignore it. The performance should not have gone ahead. End of.
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Post by ensembleswings on Mar 3, 2018 21:05:15 GMT
I got my wish. It was a no fly show!!! Not only that we’ve also had a Witch Switch mid act 1. So glad I was able to get to this show
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Post by shady23 on Mar 3, 2018 21:14:02 GMT
Next you'll be telling us fifth cover midwife came on for the second Act!
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Post by LaLuPone on Mar 3, 2018 21:15:36 GMT
Four no-fly shows in a row? What on earth's been happening?
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Post by ensembleswings on Mar 3, 2018 23:21:24 GMT
I had a feeling a witch switch could happen from the moment Amy sang The Wizard and I. Don’t get me wrong she could sing it absolutely fine, she hit all the notes, she just missed the ‘things I’ve never felt’ riff that I’ve heard her do the previous 8 times. The main giveaway however was the fact she was struggling to speak her lines, her voice just kept cutting out on her? So code green it was, Nikki came running on at the start of One Short Day. I’m so glad I can tick off seeing a no fly show from the bucket list so to say but I hope I don’t see another one anytime soon. The whole song/scene seemed to lose its impact (don’t think it helped that I was sat front row so couldn’t even fully appreciate the different lightening). Speaking to Nikki afterwards it appears the lift is broken, they couldn’t fix it and the replacement part didn’t arrive for them to fix it in time for yesterday’s/today’s shows. Hence why they haven’t defied gravity for the past four shows.
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Post by daniel on Mar 3, 2018 23:48:45 GMT
That's really interesting ensembleswings, thank you for sharing. I did wonder if they'd struggled to get a part for the lift, and if the snow had caused delays. Would be awfully ironic if the weather was (in the producers' eyes) okay enough for the show to go ahead, but not okay enough for them to be able to get their lift working!!
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Post by ensembleswings on Mar 4, 2018 11:05:48 GMT
It did make me laugh when I was told they were waiting on a part. I mean I've no idea where it would be coming from but I highly doubt the snow wouldn't have impacted on the amount of time it took for them to receive it. Unsurprisingly the Hippodrome was the emptiest I've seen it (whilst the tour's been there) last night, I expect it was quieter on Thursday but I have no proof of that. By no means was it empty but there were a lot of unfilled seats around, especially down the front of stalls, reminded me more of a weeknight for a popular show than a Saturday for a generally sold out show
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Post by danb on Mar 6, 2018 16:10:26 GMT
Refreshingly speedy and guest focussed response from ATG regarding replacement tickets. Whilst they didn’t acknowledge my request for tickets for Cardiff instead, they have already replaced my tickets with better seats for one of the three (school holiday) dates requested. Sure we have to drive to London, but like many have pointed out, they don’t owe us anything and they are working hard to repair the damage done. I wonder if anyone will go whining to the press about that?
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Post by ensembleswings on Mar 6, 2018 16:20:59 GMT
Good to know they're exchanging tickets in timely manner, I've only just sent my request off (had to wait until I could get home and have my laptop) so it's good to know I shouldn't be waiting too long before I hear back from them. I've only requested one date rather than multiple but as I was already planning on going that day it seems stupid not to try for that date. It's also nice to see they've exchanging them for better seats for you danb I was half expecting them to palm off the not so great seats (don't get me wrong I would/will accept anything they offer seeing as they don't owe me anything at all) seems like they are trying to 'make up' for what happened and try to improve the recent negative image/press.
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Post by danb on Mar 6, 2018 19:25:27 GMT
To be fair I think its more to do with the seating plan; a similar seat to my original would be restricted view at the AV and the last thing they’d want is ‘they gave me a crappy seat’ comments. I had said I needed an aisle seat due to my statuesque nature, and have been amply and more centrally rewarded. Quite looking forward to it now....
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Post by ensembleswings on Mar 6, 2018 22:19:02 GMT
Ah yes, I didn't even think about the aisle seats being restricted view, shows how long it is since I saw the show in London (I mean it was November but still). Hopefully people won't feel they've been 'downgraded' seat wise and complain, especially seeing as they don't have to be offering this in the first place. ITV have picked up the story, it was featured on the West Country 6pm news this evening, so I doubt they'll be wanting to fuel that by exchanging non restricted view seats for restricted view. On a more personal note I had a central front row grand circle ticket for Bristol, which I was rather looking forward to using so I'm hoping mine will be exchanged for something very similar. It's not a big deal if it's not, it's just I've not seen the show from that angle before and was rather looking forward to it, especially for Defying Gravity.
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Post by poster J on Mar 6, 2018 22:40:43 GMT
Ah yes, I didn't even think about the aisle seats being restricted view, shows how long it is since I saw the show in London (I mean it was November but still). Hopefully people won't feel they've been 'downgraded' seat wise and complain, especially seeing as they don't have to be offering this in the first place. ITV have picked up the story, it was featured on the West Country 6pm news this evening, so I doubt they'll be wanting to fuel that by exchanging non restricted view seats for restricted view. On a more personal note I had a central front row grand circle ticket for Bristol, which I was rather looking forward to using so I'm hoping mine will be exchanged for something very similar. It's not a big deal if it's not, it's just I've not seen the show from that angle before and was rather looking forward to it, especially for Defying Gravity. You don't want a Circle ticket for the AV, the sound up there is dreadful!
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Post by ensembleswings on Mar 7, 2018 15:05:48 GMT
I've sat near the top to the side of the circle before and don't remember it being all that bad poster J . Still I'd like to see it from the front just the once and then I'll go back to my restricted view seats at the front of the stalls
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Post by danb on Mar 7, 2018 17:04:05 GMT
I've sat near the top to the side of the circle before and don't remember it being all that bad poster J . Still I'd like to see it from the front just the once and then I'll go back to my restricted view seats at the front of the stalls Apart from our first visit back in Idinaland, we have nearly always sat in the bargain front side stalls. Sometimes good (right hand side, blocked by a bit of dodgy blocking occasionally) and sometimes terrible (left hand side back to about row H but quite the bargain!). I’m looking forward to seeing it from the front circle. I shall pop down and ask them to turn it up if I’m not happy.
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Post by ensembleswings on Mar 7, 2018 18:54:54 GMT
Amy Webb is making her debut as Elphaba this evening! Now why could that have not happened in Bristol.
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