Theatres, agencies, policies and services.

ATG are still selling tickets for Sunday in the Park with George. Why? There is zero chance that this production will go ahead. Tickets are now listed as non-refundable. You can pay £2.75 to "protect your non-refundable tickets" but this insurance, which claims to provide a "worry-free ticket purchase" doesn't of course cover coronavirus, the very reason the production will be cancelled. So what are prospective ticket-buyers being offered - apart from the chance to donate? Plus there's the usual £3.65 fee.

The Barbican had tickets for Glass Menagerie on sale until recently but it has finally been cancelled.

ATG, Edinburgh and Wimbledon:
Filled in their COVID-19 form several times to no avail, called their after-sales line the other day and managed to get refunds for 2 of my bookings by which I paid by card, and for a Theatre Token booking, I accepted a credit voucher as they were giving Theatre Token customers an extra complimentary £10 credit voucher. Had to stay on the line for quite a while but the staff on the phone were helpful and friendly.

For one booking my tickets had been transferred automatically to a new date but I couldn’t make the new date - the email said to call their after-sales line if there were any issues, so I just thought to deal with all of my bookings in one call.

Newcastle Theatre Royal:
The show I had booked for is being rescheduled to March 2021. I emailed to ask what the procedure would be, and got told they would be contacting people individually and will either transfer your tickets to any of the new dates, or refund you.

I may be being unduly naive or optimistic but surely ATG can't write out to say that they are are working with producers to reschedule events, with dates to be confirmed by the end of the month, if they actually have no intention of doing so?

I got such an email for The Doctor and will be very annoyed if it wasn't sent in good faith. If false, it would just make for a bigger admin nightmare and weaken consumer confidence further, no? realmissbarnaby any assurances on this would be helpful and thank you for all your hard work.

Interesting that Mackintosh states in his email that he had been privately told that theatres won’t reopen until mid September at the earliest but his company and many others are still selling tickets for June onwards...

Has anybody had any contact with Encore tickets? I’d emailed on 22 March in which they were quick to reply and offer a voucher or refund. I accepted the refund which they agreed would take 3-5 working days. I emailed a week later to check as the agreed period had passed and no money. They replied that 10-15 days was now advised, which has also now passed and still no refund. They aren’t replying to any of my emails now, and I’m slightly worried.

If there was a clear timetable of how this pandemic will proceed, agencies, theatres and producers would make definite decisions.

However we just don't know a) what the bug will do and b) how the government will respond. Will we be allowed to open theatres in July? August? September? January?

Will open air theatres open earlier? Will theatres have to sell alternate seats?

None of us know, which is why producers, theatres and agencies are trying to tread water as long as patience allows.

I have huge sympathy for all ticket outlets- they simply do not have systems on stand-by to deal with this many exchanges/ refunds all in one go- emergency plans are one thing, but who could reasonably envisage the closure of all events nationwide for 3- 6 months? I don't think it's something any of use could have imagined.

There is so much uncertainty at present, I think the wisest strategy is not to make promises that can't be fulfilled later.

This is for the .com site isn’t it? Assume there are different laws in the US for this. 

I think it applies to all Ticketmaster venues. A friend of mine works in one and Ticketmaster did this - without even notifying them! They are trying to leave Ticketmaster but the red tape is so tangled it's incredibly difficult.

UPDATE It does seem that in the UK, they have now clarified (i.e. hurriedly rushed out a statement after such enormous backlash) that people will in fact be able to claim refunds. www.nme.com/news/music/ticketmaster-criticised-for-coronavirus-refund-policy-2646164

Tweeted the barbican today as its now 2 week since I gave them my bank details






Have now emailed them which got an auto-response asking me not to email them



Then got a follow-up email:


So basically - no news.

Just received a RAH cancellation with auto-refund for ticket and parking, no messing around.

@xanderl, you are absolutely right, some information and reassurance that things are moving would be nice.
The Barbican and the Boulevard are the only venues I've asked for a refund from, and while Boulevard managed to handle it with speed and grace, Barbican really seems to be struggling. 

I've already donated the money they owe me towards a different cause, so I'm not really in a rush to get it, it will just fill a 'gap' in the account, but it's a good indication of how they have a lot to learn about crisis management. 

So far I've had 14 things either rescheduled or cancelled through 13 different companies - all dealt with efficiently and professionally (well, BA was that when I finally got through on the phone after days of trying!). The only exception being ATG and I'm still waiting on that one, nothing but a vague, general email.