Man 'ripped off' buying Lions tickets from online seller

"I just thought I'd been ripped off, a total of $753.00 to go and stand on the grass at Rotorua," Mr Davies says.
"I just thought I'd been ripped off, a total of $753.00 to go and stand on the grass at Rotorua," Mr Davies says. Photo credit: rotoruanz.com

William Davies says he's been majorly ripped off buying tickets from Viagogo for a Lions game in Rotorua this weekend.

The Rotorua local says the ticket website is "a bit of a sh*t show".

Mr Davies paid $753.54 to buy four tickets for his friends to see the Lions game against the Maori All Blacks.

But once they arrived, he realised that they weren't good seats and his friends would be standing on the grass.

"I had four friends from Wales coming over for the Lions tour and about February they asked me if I could get tickets for the Maori All Blacks vs the Lions," he told Newshub.

"To start off with the tickets were $134.00 each. So I phoned my friend and told him how much they were, and said yeah all good. But I ended up paying $753.00 for these four tickets, by the time I paid booking fees and courier fees and everything".

Last week the tickets arrived, and Mr Davies was furious to see that they were general admission.

"I just thought I'd been ripped off, a total of $753.00 to go and stand on the grass at Rotorua."

He says he wouldn't have minded if they were good seats, but "I could have gone to Rotorua stadium and bought tickets for $59.00."

Mr Davies has tried to contact Viagogo but so far he has heard nothing back from them.

"They won't answer the phone, the email they've sent is a no reply email. They're in Switzerland somewhere".

"It's a bit of a sh*t show".

Consumer New Zealand has previously announced that they are teaming up with global consumer groups to investigate Viagogo and other ticket resellers.

Consumer NZ chief executive Sue Chetwin said complaints about ticket resellers are on the rise globally.

"We've heard reports of tickets being sold on resale sites in New Zealand for up to 20 times their face value. Customers also routinely report being stung by steep fees on these sites," she said.

The organisation is undertaking a survey to help them to better understand the problems in the market and make sure fans have fair access to tickets.

It advises Kiwis to buy tickets directly from venues or official ticket sellers, and to check with venues about resale restrictions before they buy a resold ticket.

Newshub has contacted Viagogo for comment.

Newshub.