Oasis: Ireland’s consumer watchdog opens tickets investigation

The Republic of Ireland’s competition watchdog has opened an investigation into Ticketmaster’s handling of the sale of tickets for Oasis gigs in Dublin.

The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) said it received more than 100 complaints following last weekend’s tickets sale.

Ticketmaster has defended the way it sells tickets.

Oasis are to play two concerts at Croke Park on 16 and 17 August, along with a further 15 other nights at venues in the UK.

There has been widespread criticism of dynamic pricing of Oasis tickets over since they went on sale.

In a statement, Brian McHugh, Chair of the CCPC said consumers are very “disappointed and frustrated” about their experience of buying tickets for Oasis concerts.

“While companies in Ireland are allowed to respond to market demand, there are legitimate concerns over how consumers were treated and we have decided that an in-depth investigation is necessary.

“If we find that consumer protection laws were broken we will take action.”

The UK competition regulator has also launched an investigation into the sale of Oasis tickets

Dynamic pricing is when a charge varies according to market demand, rather than having a fixed cost.

Ticketmaster has said it does not set prices and that it is down to the “event organiser” who “has priced these tickets according to their market value”.

In a statement to PA Media, Oasis hit out at how ticket sales have been handled and said they had “at no time had any awareness that dynamic pricing was going to be used” in the sale of tickets for the initial dates.

A number of Fianna Fáil senators and TDs (Irish MPs) are seeking to introduce legislation in Ireland that would ban ‘dynamic pricing’.