A concert-goer expecting a VIP experience says she instead got a view blocked by stage equipment, a spot surrounded by 'hot sweaty people' and a fight.
Sarah Taylor said her trip to watch Ne-Yo in Manchester has left her not wanting to come back to the venue for an event after she forked out almost £300 for VIP tickets at the Bowlers Exhibition Centre last Wednesday for a gig she had spent months looking forward to. The 30-year-old had bought the tickets for herself, mum Jane Mincher, 59, and sister Emma Taylor, 32, as a late birthday present for her mum which did not live up to expectation.
The trio travelled from the Prestatyn area of Wales to the Trafford Park venue where they were promised queue jump, a private bar and a clear view from the front - none of which they say happenend.
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“It was just awful,” the stay-at-home mum said. “It has put me off coming to Manchester again for an event [at the BEC].”
Excited to see one of their favourite performers, they arrived at 5pm and went into the VIP section at 6pm, which they quickly discovered had a view blocked by stage equipment. They then paid £18 for the pleasure of three Strongbow Dark Fruits and were left in sweltering conditions until 9.30 when Ne-Yo finally came out - by which time they’d had enough.
“As we are standing there in shock we see all the people from general admission that paid less than us run to the front of the stage,” Sarah said. “We were standing there in disbelief thinking that should be us there, instead we were boxed off to the left hand side nowhere near the stage, nevermind the front!
“All we had was a big screen in front of us with lots of obstruction in the way, we couldn’t even see the stage. We stood there from 6pm till 9.30pm.
“There were hot sweaty people so close to you that we couldn't move, we were using our tickets to fan ourselves down. It was just ridiculous!
“There was a fight in the vip section, security came barging through and removed a couple of girls. We were so close to leaving we decided to move towards the back where the VIP entrance was because people were literally squashing us.”
The VIP ticket was £40 more expensive than general admission and Sarah believes they got a worse deal, something production company Geestar Empire has apologised for.
Tired and aching from standing for so long, the group were ‘glad it was over’ when they came out and made their way home. It was only when Sarah went online to complain about their experience that she said she was truly ‘disgusted’ by Geestar’s customer service where she was quickly blocked by their Facebook page.
Responding to a Sarah's complaint, put to the by the MEN, a spokesperson for Geestar said: “Geestar is very disappointed to hear of a customer’s experience at our event. This falls well below our usual excellent standards and appears to have happened due to a miscommunication with the venue, who did not make proper provision for a small number of VIP ticket holders.
“We are talking to the venue, as we are concerned about this and will make sure proper measures are put in place before we next work with them again. We are also speaking with the customer as we look to make amends for what happened.
“Regarding the second matter, our social media manager made a decision to block a customer on Twitter without approval from management, they have now been unblocked.”
Sarah explained that she was offered a refund or a ticket to Ne-Yo’s next show in London tomorrow - but Geestar were not willing to offer her accomodation for travel expenses to get there. This was something the mum-of-three described as an ‘impossible task’ given her family commitments.
The group had been to a Ne-Yo concert in Liverpool back in 2009 that they loved.
Bowlers Exhibition Centre has been approached for a comment.
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