Where do I stand?

Soldato
Joined
17 Feb 2009
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3,001
Excuse the long winded post but thoughts would be appreciated.

An event called "Festival 24" took place this saturday 2nd of June. It was meant to be a 24 hour house music festival in Radlett. However, i'm starting to believe it was mainly a scam. There is a facebook page for it, and you'll see hundreds of complaints on it from what i'll explain happened.

First of all, the event was held in Radlett at a "Swingers" house, these are common apparently around here for swinging events. They have a website and it states up to 300 people. Now, when my girlfriend and I went to buy some tickets from this girl in south london, all was well paid cash "last minute to go kinda thing", and the girl said before we went and I quote "I probably shouldn't tell you this, but we over sold the event", we looked at our ticket and we were around the 1600 mark. We thought nothing of it as most events do over sell sometimes so off we went.

When you picture a festival, you probably all pictured what I thought as a festival ... it was someones back garden literally. Where people set up their tents in the "tent site" it was barely big enough for 10 2-man tents it was pathetic.

When queing outside (which was a shambles as it was, security was so poor) a man walked past with his dog and asked to see someone as he had no idea about the event, and said people were chucking bottles etc in the bushes outside, which they were, loud noises etc.

The whole event was a shambles, the bar ran out of drink by around 10pm (bare in mind this was meant to be a 24 hour festival ... drink ran out after 6 hours) what the hell ... the bar people didn't have a clue what they were doing.

For a 24 hour festival we weren't allowed out then back in for re-entry, what was this, hitlers house?? The website (which you can go have a look at) posted a picture of a massive ti-pi tent that would be there, it was nothing like it, could barely hold 40 people let alone the picture it claimed it was.

By around 8pm the music levels had dropped very noticeably, we went back to our tents to chill, then by 10pm, we heard no music, went outside to see loads more police (police had been there majority of the night, so they obviously knew about it) everyone was getting kicked out, we asked some people what was happening and some of them said "people had tried getting in around 300 people", now i'm sorry but considering how small the place was for this event, we would have heard if 300+ people tried jumping the walls (2 of our friends left earlier then we did, and they saw no one trying to jump in) We asked the police why this was happening very little information was disclosed, but eventually they said the event was over sold, too much noise and they didn't have a late licence for alcohol! How did they expect a 24 hour festival to take place with no late licence, absolutely shocking.

On twitter, they claimed first of all, the police shut the event down, then following that day with a full statement, they claimed that the festival 24 team AND the police had decided to close the event down for safety, which was rubbish, their security lacked etc. So two conflicting stories as well.

On their facebook page, there are hundreds of un happy people who want a refund for obvious reason. There are 3 mobile numbers on the "about page" for the Festival 24 "HQ", funny how two of the numbers don't answer their phones, but one of them does (which is the girl we bought our tickets off) she doesn't reply to texts enquiring about refunds but she answers her phone when it rings, funny that.

Just wondering what to do? I'm not wasting £40, they made a killing probably around the £40,000 profit mark off the festival, the reckon some of the proceeds are going to charity, i'm going to contact the charity to ensure they do get money (if this wasn't a lie).

Furious isn't the word!
 
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seeing as you paid cash and probs have no receipt it will be hard to get anything back.
maybe a call to trading standards or pop in for a free consultation at a solicitors, but i would say you have lost your money really :(
 
seeing as you paid cash and probs have no receipt it will be hard to get anything back.
maybe a call to trading standards or pop in for a free consultation at a solicitors, but i would say you have lost your money really :(

The event was on residentadvisor.com also.

We have texts from the girl regarding the tickets, and pictures (that we took) from the event.
 
The event was on residentadvisor.com also.

We have texts from the girl regarding the tickets, and pictures (that we took) from the event.

but can you prove how many tickets you purchased and at what price?
who is to say you didnt get a mate to go and are using their pictures?

im not saying dont try and persue it, i am just trying to be realistic in te fact cash purchases without reciepts will make it hard.

i would deffo give trading standards a ring.
 
unfortunatly sounds like a no hoper unless like someone has said a receipt was given. if you had paid online thru CC then u may of had some comeback thru the CC company

but cash fronm a girl you dont know house party which was probable illegal

scammed id say .
 
unfortunatly sounds like a no hoper unless like someone has said a receipt was given. if you had paid online thru CC then u may of had some comeback thru the CC company

but cash fronm a girl you dont know house party which was probable illegal

scammed id say .

a lot of people still have their tickets (they weren't allowed in)

Also, it was on www.residentadvisor.net and theirs complaints on there too.

I'm not that much worried about the £40, but I just don't want these people allowed to run another event.
 
a lot of people still have their tickets (they weren't allowed in)

Also, it was on www.residentadvisor.net and theirs complaints on there too.

I'm not that much worried about the £40, but I just don't want these people allowed to run another event.

maybe the webite should remove all advert for the people who set it up can you contact them?

maybe even citezens advice hate scammers its ridiculous they are allowed to do it in the first place
 
Oh, the girl replied to my text "Please go to festival 24 website".

I replied that it was un acceptable and you know it is, i'll be going to trading standards.

She replied "ok" to this.

Eurgh, clearly doesn't care ffs.
 
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Oh, the girl replied to my text "Please go to festival 24 website".

I replied that it was un acceptable and you know it is, i'll be going to trading standards.

whatever you do, be polite in ALL communications with them, especially if it is via text or any other form that can be used in court against you.
 
So the money is going to charity but you're still willing to sue them?!
From your aggresive comments on Facebook, suggest you calm down a bit and chalk it down to experience. Scam events like this happen all the time, suggest in future, buying from official ticket agencies for official events - V Festival, IOW, Reading etc to avoid disappointment.
 
I am a music promoter, and would never dream of doing cash sales like this, except for on the door at the event. All of our ticket sales run through SeeTickets, The Ticket Sellers and We Got Tickets, this way it's peace of mind for us and the customer.

We use dedicated and licensed venues and stick to curfews though.
Outdoor events cost a lot of money to run right, you have a lot of red tape too. Next year we are looking at running our first open air event. It's going to be hard work!
 
Right, so someone from the company called me asking what my problems were etc.

She basically is calling me a liar, and statements from the police about them overselling (which is so obvious) and no late licence so she's saying the statements from the police are not true.

So angry right now, how can she think the police and myself are lieing, i said i want a full refund for everyone that attended, she said i'll give you an email you can log your complaints to. WHAT HAVE I JUST DONE!
 
Right, so someone from the company called me asking what my problems were etc.

She basically is calling me a liar, and statements from the police about them overselling (which is so obvious) and no late licence so she's saying the statements from the police are not true.

So angry right now, how can she think the police and myself are lieing, i said i want a full refund for everyone that attended, she said i'll give you an email you can log your complaints to. WHAT HAVE I JUST DONE!

you need to stop communicating with the company before you say something that could be used a slander.
go to the local CAB office, and even the police station and see if they would would supply you with a letter to backup your claims.
 
Yeah dude and you need to chill out about nitrous oxide too, that stuff is hella good fun and much safer than alcohol.
 
So you bought a ticket (Or more than 1) To an house music event that was being held at a residential address (OK That could be classed as house, maybe they were playing garage at the local BP Station) without checking up first? Ticket 1600 at a residential address wasnt ringing alarm bells for you? I know people with biiig gardens and they would be struggling to fit half that many people in let alone supply alcohol and play house music for 24 hours..

Take it on the chin and do a bit of research next time dont take the word of "Some Girl" you met that was selling tickets at a house party..
 
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