Fans lose out to touts for Eminem refunds

Opportunistic ticket touts had "scalped" concert-goers for a second time by claiming refunds for tickets sold to Eminem fans, director of consumer affairs Carmel Foley has said.

Fans who bought tickets online from Ticketmaster or its authorised outlets for the American artist's cancelled Slane concert will be reimbursed, either directly to their credit cards or by presenting the ticket at the shop where it was bought.

However, those who bought tickets from touts or through on-line auctions were unlikely to see any refund because the touts would have already been reimbursed, Ms Foley said.

"Ticketmaster cannot make a second repayment when the current holder seeks a repayment."

Fans who had paid multiples of the ticket's €68 face value would have no redress because the Ticketmaster contract was with the original buyer.

"Not only have these touts scalped people once, for every six tickets they bought they will get €400 back into their bank accounts."

She was glad "genuine" fans who bought directly from Ticketmaster would not be out of pocket. "The bitter experience of fans who have lost out is a caution to consumers who are willing to purchase tickets for high profile events from any source, regardless of the implications or cost."

A Ticketmaster spokesman said the company tried to stop touts by limiting the number of tickets that could be bought for any event. If fans bought from non-official sources, "that's their own problem", he said.

One industry source said that in theory those holding tickets which were not bought from Ticketmaster could take them to any Ticketmaster outlet where they could be scanned to determine whether they had been bought with a credit card or from an outlet for cash.

If they had been bought in a shop for cash, the shop could then be identified and the holder could then seek a refund from that particular outlet.

Fine Gael sports spokesman Jimmy Deenihan TD said a Fine Gael Bill proposing tougher penalties for touts could have prevented Eminem fans from bring "ripped off".