Outraged Adele fans have expressed their displeasure with Ticketmaster, accusing the company of treating early ticket buyers as “unfair and exploitative” in a petition.
Frustrated fans have taken action by starting a petition on Change.org to highlight concerns regarding ticket sales for Adele’s series of shows in Munich, Germany — dubbed “Adele in Munich” — which begin Friday night.
During 10 shows, the “Rolling In the Deep” hitmaker will sing her greatest hits in front of a total of 740,000 fans at the Munich Messe, a stadium built specifically for her residency in the city.
However, some fans claimed that they were victims of “unfair and exploitative ticketing practices” by Ticketmaster, Live Nation and Leutgeb Entertainment Group when they purchased tickets for Adele’s concert.
In the petition titled “Exposing the SCAM: Ticketmaster, LiveNation & Leutgeb mismanaging Adele’s Munich concert” — which is now nearing its 1,000 signature goal — concerns have been raised regarding ticket prices, with some fans claiming that early ticket buyers were charged higher prices than later ticket buyers.
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“During the pre-sale, fans were systematically misled through deceptive practices and false scarcity. After being asked to register for a queue link and wait for hours, early buyers were given overpriced tickets, often spaced far apart,” the petition states.
After the initial release, many discounted seats in prime locations were said to have become available. The petition alleges that claims made during pre-registration that demand would exceed supply of tickets were a tactic to force quick purchases.
“This strategy not only disadvantages early buyers, but also exposes pre-sale as a blatant scam,” the article reads.
Another issue arises when fans have difficulty trying to transfer or resell tickets — a feature typically supported by ticketing platforms.
Expressing their concerns, they highlighted the plight of many ticket holders who were unable to attend Adele’s concert and sought to resell their premium pre-sale tickets.
READ MORE: Adele angrily responds with profanity to homophobic booer on residency show
“Organizers have blocked the option to transfer or resell these tickets, preventing holders from recovering their costs. This has led to increased fraud on platforms like Facebook and eBay,” the petition states.
“Despite numerous requests from buyers, organizers only recently announced that these features would be/are accessible a week before the show — information that was not disclosed at the time of purchase,” the post continued. “This delay leaves ticket holders feeling betrayed and misled, as Ticketmaster failed to deliver the advertised service on time and now they face the possibility of financial loss so close to the show.”
It was eventually announced that the final tickets would be sold for 35 euros ($38) via a spontaneous “lucky lottery” method to avoid a sellout, as it would be difficult to sell them all.
The petition claims that as a “final insult, tickets are being sold at [€35]not because, as Klaus Leutgeb claims, they think about fans who can’t afford tickets — the organizers don’t care about that — but because otherwise many seats would remain empty.”
The petitioners called it “a huge slap in the face to all those who have paid the ridiculous prices before”.
“Promoters are ignoring legitimate criticism and blocking those who publicly expose these injustices,” the petition alleges. “This mismanagement has led to widespread discontent and significant financial and emotional stress, raising concerns about the transparency, fairness and integrity of the ticketing process. Some fans are even hoping to cancel because they feel exploited and deceived.”
According to the petitioners, they want Ticketmaster, Live Nation, and Leutgeb Entertainment Group to “address and remedy the unfair, non-transparent, and exploitative treatment of early buyers who overpaid, issue full refunds to defrauded fans, and immediately enable resale for safe and fair ticket transfers.”
One person who signed the petition commented: “I bought tickets on the first day of pre-sale for 289 euros ($316) each, seats are very limited.”
She continued, “Then more tickets were added, better seats, and cheaper tickets. How could that be, when they weren’t sold in advance? Putting the most loyal and motivated fans at a disadvantage. It’s disappointing.”
Another said, “I had 2 tickets – I paid almost 600 euros ($656) for each. My flight was cancelled, I couldn’t get there so I missed the show and didn’t lose too much money.”
“Concert tickets are too expensive and ticketing companies are unfair,” wrote a third. “They need to be brought to justice.”
Adele and Ticketmaster have yet to officially respond to the allegations.
READ MORE: Adele’s Munich shows in jeopardy after final rehearsals cancelled, intensive training for European residency
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