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Fan fury: inflated Adele tickets hit scalping websites within minutes

Adele said touring wasn't something she was totally comfortable with.

Adele said touring wasn't something she was totally comfortable with. Photo: Getty

Adele fans have accused Ticketmaster and Ticketek of incompetence after tickets hit resale sites for as much as $5000 within minutes of going on sale.

Days after Jerry Seinfeld fans complained of unfair ticket scalping, herds of Adele fans said the websites of Australia’s ticketing duopoly had crashed – leaving them facing the option of paying up to nine times the original price.

Frustrated fans took to Twitter and Facebook to voice their anger, with some claiming Ticketek had taken their money without providing them tickets.

Others slammed the provider’s customer service, saying they couldn’t get through on the phone despite trying up to 50 times.

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Even the announcement of surprise second shows for Adele’s Melbourne and Brisbane legs couldn’t meet the demand.

Ticketek is handling Adele’s 2017 Sydney and Adelaide concerts, while Ticketmaster has the rights to the singer’s Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth gigs.

In a statement to The New Daily, Ticketmaster denied its website had crashed, despite hundreds of angry users complaining they could either not load the page or it was being unresponsive.

The seller did not respond to questions regarding the on-selling of tickets on sites such as Viagogo, Queen of Tickets and The Ticket Merchant.

At its busiest on Monday, Ticketmaster said it had handled 90,000 fans searching for Melbourne Adele tickets and 105,000 fans searching for Brisbane tickets.

Ticketek meanwhile was hounded by fans complaining of various glitches and faults.

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The soulful singer has spoken out against scalping in the past. Photo: Getty

“Thanks Ticketek, I had four A reserve floor tickets in my basket and the site wouldn’t let me pay … then the site crashed and they were gone,” wrote one user.

“My bank account shows you took the money for tickets but I haven’t received an email confirmation and when I try to access the site to check my order history it is still busy and I can’t login,” said another.

Ticketmaster hails its ‘sophisticated technology’

Ticketmaster was upbeat about its performance, despite saying could not questions about the prevalence of BOTs (automated computer programs that buy tickets just for scalping) until its specialist team in the US had investigated it.

“Our sophisticated technology helped to ensure that the tickets we sold ended up in the hands of real fans,” a spokesperson said on Monday.

But the seller’s Twitter presence throughout Monday morning confirmed its website was struggling to keep up with demand.

On Monday evening, Adele tickets had not yet hit Ticketmaster Resale, but reseller Viagogo had 140,000 users searching for the British singer’s Australian gigs.

Tickets to the singer’s Perth show at Domain were listed for up to $5665 for a pair, despite premium tickets originally selling for a maximum of $308.

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Ten-time Grammy winner Adele has been very vocal in her stance against scalpers in the past, to the extent that in 2015 her management teamed up with music website Songkick in order to weed out scalpers.

Songkick handled 40 per cent of the singer’s British sales and blocked 53,000 sales believed to be scalpers.

“We have done everything within our power to get as many tickets as possible in the hands of the fans who have waited for years to see her live,” Adele’s manager Jonathan Dickins said in a press release last year.

Adele’s Australian tour dates:

February 28 – Domain Stadium, Perth
March 4 – The Gabba, Brisbane
March 5 – The Gabba, Brisbane (New show)
March 10 – ANZ Stadium, Sydney
March 13 – Adelaide Oval, Adelaide
March 18 – Etihad Stadium, Melbourne
March 19 – Etihad Stadium, Melbourne (New Show)

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