So – did anybody work out what the difference between the £20 and £45 tickets was?

Had a great day, regardless of the price, but was just curious what the justification for the two tier pricing was.

There were no ticket checks once you left the main entrance, so I don’t think there were any difference in the tickets. I feel a bit robbed too, but I still had a great day.

same here, really enjoyed it but can’t see why some tickets were cheaper

I enjoyed it to day, but it still doesn’t take away the fact that I’ve been mugged. Oh well I’m sure they needed the extra money, for something very important!

Was more annoyed that we had to pour all our sealed drinks away so we were forced to buy overpriced Coke and water!

costs a lot to remove rocks to make the course safe for mortals use

There was free water fountains for those who could be arsed to wait in the queue. We were there early so got our bottles filled before the race started.

Although I do feel slightly annoyed the more expensive tickets didn’t mean anything I would have paid that amount regardless as I just wanted to go. Lucky my dad had a discount for being over 60 which he split with me so they worked out £30 each which is not so bad.

See it this way:
£20 bought you a small chance of getting tickets, £45 bought you a much higher chance…….
If you’d have only been happy paying £20 when you signed up, you probably would have enjoyed the Essex sun!

DrP

My wife asked if we could go into the stand with our tickets, she was told they didn’t have time to build a stand for spectators yet despite selling tickets for it and we could have the money back on the website…not found how yet.

Must be the worst organised olympic event? 7 water taps for 20,000 people?

akak – 3 water taps between 2 here, but then again I watched it on TV 😉

We were told same. Supposed to be grandstand’s for £45 ticket holders but they never materialised.

We were told to complain after the event for a refund.

Apart from that I thought the events were amazing – both on and off the Olympic park.

I’ve asked about it on the ‘Contact Us’ bit on the ticketing website, if i get an answer i’ll post it up.

Here’s the link if anyone wants it
http://tickets.london2012.custhelp.com/app/ask

I went Saturday with 2 £45 tickets (no choice), but would have paid that as I thought it was a great day out. Mate from work went yesterday and was told you could get a refund from the website if you had the £45 tickets. I haven’t tried yet.

I had the same with Paceman – didn’t bother me much though as it was a really special day.

Was terribly disappointed for liam killeen and the british fans as i am convinced he could have moved up the field had he stayed on the bike – probably his last olympics.

DC

We asked about this yesterday was told that a refund is being offered via the website, not checked it out yet but, when/if I find it will post details. Apart from that it was an excellent event with an awesome race not too fussed about paying £45 but when’s there’s money back on offer I’m in!

See it this way:
£20 bought you a small chance of getting tickets, £45 bought you a much higher chance…….
If you’d have only been happy paying £20 when you signed up, you probably would have enjoyed the Essex sun!

DrP

Didn’t say I didn’t enjoy it – just my inquisitive nature trying to explain illogical circumstances.

I applied for the more expensive tickets in the original ballot – and indicated that I’d take the cheaper ones, if they were the only option – no tickets forthcoming. 🙁
Tried again when the second round of tickets came up – site crashed 3 minutes after it opened, never to be seen again. 😡
Finally got my ticket in the last release (1 year and 2 months after my original application), but was unable to order a ticket for each day ❓ , or know that I’d actually bought the one that I did order until I’d waited for 15 minutes 🙄

Despite all of this, I consider myself lucky to have had the opportunity to go at all, as I know of only two other people who got tickets to any Olympic event. It was a fantastic day out and a bit of an eye-opener to see the physical and technical ability of top-level riders at such close quarters.

Maybe I’m being optimistic to expect any kind of logic behind the ticket prices, considering the very strange arrangements behind the ticketing process in general. 😳

I applied for the £20 ticket and didn’t get one, did anyone who bid low get one?

I think that was the main difference… Bid low, don’t get a ticket…

probably his last olympics

Why? At 34 he’ll still be well in there, no one looking to eclipse him yet!

I think that was the main difference… Bid low, don’t get a ticket…

Of course it wasn’t, although there was obviously an element of that, there was meant to be a difference, there wasn’t, you can claim the money back. To be honest, I will, £100 extra for 4 tickets.

I had a great time though, didn’t make a blind bit of difference to my enjoyment, and won’t have done even if I can’t get a refund.

<takes notice>

I’ve also entered a complaint via the link above. The guy at the information desk at the race on Sat told us to submit a complaint and that we’d be contacted regarding a refund.

I paid £45 (x2) and to be honest I don’t regret it, refund or no refund. It was in one of the later rounds of tickets and I was just grateful to get something finally. I can write it off as being more like the Ryanair pricing model of “we’ll sell some seats cheap and some identical ones will be more expensive once those have gone”. But I’ll be keeping an eye on it and may claim a refund if it looks like a simple process.

Have also registered a complaint via the link above. On the whole I really enjoyed the day and thought the course was very well thought out. The queues for the water were very long but we found a tap at the base of Daine’s Hill which was unmarked and no-one had discovered and filled up OK. A very long line soon formed behind us…

I’ll keep an eye on this thread…

I wonder when they knew the grandstands weren’t coming and why they didn’t email people and give them an instant cashback to their visa card?

For reference the Val D’Isere world cup round had no entry fee for a two day event, free chairlift and offered DH, XC and trials. 😉

Having said that I would have bought tickets and loved the race on the TV.

i have also sent a complaint.

dont hold out any hope.

Let us know how the refund request goes. It was worth £45, a great day, but I won’t pass on a £25 refund if available.

Because the aluminium extrusion manufacturer next to us at work simply ran out of time making the grandstands.

I just got a reply:

Thank you for your enquiry regarding the pricing of tickets for Cycling – Mountain Bike at the Olympic Games.

Tickets for general admission/standing were sold at £45, with a limited number of £20 tickets also available in that category, based on our commitment to provide a number of £20 tickets in at least one session of every sport at the Olympic Games. The tickets priced at £20 sold out very quickly, and the remainder were priced at £45. All our literature regarding these events clearly advised this.

We are therefore unable to issue refunds to customers who paid £45.

Was this an attempt to make events more afforadable for people with less disposable income ?

Or was it just a way of trying to guarantee a certain level of crowd attendance ?

Pretty surprised by that, I’m not aware of any other event where you don’t get anything for paying more, and I would fiercely dispute the fact that’s made clear!

Ah well, if folk weren’t happy paying £45 they should have just opted for the £20 ones!

Just a bit annoyed by this. If there are some tickets for £20, and some at £45, the implication is the more expensive ones ‘are better’. That’s how it works anywhere else. Does the sales of good act apply to the Olympics?
As has been said, I had a great time, but I don’t like being conned.

Thats crap. I paid more to get more, to be told later Id get a refund from the woman on the gate.

Where is my MP ?

Yes, sounded like BS to me also. I’ve replied asking for confirmation of which events had no difference between the £20 and other tickets, and also confirmation that there was not supposed to be a grandstand… 😀

I’m not too bothered as I enjoyed the event a lot, but I don’t like being fibbed to.

bottom right hand corner of this page – temporary grandstands!

http://www.teamgb.com/summer-sports/cycling-mountain-bike

Does the freedom of information act apply to LOCOG? Maybe some info hidden away somewhere.
How much is a small claims action? Do we club together?

Edit, No, it doesn’t come under FofI.

Pretty surprised by that, I’m not aware of any other event where you don’t get anything for paying more, and I would fiercely dispute the fact that’s made clear!

Ah well, if folk weren’t happy paying £45 they should have just opted for the £20 ones!

Airlines? most people on the plane paid something different.
Hotels

They said they would provide a number of £20 tickets, they did. To clarify would people at the sold out event have been happier if everyone had paid £20 or £45?

I don’t recall it saying anywhere that there was no difference between the two tickets. I tried to buy at the first ballot, and there was no mention that I recall saying that.
I would be happier if everyone paid the same, since we all got the same view. if everyone paid £45, I wouldn’t be moaning that they cost too much.

Airlines? most people on the plane paid something different.
Hotels

I said: “Pretty surprised by that, I’m not aware of any other event where you don’t get anything for paying more, and I would fiercely dispute the fact that’s made clear!”

As in Olympic Event… But thank you for your 100% irrelevant and unrelated examples. Pints of milk and the price of petrol could also have been used, well done.

I don’t recall it saying anywhere that there was no difference between the two tickets. I tried to buy at the first ballot, and there was no mention that I recall saying that.

Agreed. If that was the reason then fine, but clear it was not, hence why everyone’s just finding out now, and them coming back with a slightly prickly response saying “we did say this very clearly” is a bit poor I say.

Singapore Grand Prix, you can get up to 30% off by booking early.

I think the ticketing at the Olympics was criminal – asking you to apply for tickets with no clear idea of where the seats were and no idea of how many tickets were on sale in total or in each price category. On balance seeing 9 laps of box hill for nothing, it’s hard to complain about value for money there.

and another reply…

Thank you for your email.

We can confirm that this information was on page 27 of our Ticketing guides and was applicable on time of purchasing tickets.

There was no plans for the grandstand to ever be there.

We hope this information has been useful. Please get in touch if you have any further questions.

Best wishes,
Josh on behalf of The London 2012 Ticketing Team.

barstewards 😐 oh well