The number of complaints to Hong Kong’s consumer watchdog over misprinted Coldplay concert passes has reached 25, despite the company selling the tickets promising to refund its handling fees and expand support services to two locations in mainland China.
The Consumer Council updated that tally on Sunday at 11am, an increase from the 17 received by 7pm last night regarding ticket exchanges for Coldplay’s shows at Kai Tak Stadium next month.
The watchdog said it would urge Cityline to arrange an exchange service as soon as possible to “protect the rights and interests of affected consumers”, and encouraged consumers to file complaints either online or by phone call.
Cityline, the ticketing platform for the British pop band’s concerts, earlier admitted that an error had occurred as some standing tickets priced at HK$1,399 (US$180) had “VIP-FLORIS” printed on the bottom right corner, which referred to a more expensive tier.
The pop band will play Kai Tak Stadium on April 8, 9, 11 and 12 as part of its “Music of the Spheres” world tour.
The company earlier said fans would need to exchange their tickets at one of seven locations in Hong Kong between March 24 and April 7, and that the previous tickets would be deemed invalid.
An exchange service would also be available on the concert days but Cityline “strongly advised” people to sort their tickets in advance to avoid long queues.
But affected customers, many of whom are not from Hong Kong, expressed concerns on social media that it would require time and money to travel to the specified locations to exchange their tickets.
Cityline followed up with another statement on Saturday night that it would add two new exchange locations in Shenzhen and Guangzhou and refund its customer service fee.
It added that the company was studying the possibility of a mail-based exchange service and would announce further details soon.
On RedNote, a popular social media platform on the mainland, more than 100 ticket holders and fans expressed their disappointment and called for remedies in posts on Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Rosanna Law Shuk-pui’s account.
Many comments appeared to be copied and pasted from the same text, as some fans called for collective efforts to get the attention of Hong Kong authorities, while others shared their confusion regarding the ticketing situation.
“I bought four tickets in one order and gave three to my friends living abroad, who will fly in for the concert on that day. Can I get my ticket exchanged first? Cityline asked me to exchange all tickets in one order at the same time,” one user wrote.
“I paid someone 60 yuan [US$7.71] to get a second-hand ticket from one district in Guangzhou to another. Now you are telling me I need to return the old ticket and get a new one? Who will afford the extra fee back and forth?” another said.
Tickets for the three originally announced shows went on sale in October, selling out within minutes. Some passes quickly reappeared on resale platforms such as Carousell and Facebook Marketplace, going for several times their original price.
Organisers later announced a fourth Hong Kong show in response to the strong demand.
The recent mishap is not the first time Cityline has attracted complaints over its ticket handling.
Last month, the council said it received at least nine complaints related to the purchase of ComplexCon tickets, involving HK$39,479 in total, as fans complained that a glitch in the online purchasing process had changed the dates they wanted.
The organiser of the pop culture festival also said there were “suspected anomalies” linked to online sales for the highly anticipated performance by K-pop girl group NJZ, formerly NewJeans, with new ticketing arrangements being put in place.
But Cityline denied there had been any system irregularities involving the sale.