Mr. Denis Desmond
MCD,
7 Park Rd.,
Dun Laoghaire,
Co. Dublin                                                                                           

 13th August 2007.

 Dear Mr Desmond

Complaints received by the Consumers Association of Ireland about the Barbara Streisand Concert in Celbridge, Co Kildare on July 14th 2007.

As of Friday 10th August we have received 95 complaints regarding 343 ticket holders. These do not include the large number of phone calls to our advice line.
As the organisers of the concert you are no doubt aware of the many difficulties those who attended the concert experienced. Traffic problems, no seating, no ushers or attendants to direct people, concerns about parking are just some of the complaints that resulted in many people missing a part of the show. Many of those who did not miss the show had their enjoyment curtailed by the events going on around them. Others, due to unacceptable delays causing discomfort to elderly ticket holders, were forced to abandon their wait and journey and return home.
According to the complainants to this office, most of their experiences did not tally with your joint statement with Concert Production International, “ that the traffic problems were primarily due to adverse weather conditions which added an extra dynamic to the already difficult driving conditions as a result of major road works on the M50 / N4. And that  those fans who arrived late to the show encountered problems with their designated seating due to a small number of people taking seats which were not assigned to them and refusing to move when requested by authorities”.

1. Seating

Of the 93 complaints, 53 of those recorded problems with their seating. Under the Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act, 1980, the failure to provide for the seat paid for is a breach of contract. We recommend in these cases where there were no seats as per their contract and where they have details of their seats that, as a minimum, they be reimbursed the full value of their loss.  The problem with seating is best summed up by D. S. and M.W..

 “We purchased our tickets on the web on Thursday 12th July and were informed that our ticket numbers were …………….  However, when we entered the arena, we were unable to locate our seating as no such rows existed.  There were no stewards in section A until just prior to 8 pm.  When we enquired about our seating we were told to ‘just sit anywhere’ until it was sorted out”…………. “but it was a joke because you had people walking through the rows going up and down the aisles trying to find their seats arguments took place because when some did manage to find their seats people were already sitting in them and would not move out, it was a total fiasco”

2.Traffic

We have 57 complaints about the traffic problems getting to the venue. Many have disagreed with your statement that this was due to weather and road works. Not a single complainant to this office encountered road works but all, like S. L., noted that there was only one entrance open.

“It took us 2 hours to get from Lucan to the venue - there isn't one roadwork between Lucan and Castletown. The problem was that there was only one entrance gate for all cars which led down a small country lane. There were too many lines of traffic from all directions converging on that gate”

3.Parking

42 concert goers complained about the car parking facilities and that they believed to be, in some cases quite dangerous. This quote from M. W. explains these complaints well;

“The…car park, when the show was over we made our way back to our car to find that: (1) It was badly lit and (2).There were no stewards to direct the traffic out of the car parks and everyone was left to their own devices.  We joined one line of traffic which had not moved in half an hour, the lady behind us suggested we try joining another line which didn’t move either.  We actually ended up spending two and a half hours queuing to get out of the car park.  There were no people to assist and as you can imagine people were very frustrated and not inclined to let people in, in front of them in the queue.  The field was very muddy and cars were getting stuck, it was very nerve wracking. “

 4. Venue problems

This office received 26 complaints about the venue in general. These ranged from poor toilet facilities to the unrealistic cost of refreshments and programmes. Issues such as those raised by A.S., L.R., S.G., M.R.:

“the grounds and paths we had to follow to get there were a health and safety issue”..
“there were no proper lights on the walk way or in many parts of the car park “ ….
“the toilet facilities were woefully inadequate both in terms of the quantity provided   
   to meet demands. and the quality and standard of hygiene.” ………………….
“to add insult to injury they were charging €35 for a programme” ………..

We have the names and address of all the complaints made to us. We have attached a copy of those names.  We have copies of all correspondence received to this office which can be inspected by you should the need arise. We ask that you take all complaints received seriously, and move to ensure that an outcome such as this never occurs again.

With regard to complaints received, we believe that the lack of organisation of the concert was the major factor in these complaints arising and, accordingly, these concert goers should be refunded and compensated for their lack of enjoyment of the concert.

In that context we feel it must be outlined that, in our view, this is one of the worst examples of a failure to deliver the quality of customer service that is purported to exist within this companies culture. Moreover, the reality that consumers can be treated with such disrespect suggests to us a need for a full and detailed audit of your policy of service delivery.
The Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act, 1980 provides for the consumer to expect that:

This, clearly, was not the case in this instance.

The law of contract provides that consumers who accept the offer of a service provider and who bind the contract with the demanded consideration are entitled to a remedy if there is a breach of those terms.

This, clearly, is the case in this instance.

We would be pleased to hear from or meet with you to discuss your own views, deliberations and considerations. Please note that it is our intention to make this report freely available on our website.

Finally, it is our intention only to assist in progressing matters here. We hope that this report assists you in reaching an earlier than anticipated deliberation in favour of your customers than that already indicated. Any further assistance that I or the Consumers’ Association of Ireland can provide is at your disposal.

Yours sincerely,

Dermott Jewell
Chief Executive.