The Cure’s Robert Smith gets Ticketmaster to repay fans over high ticket fees
As a gesture of goodwill, Ticketmaster is reissuing small refunds to fans who paid what Smith called ‘unduly high’ service fees
Robert Smith has persuaded Ticketmaster to provide fans with a small refund after the platform added “unduly high” service fees on top of base ticket prices for The Cure’s North American tour.
Earlier this month The Cure announced that tickets to their summer 2023 tour would be non-transferable in a bid to minimise “resale and keep prices at face value”.
Smith, who fronts the British band, added that they were told by Ticketmaster that its Verified Fan platform would reduce scalping by 80 per cent.
But earlier this week Smith took to Twitter to express his disappointment when reports emerged of fans in the Verified Fan sale paying more in service fees than the base ticket price.
Smith wrote online yesterday (16 March) that he was “sickened” by the “ticketmaster ‘fees’ debacle” and vowed to challenge the company on it.
“After further conversation, Ticketmaster have agreed with us that many of the fees being charged are unduly high, and as a gesture of goodwill have offered a $10 per ticket refund to all verified fan accounts for Lowest Ticket Price (‘LTP’) transactions,” he wrote.
Smith continued, saying that all other ticket price transactions through verified fan accounts will receive a $5 per ticket refund for all The Cure shows at all venues. “If you already bought a ticket, you will get an automatic refund; all tickets on sale tomorrow will incur lower fees.”
The Cure said previously that they chose to partner with Ticketmaster because they believed that the platform would be able to combat scalpers and try “to get tickets into the hands of fans at a fair price”.
Shows for the band’s North American tour begin on May 10 in New Orleans and wrap in Florida on July 1. See the full list of dates in the tweet below and head here to buy tickets.
Meanwhile, Noel Gallagher recently shared a remix of High Flying Birds’ ‘Pretty Boy’, which was reworked by Smith.
The new remix is set to feature on the upcoming deluxe limited-edition of Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds’ new album ‘Council Skies’, which arrives on June 2 via Sour Mash.