Sziget 2012

[eFestivals]

Really? Why? Always worked well for me!

The official site isn't safe? What?

It's a site that registered to an individual in Holland. Nothing about it indicates that it's 'official'.

But even if it is, if the fest goes tits up then your money has most likely gone - whereas if the fest goes tits up you'll get your money back from See Tickets.

[Cristall]

It's a site that registered to an individual in Holland. Nothing about it indicates that it's 'official'.

[eFestivals]

How about the Hungarian site lists it as official website? http://sziget.hu/fes...#United_Kingdom

OK, so it's official.

What I said still stands, that your money is less safe by booking tickets from there. That's an irrefutable fact.

And aside from that, tickets bought via See help efests pay the bills. If we can't pay the bills then the forums you're enjoying using won't be here.

[Cristall]

Where does See say you get your money back in case the fest goes bankrupt?

[eFestivals]

Where does See say you get your money back in case the fest goes bankrupt?

No idea, but I'm sure it does somewhere. It's certainly the case that your purchase is insured and you get your mponey back from them if a festival goes under - that's certainly happened in every single case i know about.

And similarly in every single case I know about, where tickets have been purchased directly from a fest, the money has not been refunded if it's gone under.

[Cristall]

I’ve e-mailed info@szigetfest.co.uk and got this answer:

---

Dear Chris,

Our site unsafe? That’s nonsense!

Szigetfest.co.uk is the official website for UK and Ireland, which can be checked on the website of our Hungarian colleagues: http://sziget.hu/festival_english/ticket/ticket_vendors_in_europe

The webshop we embedded on our page has a safe ‘ https://’ address, which means all data is encrypted. You can check that by opening the frame in a separate page, then you’ll see this address: https://frontoffice.paylogic.nl/flows/HD8PauZgJF7u1/Tickets/

Szigetfest.co.uk is legally part of Ostfest Ltd., a promotion and ticket selling company hired by Sziget. All Sziget ticket sellers have the same contract with Sziget, meaning their clients will receive back almost all of their money in case of cancellation of the event. In the very unlikely case Sziget will be cancelled, this means Sziget is obliged to pay back at least 95% of their money.

Kind regards,

Martijn

[eFestivals]

I didn't say "unsafe". I said "less safe".

I said "less safe" on the basis that it's an official site or unofficial site. It turns out that it's not really either but is instead a ticket agent's site.

Whether or not it lives up to those claims you'll get to find out if there's a problem. It remains the case that See will definitely live up to what I've claimed, and there's no cross-border issues or differences in law (and the expectations which come with that) which might end up disappointing some if there were to be a problem.

And I'll just point out that even UK-based ticket agents have gone bust and via that caused people to lose their purchase money. With See being the UK's biggest ticket agent and owned by a huge corportation (I forget which now, it changed hands last year) it's far less likely to happen with them than it is with others.

All ticket agents are not the same. At the end of the day you get what you pay for.

[vinny73]

A mate of mine who is pretty reliable for festival news. He's heard they play their last European Show on the 8th Aug in Norway before coming home to the UK for V Fest headline slot the week after. I said to him that Tuesday the 7th is more likely surely but he's adamant that it will be the monday 6th. Either way it will be one or the other it seems.

If I end up going I'll be going on the 7th so I hope he's wrong put it that way.

[jmcevoy2]

I didn't say "unsafe". I said "less safe".

I said "less safe" on the basis that it's an official site or unofficial site. It turns out that it's not really either but is instead a ticket agent's site.

Whether or not it lives up to those claims you'll get to find out if there's a problem. It remains the case that See will definitely live up to what I've claimed, and there's no cross-border issues or differences in law (and the expectations which come with that) which might end up disappointing some if there were to be a problem.

And I'll just point out that even UK-based ticket agents have gone bust and via that caused people to lose their purchase money. With See being the UK's biggest ticket agent and owned by a huge corportation (I forget which now, it changed hands last year) it's far less likely to happen with them than it is with others.

All ticket agents are not the same. At the end of the day you get what you pay for.

[eFestivals]

It seems you've gone from arguing that See will be a safer option to other vague arguments on the basis that if people buy from See, eFestivals gets some commission. If you said this from the start rather than disguising it as a kind gesture so ticket buyers were safer, I'd be more inclined to buy from See. However, definitely going to go for the cheaper option haha

Buy from where you want. The consequences of where you buy from are yours and never mine.

I simply laid out the facts about the risks associated with any ticket purchase, and that a presumption of safety - and a presumption was all anyone had and still has - is not safety. Even after the 'assurance' in that email, there's no greater assurance; after all, no seller is going to say "buying from us is a risk" if that's the fact of the matter, are they?

Without a person knowing for sure how a refund might be fulfilled or not, words are only words. In the 12 years I've been running this site I've seen countless people lose probably millions of pounds due to both festivals and ticket agents going under - and in every case they no doubt had the same presumption of safety in their transaction as you might do here, but that presumption was misplaced.

The comment about efests getting a commission on sales that we drive thru See was an aside to all of that. We link to See primarily not because of that commission but because we'd prefer people to be able to trust where they make their purchase from. Each time someone losses money because of a failing fest the viability of the whole festival scene is undermined - and this website exists because of my love of festivals and not because I saw a business opportunity (as the unrecovered losses from the first five years of tghe existance of this site gets to prove).

This site only still exists because I was foolish enough to fund it with hundreds of thousands of pounds from my own pocket (as well as the pockets of some now-gone investors). If it goes tits up because the likes of you want to save yourself 50p or whatever it is by using that other site I won't be crying one jot, I'll have had somer great fun and lost nothing I hold dear. The same isn't true for the likes of you who are here only for your own pleasure.

[jmcevoy2]

Buy from where you want. The consequences of where you buy from are yours and never mine.

I simply laid out the facts about the risks associated with any ticket purchase, and that a presumption of safety - and a presumption was all anyone had and still has - is not safety. Even after the 'assurance' in that email, there's no greater assurance; after all, no seller is going to say "buying from us is a risk" if that's the fact of the matter, are they?

Without a person knowing for sure how a refund might be fulfilled or not, words are only words. In the 12 years I've been running this site I've seen countless people lose probably millions of pounds due to both festivals and ticket agents going under - and in every case they no doubt had the same presumption of safety in their transaction as you might do here, but that presumption was misplaced.

The comment about efests getting a commission on sales that we drive thru See was an aside to all of that. We link to See primarily not because of that commission but because we'd prefer people to be able to trust where they make their purchase from. Each time someone losses money because of a failing fest the viability of the whole festival scene is undermined - and this website exists because of my love of festivals and not because I saw a business opportunity (as the unrecovered losses from the first five years of tghe existance of this site gets to prove).

This site only still exists because I was foolish enough to fund it with hundreds of thousands of pounds from my own pocket (as well as the pockets of some now-gone investors). If it goes tits up because the likes of you want to save yourself 50p or whatever it is by using that other site I won't be crying one jot, I'll have had somer great fun and lost nothing I hold dear. The same isn't true for the likes of you who are here only for your own pleasure.

[eFestivals]

To be frank I have absolutely no fear about buying from the official UK Sziget site, which is endorsed by the official Hungarian Sziget site, who I'm sure enough wouldn't use a ticket outlet that was untrustworthy/less safe than various other ticket outlets.

while I'm not trying to throw any specific doubt onto that site, that's the exact same point of view as was had with the ticket agents that have failed. You only find out how things really are if/when things turn to shit.

Even more so, I'm confused about the initial debate anyway, as they both seem relatively exactly the same price.

yep - that's very much the case with any different sites. The savings are very minimal, and the losses are massive if you're one of the unlucky ones.

And that's the point I've been making. To some people that 50p saving or whatever it might be is a saving they can't afford to pass up. For anyone with that spare 50p, I'd say they can afford to pay and would be wise to pay for the assurance that comes from buying from a fully trustable out such as See.

But it's your money. Spend it however you like.

'And lost nothing I hold dear'-if this site did go 'tits up' wouldn't you lose the hundreds of thousands of pounds you invested into it? I'm confused about that last statement.

I've already lost that money. This site will never make enough as it's run now to pay it back. It doesn't even make enough to cover minimal wage for the hours I put in.

[jmcevoy2]

while I'm not trying to throw any specific doubt onto that site, that's the exact same point of view as was had with the ticket agents that have failed. You only find out how things really are if/when things turn to shit.

yep - that's very much the case with any different sites. The savings are very minimal, and the losses are massive if you're one of the unlucky ones.

And that's the point I've been making. To some people that 50p saving or whatever it might be is a saving they can't afford to pass up. For anyone with that spare 50p, I'd say they can afford to pay and would be wise to pay for the assurance that comes from buying from a fully trustable out such as See.

But it's your money. Spend it however you like.

I've already lost that money. This site will never make enough as it's run now to pay it back. It doesn't even make enough to cover minimal wage for the hours I put in.

[Cristall]

Placebo will be performing on the 8th and so is Hurts, so they definitely will not both be headliners. Probably only Placebo will be one of the headliners.

[eFestivals]

Ah I would have thought you were making a fair amount from companies such as Virgin advertising on your site, fair enough. Cheers for your help.

the money from advertising and other sources isn't insignificant, but there's expenses including staff to pay. No one is getting rich out of efestivals, I assure you. No one is even making the UK average wage - despite far greater than average hours being worked for that less than average wage.

Anyway, it seems to be the case that everything with sziget.co.uk is above board and that there shouldn't be any reason to worry, so it's all good.

We'll still keep linking to See, because we wish our users to be able to trust the links we give and we know with full certainty that they're trustworthy. That's not us saying others aren't trustworthy, that's us saying we can't know with the same certainty that they are.

[vinny73]

I've purchased tickets from the offical site for the past 3 years. The tickets arrive on pdf format to your inbox within seconds. You simply print them off and bring them with you to exchange for a wristband. You don't have to fret about paper tickets turning up a few days before you travel.

[eFestivals]

As I've said, you only know how things really are when the shit hits the fan. When it's not then of course everything is good.

[jmcevoy2]

Noah and the Whale on the 6th (day 0) according to their site

[AndyBradshaw1]

Noah and the Whale on the 6th (day 0) according to their site

[jmcevoy2]

Yeah, http://www.noahandth...le.com/tour.php .. its the bottom link.

Also, another valid speculation could be Jamiroquai? They played in 09 and touring europe in July..

[AndyBradshaw1]

Well in that case because my 2nd post might carry a bit more credibility, Pearl jam ?

[Cristall]

6 August will be the Monday and the Monday usually doesn't have any international acts... But lots of acts use that date as they don't know exactly what date they'll be performing yet. With many other festivals this is the case too, in case the date is not certain bands just tell what day the festival will start.

[jmcevoy2]

Reckon there'll be another announcement in February?

[vinny73]

Unless anything has radically altered this year, the 6th will be Day -1. The 7th will be Day Zero, and the festival 'proper' will be the five days from Wednesday 8th to Sunday 12th.

[mr_monkey]

good news for people looking to fly, ryanair are now going to budapest

http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/Articles/2012/01/25/39394/ryanair-opens-budapest-routes.html