Ticketmaster UK and their parent company Live Nation UK are running a monopoly on tickets for events within the UK. They are operating some unfair practices which need to stop. Either Live Nation UK and Ticketmaster UK need to be forced to be broken up, or better still, the UK need to regulate the (re)sale of event tickets.

Some examples of how Ticketmaster operate in the UK:-

1. Dynamic pricing. When an event gains interest, Ticketmaster UK artificially inflate the prices of tickets to increase their profit margin.

2. So called Platinum Seating. Ticketmaster UK are now starting to charge more for what they refer to as Platinum Seats which are often closer to the artists. Platinum seats, which are unique to Ticketmaster UK are not always immediately available, and may be re-designated as such if an event is in demand. 
Case in point. Pre-sale tickets for ZZ Top perform at Wembley in July 2024. Cost per ticket for centre block, row 4 (aisle seats) through AXS - £100 per ticket. When Ticketmaster UK started selling their Platinum Tickets for the same event, they were charging £218.65 per ticket for row 10, and £229.20 per ticket for row 9 (increasing the further forward the seats)

3. "Best Seats". When an event goes on sale, there are often times where buyers are not given the opportunity of exact seats. Instead, the option provided by Ticketmaster UK is for "Best Seats". These seats are often NOT the best, and subsequently later in the day when the full venue seating plan is made available on line, it is often the case that you could have chosen better positioned seats, which leads on to the next point.

4. Fan Guarantee "We'll exchange your tickets if you find better ones"... "as long as the new tickets are equal to or higher in price for the same show or event". This is an outright lie. 
Ticketmaster UK in fact will NOT exchange your tickets. What they will instead do is offer you a refund of your original order so that you can purchase new tickets. What they fail to advise is that when they refund you, they will NOT be refunding your fees. Subsequently when you make your next purchase you will be subject to a second set of fees. 
Case in point. I bought "best seats" tickets on pre-sale to Snow Patrol. Later that day, I found better seats (front row of a section) for approximately £5 per ticket more than I paid. I wanted to exchange and was told that exchanges cannot be made. However, I could be refunded which would allow me to purchase better seats. I asked if I would get a 100% refund and was advised that fees would not be refunded. However, I was also told that "exchanges" were not permitted at the time as the event was still in pre-sale. After the pre-sale had finished, I checked for the seats again, and the same two had risen in price by £60 per seat!

5. "We'll refund your money if an event is cancelled. In the unlikely event a show cancels, we'll always give you your money back. Alternatively, we can rebook you into the rescheduled date (if announced) and the timing fits with your plans." Again, this is not completely accurate.
Case in point. American rock band Heart have cancelled their UK/European tour. Ticketmaster sent out an email to say that refunds would be automatically issued. The cost for my two tickets (excluding Missed Event Insurance) was £156.45. I was refunded a total of £142.55. Others have confirmed the same shortfall in their refund amounts for the same.

6. No easy method of contacting Ticketmaster UK. Ticketmaster UK make it extremely difficult, nigh on impossible to contact them. The only way to do so (regarding your order) is to login in to the website, choose your order then click on the option to chat about this order. However, this only presents you with a chat bot that has limited responses to questions. You can click on options to the point where the bot asks "Have I answered your question" whereby you can select "No" and your "case" gets assigned to an agent. From there, you are advised that it will take 12-24 hours for someone to respond, but even then, the only way to respond is by replying to the email (although if you do so, your responses won't be recorded in the chat) or by going back into the chat within the Ticketmaster UK website.

Live Nation UK and Ticketmaster UK need to be bought under control, and need to be held accountable. Currently there is no regulation for ticketing agencies and this has to stop.