Un-Fair Trading? Mardi Gras Party under investigation
The disgruntled cries of ticket-holders to this year’s Mardi Gras Party have reached the ears of the NSW Fair Trading Commissioner who will investigate possible violations of Consumer Law.
Thousands of furious attendees who missed headline acts after queuing for hours outside the main venue, have voiced their dismay through social media, to Mardi Gras, and to authorities.
Highly publicised guest performances by Dua Lipa, Sam Smith, and Kesha were all scheduled to take place inside the Hordern Pavilion, which has a stated capacity of 5,500 people.
Mardi Gras has confirmed that 10,000 tickets were sold for the multi-venue party which meant that at any one time, only half the number of attendees would have been permitted inside the Hordern Pavilion.
The Fair Trading Commissioner, Rose Webb, is examining whether promotion for the party, in particular for the three headline acts, led ticket buyers to believe they would have reasonable access to the shows.
Commissioner Web will consider whether sufficient notification was given advising ticket buyers that there was no guarantee they’d see all or any of the star-billed shows.
In previous years, the party venues included the Royal Hall of Industries which could accommodate several thousand people and normally hosted headline acts. It was not available this year and the next largest venue, Max Watts only has a capacity of 1500 people.
Mardi Gras released a statement on their website apologising to the the thousands of party-goers who were angry and disappointed about conditions at the party.
Star Observer contacted Mardi Gras for comment and was advised they were still gathering information and feedback.
Mardi bla bla. All that glitters is not gold. Stopped attending decades ago once it became nothing more than a corporate sponsored tourist attraction. It takes more and a dazzling light show to make a good party. Why anyone would pay hundreds of dollars to queue to get in, queue for over priced drinks, queue for toilets, be intimated by authoritarian security and police, and be surrounded by way too many people on too many shit drugs is beyond my understanding.
It’s misleading & deceptive conduct to oversell at this level, buyers of these expensive tickets expect to see the acts they were told would be performing for them. Section 52 of Trade Practices Act.
How ridiculous. You’re buying a ticket to a party, not a concert.