VIAGOGO SELLING OLYMPIC TICKETS ON THE SPANISH MARKET

I have been asked by the site moderator to move my last comments to another thread, so I am repeating them here:

I am guessing this will help the original poster by painting a broader picture of Viagogo.

Once again, I have been in touch with LOCOG who assure me that Aristeia are the official re-sellers for Olympic tickets in Spain and it is perfectly legal for them to re-sell them through the Viagogo Spanish website. Suggest that anyone who wants to confirm this calls LOCOG themselves as I am not prepared to pay another zillion pounds a second to speak to them yet again.

Markland, Nazi collaborators were certainly partners in crime. Please let's not argue this point. The Concise Oxford Dictionary is more knowledgable than both of us put together.
To quote:
"collaborate v.i. work in partnership. collaboration n., collaborator n"

No, the bottom line is that Viagogo now has it's Head Office in Switzerland.  LOCOG links you directly to Aristeia, who in turn link you directly to their OFFICIAL website, hosted by Viagogo.  How much more official do you want it to be?

They have chosen to ... [Incident: deleted]‏
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Subject
I understand ARISTEIA are the official re-sellers in Spain. They have chosen to ...

Discussion Thread
Response Via Email (deleted) 07/06/2012 (deleted)

Dear (deleted)
Thank you for your email.

We can confirm that we are aware of Aristeia's partnership with Viagogo.sp and that they have not breached any of the rules set out for Authorised Ticket Reseller's.

We hope this information has been useful. Please get in touch if you have any further questions.

Best wishes,
(deleted) on behalf of The London 2012 Ticketing Team.
Customer By Web Form (deleted) 03/06/2012 09:36 AM
I understand ARISTEIA are the official re-sellers in Spain. They have chosen to sell the tickets through Viagogo Spain (NOT Viagogo UK) and tickets appear on the Viagogo Spanish website, although they are not on the Viagogo UK website. Is this legal?

Above is a copy of the email I sent to LOCOG and their response.

For me, it is in black and white that nobody is operating illegally. Obviously there is one other person on this forum who will decide to disagree with me and tell me how they know better than LOCOG.
 

I don't think I have ever read such a ludicrous reply! How can you argue about rules with the body that made them?

Having called LOCOG three times and emailed them once (see their reply below) I am more than satisfied that they are aware of the situation and do not consider it illegal. As they are the ones to make the rules I would rather listen to their decision than that of some self-titled "expert".

We can confirm that we are aware of Aristeia's partnership with Viagogo.sp and that they have not breached any of the rules set out for Authorised Ticket Reseller's.

We hope this information has been useful. Please get in touch if you have any further questions.

No, I don't wonder why they have totally ignored the part about legality. Obviously it's not relevant. I do note that they used the word "partnership".

Such a pity. This could be a great forum with like-minded people bouncing ideas off each other, not such like-minded people debating issues and everyone helping those who have been cheated.

Instead it's become a platform for one individual with an enormous ego who cannot bear to be proved wrong and whose domination of every thread discourages others to post their opinions.
 

Who is arguing with LOCOG?

All we've said is that you have asked the wrong question and LOCOG have ignored the question about legality

In case you hadn't noticed the "rules for authorised ticket resellers" are not the same as the law

One is passed by a private limited company and the other by Parliament

The original point was are viagogo authorised to resell Olympic tickets

They are not

You asked them about Aristeia who are clearly authorised, not viagogo

viagogo are not authorised, and if they resell Olympic tickets are breaking the law

Here is a simple way to check if viagogo are authrorised or not

Put any of the viagogo website addresses in this ticket checker

www.london2012.com/spectators/tickets/ticket-checker

Everytime I try it it says viagogo are NOT authorised

Funnily enough that ticket website checker is run by LOCOG

What are you talking about here?  What massive debts?  Who do they owe money to?

The whole point at the very start of this was that viagogo are not authorised to sell Olympic tickets

And that if they did they would be breaking the law

They are not authorised to sell Olympic tickets its as simple as that, even their own director admitted as such on BBC Radio 4

Why on earth you started banging on about Aristeia, who are authorised, we have no idea

The whole point was no matter what garbage viagogo come out with about being part of the Olympic family, partnerships with, or collaborations with Olympic committees or anything else, the simple fact is LOCOG doesn't trust them enough to let them sell Olympic tickets and they are hanging off other peoples coat tails to give themselves an appearance of legitimacy

Thanks for admitting at last that if they sell, or resell, Olympic tickets they would be breaking the law

That was the whole point all along

Cheers

No, the whole point is that Viagogo (the company mentioned in Dispatches, just in case you've forgotten) are not selling or re-selling tickets for the Olympics and have never claimed to.  Read back through the thread - it's you that kept saying they were doing something illegal - even when LOCOG confirmed they were not.  It's you who told me to rephrase the question to LOCOG, to ask them if it was legal for Viagogo (the company mentioned in Dispatches) to sell tickets for the Olympics.  Why would I want to do that?  We all know (apart from you ofcourse) that they are not.  I wanted to know if their involvement with Aristeia was legal - and LOCOG confirmed that it is.  Who knows if LOCOG trusts Viagogo or not?  Where is their opinion recorded?  Who, apart from you, cares?

I don't have any problem with Viagogo's part in this.  You, as a Concerned Citizen, obviously do.  Why are you wasting your time posting on here?  If you hurry, you have enough time to contact the IOC and have the whole Games called off.  I'm sure that someone as important as you has all the right telephone numbers on speed dial.

Looks as if the above press release is spot-on.  No mention of Viagogo selling tickets - just powering the Aristeia web shop.  That is exactly what's happening.  It's only Markland who seems to think that Viagogo are doing something illegal.  Did anyone see them mentioned in the Dispatches programme by the way?

Nancy,

All I can tell you is that since they moved to Switzerland nothing has changed for me as a seller (tout) on Viagogo.  They still continue to pay me the correct (not unsubstantial) amount on time every two weeks.  And they are still available to speak to in their London office if I need them.