http://www.hydeparkconcerts.com/ = SCAM

The warning is sort of useless at this point, since they took the website down, but I will write about it anyway, since personally I didn't know that this type of scams is so common... Now, after a quick research, which usually happens after you got scammed.. I know.

Basically this website sells tickets that they don't have to concerts, and a few weeks before the event they e-mail you that they don't have any tickets sorry blah blah. I am hoping that since I payed by credit card that by contesting that payment I'll get my money back, but still... Very unpleasant experience. And appearently that happened for years, under different similar names: hydeparkboxoffice.com etc. Also with other concerts.. Personally I will never buy from any other ticketseller than Ticketmaster..

Uuugh the bitter taste of being scammed..

The "apologies" email:

Dear Sir/Madam

Please accept our apologies but we have some bad news regarding your booking for this Summers show at Hyde Park.

Unfortunately we have been let down by our suppliers for your tickets and are unable to supply them.

We apologise sincerely for this bad news and stress we did not know this was going to happen.

Because we no longer use the merchant service provider that charged you we are unable to issue a refund back to the card that was used to book.

Please contact your card issuer and instruct them to perform a chargeback for goods not received. If you paid by credit card them you booking will be insured under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. If you paid by debit card then Visa scheme rules will allow you to retrieve the funds.

We are unable to refund you by any other means so we urge you to call your bank and instructing them to reverse the charge.

Again we are very sorry for the letdown and hope you are able to source replacement tickets.

Regards

Hi wingardium, welcome to Scamwarners.

I dont want to get your hopes up but it would be unusual for a scammer to bother to reply to you to let you know that effectively you have been scammed, that would make little sense, it may have made more sense if they emailed and told you that you had to pay an extra fee but I find it very unusual that they would waste their time in telling you that you will not receive anything from them.

In this case,
Do not send any more money for any reason
Reply to that email and ask when you may receive the refund
If you get no reply or still have reson to believe you have been scammed then contact your bank and do 2 things, put in a claim for the purchase price and have your details changed to prevent unauthorised use.

I wish you luck, please keep us posted

No, really a quick Google sorts the problem pretty clear, only a few links:
here and
here
and others

That's the very reason I posted this scam.. Because it seems a little unusual, but in fact it happens a lot and apparently is very successful... And some people, from what I read, never get their money back.

You are right of course, still unusual for them to contact you

None the less, following your first link led me to this advice which may help anybody else, thanks for posting and good luck with getting a refund through your credit card company

Advice for ticket scam victims
By Nick Sommerlad on June 23, 2009 12:38 PM in Ticket scams
We are currently hearing from a vast number of victims of online ticket scams.

Many want to know what they do next. Unfortunately we aren't able to reply to everyone individually. So I am re-posting some sound advice from Reg Walker, head of commercial protection at the O2 Arena.

1. First contact your bank or credit card company. If you paid on credit card, you should get a refund. But even if you used a debit card, you might find your account has fraud protection.

2. Check your home insurance. Some have clauses covering fraud protection.

3. Speak to Visa or Mastercard, whichever firm issued your card. They might be able to help.

4. Report the matter to the police. Don't let them tell you it is a "civil matter", it's not.

5. Once you have a crime reference number from the police, complain to Consumer direct on 08454 04 05 06.

That advice is from here http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigation ... ctims.html its a year old but still it cant hurt to take those steps