Olympic mountain bike tickets

natrix

There are two ticket prices, £20 and £45.

Does anybody know what you get for paying an extra £25????

njee20

I've always assumed it's for grandstand tickets, but I don't actually know.

Jimx26

I thought they had all sold out?

BigJimmyB

If they haven't, I'm 10 mins down the road, where can I get me some?

njee20

They have, but occasionally come up, worth keeping an eye on the site.

Paul 8v

Is any of it open ticketed like the road race was?

bigdawg

from talking to people who have them the £20 tickets seem to have ceremony printed on them, whilst £45 have race printed on them - If that means the £20 tickets only get you in to the medal ceremony I think there will be some mightly pi**ed off people in Hadleigh on Saturday and Sunday...

bigdawg

no none of it is open to watch - the whole venue is ticketed.

However there is some talk that there will be a big screen very nearby...

njee20

from talking to people who have them the £20 tickets seem to have ceremony printed on them

Yeah? I must admit when they first went on it looked a bit like that, but seemed crazy they'd charge £20 just to see the medals being awarded!

I've got the £45 ones, so I don't care. #smug

Paul 8v

Just heard on the radio, there won't be any big screens anywhere near the venue. Also no-where to catch a sneaky peak. That neck of the woods isn't great for traffic at the best of times so unless you've got tickets best to stay well clear!

natrix

It's bizarre that the difference isn't made clear...........

bigdawg

its nuts there was no real clarification when you actually bought the tickets and I imagine a lot of people went for the £20 ticket as it was cheaper.. Does that mean race ticket holders dont get to see the medals..?? And what are thy gonig to do clear out 20,000 people and only readmit the people with medal tickets?

The big screen is a cock up by our local and very lazy councils. they knew this event was sold out months ago but instead of arranging a viewing screen anywhere to encourage people to come down stay over and spend money locally they did what they usually do - sweet FA, whoever is responsible for tourism needs to find a new job quite frankly...

As to viewing the course anywhere else you can go down to canvey with a big telescope and youmight see something but other than that being off road and on the downs there obviously arent any passing places to catch a glimpse...

wwrt

As it turns out the £45 tickets don't actually get you anything extra over the £20 tickets. For what it is worth I have posted the ticketing people a request for a £25 per ticket refund at http://www.tickets.london2012.com/help.html (search for "contact") and will wait and see if I get a response. #notsosmug

That aside, we had a great day at Hadleigh yesterday.

Shackster

One of the helpers told me that there would be a refund for those who paid £45 when I queried what the more expensive tickets got you. Can't find anything online about it other than a couple of comments like this!

natrix

wwrt wrote:

As it turns out the £45 tickets don't actually get you anything extra over the £20 tickets. For what it is worth I have posted the ticketing people a request for a £25 per ticket refund at http://www.tickets.london2012.com/help.html (search for "contact") and will wait and see if I get a response. #notsosmug

Sounds like a good idea, I'll give it a try.

Shackster

Saw this link on Singletrack forum:

http://tickets.london2012.custhelp.com/app/ask

Several on there have submitted a complaint/enquiry about the more expensive tickets and I've now done the same. Also tried the general ticketing 'help' line 0844 847 2012 but after negotiating several menus you just get cut off. Suspect more success might be had once the paralympics are out of the way.

If it was just a tenner I probably wouldn't bother but £50 extra for two tickets, for nothing, is a bit too much to let go.

natrix

Shackster wrote:

Saw this link on Singletrack forum:

http://tickets.london2012.custhelp.com/app/ask

Handy link, it will be interesting to see what they say..........

mozzy10

I was under the impression that more expensive tickets bought you a better chance in the draw, but not better seats. I thought the process was that you put down the maximum you were willing to pay and would be put into a ballot for all tickets at or under that price.

They had 20,000, so maybe 10,000 were £25, 8,000 were £45 and the rest were £90. Obviously less people bid for the more expensive tickets, so you have an equal chance of getting a cheaper ticket, plus the additional chance of getting a more expensive one.

I think it was the wording on the ticket bidding site and Lord Coe in an interview on BBC Breakfast that gave me this impression. My impression could be totally wrong through.

njee20

My impression could be totally wrong through.

It is! The tickets were £20 or £45, you were supposed to get seating for the more expensive ones. A happy by-product was that you were probably more likely to get a ticket full stop if you were prepared to pay more, but you were supposed to get something more for you money.

Not the end of the world it didn't work out, be good if they do refund the difference though.

mozzy10

I guess that once they put the seating in they figured out people wouldn't view it is as 'better' than being able to walk around the course. I had the £45 ticket, and up until now I was content that I had just had a better chance of getting a ticket... now I am outraged!!!

wwrt

Have just received the reply below. I would strongly dispute the claim that at any stage during the application process "litrature" made clear the different priced ticket situation. Even on the day the staff and volunteers were not properly informed about the reason for the different ticket prices!

Anyway, never mind, had a good day, and would go again.

Thank you for your enquiry regarding the pricing of tickets for Cycling - Mountain Bike at the Olympic Games.

Tickets for general admission/standing were sold at £45, with a limited number of £20 tickets also available in that category, based on our commitment to provide a number of £20 tickets in at least one session of every sport at the Olympic Games. The tickets priced at £20 sold out very quickly, and the remainder were priced at £45. All our literature regarding these events clearly advised this.

We are therefore unable to issue refunds to customers who paid £45.

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

natrix

Agree, I never saw any such literature. The ticketing has been the worst part of what otherwise has been a great Olympics.

VWsurfbum

natrix wrote:

Agree, I never saw any such literature. The ticketing has been the worst part of what otherwise has been a great Olympics.

Very much this!