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- From the height of a singing flight: the audience is denied a refund for tickets to Bilan's concert
From the height of a singing flight: the audience is denied a refund for tickets to Bilan's concert
The story of the stage wall at Dima Bilan's stadium concert has been continued. Fans who demanded a refund for tickets after the show due to poor viewing began to receive official refusals of compensation. The organizers claim that no violations have been identified, while the audience is preparing new claims and is going to go to court. For more information, see the Izvestia article.
"My neck ached from constantly tilting my head back"
Dima Bilan's stadium show, which took place on July 31 at VTB Arena, is still the most discussed concert of the summer. He caused a wave of criticism due to an unsuccessful experiment with scale. The creators of the program built a stage on the dance floor so high that the audience in the fan zone and on part of the stands practically did not see the artist.
A shot from Dima Bilan's concert at VTB Arena
A few days after the concert, the organizers announced that they were analyzing the situation and intended to give a personal response to each request received. But in response to those who demanded a refund for the tickets, the same rejection letters began to arrive.
"According to the information available to the organizer, the circumstances indicating the impossibility of viewing the concert program by the audience who were in the fan zone have not been established. There were no mass appeals confirming the presence of shortcomings in the service provided, preventing the event from taking place or viewing the concert program. <...> The organizer does not see any legal grounds for refunding the cost of the purchased tickets. Thank you for contacting us and we hope for your understanding," the message says (Izvestia has it).
This is the answer received by Ekaterina Seliverstova. However, she was not convinced by the arguments of the organizers, so she sent a second claim. Moreover, I decided to back up my arguments not with emotions, but with calculations. According to Ekaterina, the audience in the front rows had to look at the stage at a 45-degree angle. Using "standard trigonometric dependencies," she came to the conclusion that it was possible to watch the show without constantly tilting her head back only at a distance of more than 17 m from the stage.
— Emotions are disappointment and annoyance. I paid for an elevated ticket to enjoy the show, see Bilan and his emotions! I always go to the front rows, because emotions are important to me! Instead, I spent most of the concert looking at the backs of those standing in front and at the monitors. We left with a feeling of disappointed expectations, because both my friends and I had a sore neck from constantly tilting our heads back," Ekaterina told Izvestia.
She sent a written complaint to kassir.ru through the form on the website and by e—mail, as well as by registered mail to the organizer, Artlife LLC. After the official refusal, Ekaterina did it again. If the requirements are not satisfied again, the next step will be Rospotrebnadzor and the court. Olga Sidorova intends to act in the same way.
— In defense of Dima, I will say that it was an incredible event and he, for his part, did everything he could. But I didn't dream that we would be separated by a six—meter stage, from which nothing could be seen at all," Olga says in an interview with Izvestia.
She wrote to the organizers several times and was also rejected. As one of the arguments, she was told that during the concert she did not contact the representatives of the organizer or the staff of the venue to promptly resolve the problem.
— Imagine my surprise when I was told that I personally had to contact the organizer at the concert itself so that I could be given another place with good visibility. I was most outraged by this unsubscription. Why should I, as a person who has purchased tickets to the fan zone, even think about whether the service will be provided properly, if it is not even my job? Because of such a negligent attitude towards listeners on the part of the organizers, a shadow falls on the artists. I will be submitting a written pre-trial claim. If I get a refusal on her, I will go to court, because shifting responsibility for my work onto the viewer is just the height of arrogance. The ticket did not indicate that there would be a poor view, nor did it indicate that the stage would be six meters high," she added.
"It was not known in advance that there would be a wall instead of a stage"
At the same time, even those viewers who tried to solve the problem right during the concert say that these attempts were unsuccessful.
"We personally approached the staff and asked them to let us into any available place for an additional fee — a refusal!!!" they write on social networks.
In section D106, where the review was also unsuccessful, the audience asked the staff for help several times, but, according to them, to no avail. Moreover, they were refused in an allegedly rude manner.
At the same time, some emphasize that they do not support the haight against the artist, but consider it necessary to convey to the organizers the situation in which people find themselves, so that in the future the shows are designed with a comfortable audience. The point of the fan zone is to get closer to the artist. But the one that was made at VTB Arena is now being compared on social media to the wall from Game of Thrones.
— It was not known in advance that there would be a wall instead of a stage. We arrived at 3 p.m. in time to take a seat closer to the stage. There were already more than 20 people in the queue. At about 18:40, they started launching into the fan zone. One of the first people entered the hall and took a seat in the front row. We were fully confident that the stage would go down or part, but alas. Everyone stood with a dull look and almost cried. We stayed until the end only out of respect for Dima," Galiya, who also received a typical refusal in compensation, explained to Izvestia.
Yulia Knyazeva was refused a refund for the ticket with the same wording.
— During the concert, we could occasionally see the top of the artist's head or his waist when he approached the side (it was a few times, for a minute). In the second part of the concert, he came down and walked in front of the fan zone, so they saw him live in full growth. Well, during flights too. I stayed until the end of the concert. We were standing in the first row of the fan zone, it was difficult to get out," she shared with Izvestia.
Viewers in this case are protected by the law "On Consumer Rights Protection," explains Evgeny Rosenblat, head of the practice of complex Litigation at the Moscow Bar Association Aronov & Partners. He recommends attaching evidence to the claim: a concert ticket, payment documents, photo and video materials, as well as written testimony from other eyewitnesses.
— If the drawbacks were serious, you can request a refund of the entire ticket price or part of it. The viewer also has the right to expect compensation for moral damage. If the organizer does not resolve the issue after the claim, you should go to court, then an additional fine of 50% of the amount awarded may be levied — the so-called consumer fine. Since the assessment of the quality of the event largely depends on the circumstances, a specialist's opinion may help in court, which will confirm why the violations identified are significant," Rosenblat explained.
It is not known how and under what conditions the creators of the show plan to resolve the issue and whether tests of the stage design were carried out to make sure that the audience would see the artist from anywhere in the stadium. Izvestia sent inquiries to the concert organizers, the service kassir.ru , representatives of Dima Bilan and the press service of VTB Arena, but at the time of publication of the material, they had not received any responses.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
