ATG+ - Enqs 0330 102 7200 / membership@atgentertainment.com

Quick question if I may, before I have to deal with ATG’s ‘customer service’…

I have a ticket for Lyonesse that as yet has not been taken up on the noticeboard on here or found a buyer on Twickets. The performance is sold out, so if I contact ATG will they resell for me and deduct a fee for doing so, or am I wasting my time even asking them?!

Thanks in advance.

I recommend contacting the box office directly, they tend to be a lot more helpful than the agents on the phone lines.

If you fill in an exchange form, the contents will automatically be forwarded to the relevant box office.

Sounds like this is the best option - thanks all for your replies and help. I’ll let you know how I get on!

The inflated prices at ATG venues are making me seriously consider giving up my ATG+ membership.

Burlesque has gone on sale today in Manchester. As usual, no members email was received and I missed the measly discount of £7.50 on selected performances, having checked the opening night and a couple of other dates where no discounts are being offered. The Book of Mormon has just gone on sale this week with no discount for ATG+ members, the opening night is slightly discounted but that's available to anyone.

The overcharging for shows at the Palace Theatre and Opera House in Manchester compared to non-ATG regional venues is becoming a joke. £32 to see Kathy and Stella Solve a Murder was the price I paid for a top-price ticket on a Friday night at HOME in Manchester. That's for a show with critical acclaim and sell-out runs at flagship Edinburgh Fringe venues behind it. Compare that to swathes of the stalls and circle being £70 a ticket, £75 Fridays and Saturdays, for Burlesque, a musical that's very much an unknown quantity and essentially having a trial run. Even the first preview isn't discounted!

Bonnie and Clyde at the Palace Theatre is charging up to £69.50 for standard seats, with premium tickets up to £132. The same show is in Bradford where the top price ticket is £43 weekdays and £47 at weekends and in Blackpool where top prices are £40-£42.75. There's no premium pricing at either of those theatres. Throw in the feral behaviour of some audience members at the ATG venues, as seen this weekend at I Should Be So Lucky, and the extortionate pricing for Burlesque feels like the tipping point for me. I'll be trying to get my theatre fix elsewhere, wherever possible, from now on.

And this is a very good point - I don't quite understand why but both through my own experience and anecdotally from others, the same shows have a much bigger problem with bad (drunken) behaviour at ATG venues.

Manchester Palace and Opera House, Liverpool Empire, Sunderland Empire and Edinburgh Playhouse are repeatedly the venues that come up. Independent touring houses in similar cities like Newcastle, Leeds, Sheffield, Birmingham, Southampton just don't struggle as much.

No idea why, but am sure the aggressive pushing of alcohol by ATG and perhaps the general atmosphere/relationship they have with their customers compared to independent theatres have something to do with it.

I have never had a problem swapping higher priced seats for lower priced ones, they refund the difference in a gift certificate for me.

They may have changed their policy recently, but most recently changed dates on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory last July and the new seats where stalls, better seats, lower price and they refunded £4 as a gift card (not that I was bothered by the £4).  Swapped twice this year and once last year, the seats are always cheaper when I ask to swap as I buy tickets as soon as announced, so by the time I'm looking to make changes the prices have dropped, and never been refused and always get a refund as a gift certificate.

Thank you for posting this number.

By way of an update, I logged a request via their website asking if they’d resell the ticket for me given the show was sold out. Having heard nothing back the stated 5 days later, I called the number you posted. Couldn’t put me through to box office but gave me another number to call. This took me to ATG but via a different number to the TheatreCard one I had.

Spoke to someone who took the details, then put me on hold whilst she spoke to someone (perhaps the venue box office) to see if they’d resell the ticket. However as the show was now showing some availability, there was nothing they could do but suggest I call back when it’s sold out again. No offer to go onto a wait list or anything. I pointed out that it was sold out when I submitted the request online but as no one has got back to me, some seats had been released in the meantime. No, nothing they can do, I just need to keep looking to see if it shows sold out again then call. Soooooo unhelpful!

In the end it sold on Twickets for a few pounds under face value so all sorted ahead of the performance date. But honestly, their customer service is shocking. You’d also think they’d try to be more accommodating for TheatreCard holders where possible, as logic would suggest they’re likely to be repeat customers.

Success! After not getting any pre-sale information emails from ATG for a long while, I contacted them. They said I was opted out and have now reinstated them, and the emails are arriving.

Of course, I didn't opt out, so I am guessing there is some time-linked auto-expiry on permissions.

This post explains what the problem was/is

theatreboard.co.uk/post/480117/threadhttps://theatreboard.co.uk/post/480117/thread

I won't be renewing mine in Jun. I am sick of paying for......er.......what exactly?