EastStandBlue
Life President
Over the course of the weekend I was tasked with finding a friend of mine a ticket for V Festival as she'd been ripped off on eBay and was in a bit of a panic about missing out. As it happens, I know someone from Uni who's a bit of a dab hand with these occasions.
As something of a prologue, this lad has lived something of a charmed life courtesy of his parents. They're very well connected and make a very reasonable living doing not a lot and, throughout his three years at University, let's just say he never wanted for much. His parents wouldn't let him get the student loan, so they loaned him what he'd recieve and gave him an extra weekly allowance of £200 to see him through, the poor lamb...
Throughout Uni, he topped up this £200 by selling complimentary tickets his parents had passed on to him here, there and everywhere. FA Cup final, Ashes, Rugby World Cup, Comedians, Music... You name it, he could probably get it for you. I didn't have a problem with it in principle, but he always charged vastly in excess of face value which, considering he got them complimentary, made me always aware he was something of a tosser.
This culminated in our graduation ceremony last year, where he bought people's unwanted tickets early on at face value (£10), waited until two weeks before the ceremony and then tried to flog them on facebook to families at £17 a pop.
So I contacted him on Monday, knowing that this friend of mine would go up to £240 owing to her desperation to be there. He had a few lying around and quoted me £200, citing mates rates which I understand is a reasonable enough price for the ticket in question (Red, Camping).
All willing to go ahead and Paypal him the money, until he comes up with this gem "Yeah mate, don't forget to add postage at £4.50, £5 booking fee and £3.50 for the stage/time list..."
I honestly thought he was joking. I replied with a sarcy remark asking him if I should send the shirt off my back in the post and he responded with "Well, if you don't want the tickets, I'll sell them elsewhere." For the record, he doesn't run a business where booking fee's would be applicable, he simply has the tickets to sell on.
Out of principle, I told him to stick the tickets and managed to get one for £210 without any of the garbage he tried to charge me for.
So, People of SZ, Would you classify this man as a smart businessman ready to capitalise on a commodity, or simply an outright Tosser ready to make a quick bit of cash out of someone elses desperation?
As something of a prologue, this lad has lived something of a charmed life courtesy of his parents. They're very well connected and make a very reasonable living doing not a lot and, throughout his three years at University, let's just say he never wanted for much. His parents wouldn't let him get the student loan, so they loaned him what he'd recieve and gave him an extra weekly allowance of £200 to see him through, the poor lamb...
Throughout Uni, he topped up this £200 by selling complimentary tickets his parents had passed on to him here, there and everywhere. FA Cup final, Ashes, Rugby World Cup, Comedians, Music... You name it, he could probably get it for you. I didn't have a problem with it in principle, but he always charged vastly in excess of face value which, considering he got them complimentary, made me always aware he was something of a tosser.
This culminated in our graduation ceremony last year, where he bought people's unwanted tickets early on at face value (£10), waited until two weeks before the ceremony and then tried to flog them on facebook to families at £17 a pop.
So I contacted him on Monday, knowing that this friend of mine would go up to £240 owing to her desperation to be there. He had a few lying around and quoted me £200, citing mates rates which I understand is a reasonable enough price for the ticket in question (Red, Camping).
All willing to go ahead and Paypal him the money, until he comes up with this gem "Yeah mate, don't forget to add postage at £4.50, £5 booking fee and £3.50 for the stage/time list..."
I honestly thought he was joking. I replied with a sarcy remark asking him if I should send the shirt off my back in the post and he responded with "Well, if you don't want the tickets, I'll sell them elsewhere." For the record, he doesn't run a business where booking fee's would be applicable, he simply has the tickets to sell on.
Out of principle, I told him to stick the tickets and managed to get one for £210 without any of the garbage he tried to charge me for.
So, People of SZ, Would you classify this man as a smart businessman ready to capitalise on a commodity, or simply an outright Tosser ready to make a quick bit of cash out of someone elses desperation?
