A mum was left devastated after losing £700 on Ed Sheeran tickets she bought for her son after the singer cancelled 10,000 tickets being sold at rip-off prices.
Furious Andrea Grant, 41, splashed out on the surprise gift for her seven-year-old son on an unverified website.
In an attempt to prevent fans from paying over the odds to touts, the world-famous singer blocked all tickets being sold at hugely inflated prices.
But it was too late for Andrea who has been told she won’t receive a refund either.
She said: “I feel helpless.
“I wish to God I had never have bought them. Now we are stuck and I feel completely helpless.
“It is £700 down the drain and I have got nowhere to turn.”
Andrea, a cleaner from Plymouth, Devon, searched online for tickets for Sheeran’s UK stadium concerts tour next year and Viagogo came up as the top website on Google.
Having never bought tickets online before, she thought nothing of it and bought them – at twice the price they would have been via one of Sheeran’s verified websites.
After fees were added to the original price she ended up forking out just over £700 for the pair.
Since then a statement has been released by the tour’s promoters, which says although the campaign to prevent tickets touts from operating had been largely successful, Viagogo ignored warnings, and now thousands of tickets snatched up by Sheeran fans have been nullified.
Andrea added: “Personally it is money we haven’t really got.
“It was just supposed to be a massive treat for our son. Ed Sheeran is his idol.
“I’ve been told by Viagogo to resell the tickets back to them via the site, but I have been advised not to do that.
“I just feel absolutely gutted. It’s been a very uneasy few days and I haven’t slept or eaten much.”
A social media campaign has already been launched in a bid to protect other prospective ticket buyers against the website Viagogo.
Claire Turnham, who was overcharged by £1,150 for Sheeran tickets for her son’s 16th birthday, has waged war against the controversial website.
She set up the Victims of Viagogo group on Facebook to seek refunds for others who feel they have been ripped off.
“It’s affecting people worldwide and it’s growing all the time,” she said.
“When I was offered my refund I was very glad of it, but I started to become aware that other people had become affected and weren’t receiving refunds so I started trying to help them.
“People are contacting me all the time and they’re very, very distressed.”
Viagogo have been asked for a comment.
