Drama, tragedy, farce – and that's just trying to get your tickets for the Fringe

Published on Sunday 27 July 2008 23:25

THE box office of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is in meltdown again, with sales having to be suspended for a second time just two days before the bulk of previews get under way.

Telephone and over-the-counter bookings have been axed for today after dozens of ticket-buyers bombarded the Fringe office with complaints over the weekend.

The latest problems emerged as it was revealed that a major consultancy warned four years ago that the Fringe's website needed a drastic overhaul. User Vision told The Scotsman yesterday that since then "almost nothing has changed".

The Fringe has been unable to offer personal ticket collections from its own box office since sales opened in early June. There have also been delays in posting out tickets.

Although organisers have insisted everyone who has pre-booked tickets for the first couple of weeks of the Fringe should have received them by now, disgruntled Fringe-goers have been registering their protests via the festival's website.

Key complaints were about bookings going missing, tickets for preview shows still not delivered, people receiving tickets for the wrong date and incomplete orders arriving through the post.

There were also protests at the decision to close down the Fringe office yesterday when many people were still trying to resolve problems, and complaints about the lack of a helpline service.

Yesterday's closure had originally been blamed on the need to get five major venues hooked up to a separate computer system already deployed by the "big four" venues – Gilded Balloon, Assembly Rooms, Pleasance and Underbelly.

But the Fringe – which suspended all sales except those via its website yesterday – announced last night it would be extending the move to today due to ongoing work on its box office system.

One Fringe-goer, Amy Cooney, wrote on the Fringe website: "Still not got mine (tickets], and they're for the preview shows. They won't come until Monday at the earliest and I'm getting worried now because I'm travelling up to Edinburgh early Wednesday morning, which leaves only two days for them to get to me. Have e-mailed the box office asking where they are, but no reply as yet. One word – ridiculous."

Keith Hunter wrote: "I ordered three pairs of tickets for shows between 31 July and 3 August. My account was debited twice following the fatal error message. Received a refund for one set of tickets – not the set I requested a refund for. This morning I receive a single ticket!"

A statement on the Fringe website said: "To allow work on our ticketing system, the main box office will be closed for telephone, counter sales and collections on Monday. All website sales will continue as normal.

"Ticket collections from the box office are not available as yet. Work is continuing on the box-office system to ensure services will be improved in time for the start of the Fringe."