Singaporean woman paid more than 500 yuan for 10 opera tickets and were shocked to find out she didn’t have any seats

SINGAPORE: A woman initially bought 10 opera tickets from a said performer, but found out on the day of the event that other people had also claimed the same tickets and seats. Due to this, some of her relatives were unable to enter the venue, which made her confused, and prompted the family to complain. 

A 23-year-old woman complained to Lianhe Zaobao that her relative spent more than 500 yuan (S$90.56) for the tickets. She expressed that the opera started at 7:30 p.m., and they arrived at the venue at 7:00 p.m. They were able to scan their tickets, but within only 10 minutes of sitting down, a group of elderly people also claimed that they also secured the same seats. 

“We looked at their tickets and saw that their seat numbers were indeed the same as ours. Since they were older, we gave up our seats,” the woman declared. 

Furthermore, several of her relatives who were not able to enter the venue alongside them tried to scan the QR code on their tickets, but these were now denied by the system. When they asked a staff member about the situation, they found out that it was the first time that such an incident had happened. 

The staff informed them that the venue was full, but later on, stated that there were seats available, and people would only be allowed to go in during the actor’s changeover. Some of the woman’s relatives were forced to sit in the back row seats, which made them disappointed. 

“We paid to see the show, but we couldn’t get the right seats and had to deal with unexpected incidents,” she admitted. 

In response to Lianhe Zaobao, the artistic director of the show clarified that seating for performances is reserved. Ticket holders who approached their seats but were already occupied can approach the venue staff to resolve the issue. 

He also clarified that the woman did not purchase the tickets from one of the performers, and he said that they have strict terms for ticketing.  “As for how she handled the situation, we are not responsible for it. Please ask the complainant to contact the performer directly,” he stated. 

He also expressed that the problem with the tickets was due to the negligence of the one who sold them the tickets.

Negligence in Singapore law

In Singapore, a person can sue someone for negligence if the person’s careless actions caused harm to others. This applies even if there was no contract between them. 

Negligence is a common way to fix misunderstandings and can happen in many situations, such as car accidents, medical mistakes, property damage, or bad behaviour towards other people.