Published March 28, 2009

Fast cars, hot tickets and a quick buck

F1 season kicks off and someone could try to sell you race tickets that go sour

By NISHA RAMCHANDANI

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YOU know the saying, if it's too good to be true, it probably is? That could ring true when purchasing tickets for this year's Formula One (F1) race, as it appears some unauthorised vendors are trying to make a quick buck out of it.

The new season kicks off this weekend and the business of snapping up race tickets is already underway. Meanwhile, BT has learnt that several unauthorised vendors were warned for purchasing tickets for the 2008 Singapore race and reselling them at a profit.

In some cases, people bought packages from an unauthorised vendor expecting corporate suites, only to find themselves saddled with grandstand passes. To make matters worse, not all the seats were adjacent to each other.

The dinner promised as part of the package was at a nearby hotel as opposed to the race-track itself. In addition, the 'famous F1 driver' who was to mingle with guests turned out to be someone who had only briefly driven many years ago for the bottom-placed and now-defunct Minardi team.

Other buyers had it worse.

Last May, Singaporean Yvonne Koh, who is based in Beijing, bought two grandstand tickets for the 2008 F1 race off an online merchant for about US$500. In addition, Ms Koh had to cough up US$50 for 'courier fees'.

The tickets - an anniversary present for her race fan husband - were supposed to arrive by early September in time for the race.

While the merchant would respond to her email messages which made it seem legitimate, 'the tickets never arrived', Ms Koh said. 'The promise to refund the US$500 to me wasn't delivered.'

Ms Koh wound up having to pay S$100 extra for each three-day walkabout pass (usually S$168) she later purchased from someone else, as all tickets to the 2008 race had sold out by then.

By January this year, the merchant had stopped responding to her email messages. An enquiry by BT sent to the company - which lists an address in Bali, a fax number but no phone number - did not receive a response.

Singapore GP is aware of the problem and sent out warning letters to several vendors in connection with the 2008 race. 'We have always actively discouraged the on-selling of tickets above their face value,' said Darren Chen, SGP's director of corporate sales. This is in breach of SGP's published terms of sale.

It is also a good idea to check the fine print, as additional charges can ratchet up the total price.

According to its brochure, corporate hospitality packages by one company come with a rather hefty service charge of a whopping 24 per cent. This works out to be in the region of some US$7,000 in service charge alone per US$29,500 group package. Repeated calls to the company were not returned by press time.

Meanwhile, corporate outfits get approached with plausible stories - with no guarantee that they're true. One source told BT that an unauthorised vendor called him recently with the line that a bank had pulled out after paying a non-refundable deposit for a corporate hospitality package. As such, the promoter was able to let it go at a lower price of close to US$20,000, approximately some US$2,000 per head.

On face value this is attractive as the cheapest corporate hospitality suite this year is worth S$3,388 per head. But as some buyers found out last year, they were bundled off to grandstands, which started at S$248. It may turn out to be a gamble gone bad or a sign of the times.

'I have been approached on numerous occasions both here and in other markets with similar propositions,' said one CEO who declined to be named. 'Reading between the lines, it suggests that there is pressure to sign up anchor sponsors in the current environment.'

He went on to add that the marketing ploy of a client pulling out after paying a deposit made it that much easier 'to close deals quickly on the spot'.

While such hard-sell tactics aren't exactly new, the recession lends added gravitas. It's common knowledge by now that banks such as Credit Suisse, ING Group and the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) which have been hard hit by the economic downturn have all either bowed out as F1 team sponsors or plan to do so once contractual obligations are fulfilled.

'If approached by a third party you should check with Singapore GP that they are authorised to sell on our behalf,' advised Mr Chen. SGP has a list of its official partners - both local and overseas - on its website.