The management of the Festival d’été de Québec (FEQ) sold all its regular passes even before the opening of its ticket office, Wednesday noon, and the unveiling of its programming, raising the ire of festival-goers who had to leave the site of the empty-handed festival.
“The unprecedented enthusiasm and the increasing volume of people in the waiting room prompted us to open the ticket office at 11 a.m. to ensure the smoothest possible flow of the sale,” indicated the FEQ on his Facebook page.
An admission that ignited the festival page, which had received nearly a thousand comments from angry people early Wednesday afternoon.
“It’s really inconceivable that such a large organization would decide to change the time of ticket sales at the last minute like that,” writes Chloé Fournier. We adjust our work schedules to free up a certain hour. This is truly a lack of management on your part. » More than 300 people approved this comment.
“Resellers like tickets.ca say thank you once again,” added Philippe Cardinal. A comment also liked by nearly 300 people. “I think we should consider other sales models,” Karoline Boushay also wrote. Or again: “I had set an alarm… so I wouldn’t miss my shot at noon,” said, not without irony, Marjolaine Charland.
For the moment, the festival management, which had imposed an embargo on the media so that they reveal the program from 12:10 p.m. (and not before), has contented itself with publishing a message which justifies its decision.
“We understand your dissatisfaction with this last minute change, this decision was the most prudent in the circumstances. Please note that the sale continued after the programming reveal, the intention was not to force people to buy blind. »
On April 4 at noon, the FEQ will sell VIP passes – Gold and Silver Front Stage Zone, Bell Signature Zone and Air Canada Garden. It remains to be seen whether the sale will actually begin at that time or whether management will proceed, as it did this Wednesday, by moving forward the time without notifying festival-goers.