exeposé The UK’s Best Student Publication
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ISSUE 756 6 MAR 2024 exepose.com @Exepose
THE UNIVERSITY OF EXETER’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1987
“Shambolic”: Exeter students deliver verdict on EGB fiasco
The Costume Box project launches in Exeter Page 3
Image: Anabel Costa-Ferreira
Charlie Gershinson Deputy Editor
A beginners guide to fantasy Page 19
What are the effects of excessive alcohol consumption? Page 28
Images (top to bottom): The Costume Box, Maddie Conlan, Jocrebbin, istock images
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HE organisers of the Enchanted Garden Ball have come under significant criticism from students at the University of Exeter after extremely high demand led to there being three attempts for tickets for the event to be successfully sold, with one student describing the experience as “shambolic”. The Enchanted Garden Ball (EGB) has occurred every year since 2010 and takes place at the Shobrooke Park Country House near Crediton. On the EGB website, it is advertised as a “hedonistic, spectacular playground of experimental micro-venues ranging from the vivacious to the outrageous.” This year’s EGB is due to take place on the 1st June. The process of buying EGB tickets saw significant turmoil as it was only during the third attempted ticket release that students were able to successfully buy tickets. The first two attempts were on the ticket selling platform FIXR, which is widely used by University societies, on both the 12th and 19th February. Both attempted drops saw a surge in demand which crashed FIXR. On the 16th February, FIXR published a statement which was reposted on EGB’s Instagram page saying, “last Monday our platform temporarily went down and you
weren’t able to get tickets for EGB 2024. We’re sorry for the inconvenience, but rest assured you’ll be able to get your hands on tickets for the event of the year this coming Monday. See you there.” The following Monday, the second ticket drop saw a near identical crash. Exeposé has reached out to FIXR for comment but has not received a response at the time of publication. EGB announced on the 22nd February that they were partnering with Skiddle as a new ticket provider. In the same post, EGB stated that “all ticket allocations remain the same” and that “society pre-sale will get access 15 minutes before general release, starting at 15:45” on the 27th February. They also noted that Skiddle was “noted for its reliability” with “4.3 million happy customers since 2001.” The third attempted ticket launch was successful, with all 7000 tickets and return bus tickets selling out within minutes. However, many students felt that the system of society pre-sale tickets coming online only 15 minutes before the general sale left those without access to a code at risk of missing out on a ticket altogether. The introduction of a queueing system as part of the Skiddle platform meant that those without a society code were multiple thousands of places in the queue at the start of the general sale. One student reported that they were placed around 14,000th
in the queue once they joined. In a survey of students who attempted to buy EGB tickets, many noted that having a society code made little difference to their chances of obtaining a ticket. One student asked “what’s the point in having society access to not even get tickets? How many society members failed to get tickets in place of those who didn’t pay society fees.” Another said that “society tickets did not work” and that they “had to wait in the queue with general ticket buyers.” Others believed that they were assigned random positions in the queue regardless of when they entered it. One said that they had been waiting 40 minutes in advance of the ticket release and were placed 12,000th in the queue while friends who joined at 16:00 were placed ahead in place 1000. Some students also reported having to join the queue multiple times, with one saying that they successfully bought an admissions ticket but had to rejoin to buy a coach ticket, which had sold out by the time they reached the front of the queue for the second time. Of the around 100 respondents, only around half reported they were able to procure a ticket and almost all noted that they had attempted to buy tickets on all three release dates. When Exeposé reached out to EGB for comment, they said of the effect of queuing on society codes
that, “all participating sports teams and societies were allocated a specific amount of tickets. These codes ran until each of the societies had sold out. The purpose of society codes is to provide early access to tickets for society members, recognising their contributions and engagement. We acknowledge the feedback that the utility of these codes may not have met expectations this year. Notably, 99 per cent of society tickets were sold out before general release, and we even extended the on-sale period slightly to accommodate final transactions. Recognising the need for improvement, we plan to adjust the timing of society ticket sales to begin up to an hour before the general release in future events, ensuring a more significant advantage for society members.” Students also felt that the use of a queuing system was poorly communicated before the third ticket drop as some were only made aware of it “10 minutes before” and some were not aware until they joined the queue itself. EGB said of Skiddle’s queueing system that, “whilst the queueing system was advertised in the lead up to the event, we understand the frustrations some customers may have when utilising a platform that is unfamiliar.”
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