Madonna: the backlash

I can't remember a story we've run on Capital that's provoked so much comment from you.

At the time of writing, more than 180 of you have shared your thoughts about the Madonna gig at Wembley Stadium last week. Many more of you have texted and called about it as well.

Most - though by no means all of you - wanted to vent your frustration about the sound quality. My favourite text, courtesy of Julia, was "the sound was like listening to screaming cats underwater!"

With ticket prices starting at £65, many of you felt you'd been ripped off and wanted to know how to get a refund.

That's a good question - so we asked Consumer Direct on your behalf. And the answer is - not easily.

The problem is, what constitutes a "bad" concert? If you buy a new handbag from a shop and the handles fall off, obviously you can get your money back. But if you just don't like it, the shop doesn't have to refund you (although many would).

With a concert, it's purely subjective. You may have been disappointed, but we had plenty of other messages praising Madonna and the critics gave her great reviews. The concert took place; Madonna turned up and did her thing - so it's at the promoter's discretion whether to offer refunds.

All I can suggest is that you contact the promoter Livenation. I've put the link to their customer service department above.

And while I'm on the subject of Madonna - we also had lots of messages about tickets. It seems some of you paid a lot of money online for tickets that never showed up.

One of the companies involved, madonnacandytour.com, has contacted us to say it was let down by its supplier, but that it is giving refunds to people affected.

To quote them: "We can hereby confirm all the customers who purchased gold circle tickets have now been refunded. The transaction takes 3-10 days to appear on their statements. We will be providing tickets for our other websites from alternative sources. Once again we apologise for any inconvience caused ".

Our advice is the same as that of Trading Standards. Only buy tickets direct from the venue, the promoter or its approved agents. If you find a company selling tickets to an event that's sold out everywhere else, be careful!

UPDATE - September 17th

Thanks to Aidan who's emailed me in response to this blog. He's set up an online petition to try and get refunds for the fans who complained. Here are the details:

"I have created a group on Facebook, "Madonna, we want a refund", for anyone who went to the Madonna concert last Thursday and felt truly ripped off. As a devoted Madonna fan, I was deeply disappointed by the show. The sound quality was inadequate hence over 3000 people complained on the night. It is Madonna's responsibility to ensure that she puts on a performance that can be seen and heard by everyone & enjoyed by the majority."

The link to the group is at the top of the page. Usual disclaimer applies ... Capital doesn't accept responsibility for content of external links etc.