Taylor Swift fans face delays at SingPost outlets, issues with Ticketmaster on general ticket sales day

For Taylor Swift fans, the final day of “The Great War” takes place on Friday (Jul 7). Unlike Wednesday’s UOB presale, this battle is being fought by Swifties on two major fronts: Outside SingPost outlets throughout Singapore and online via Ticketmaster.

A few hours before the start of the battle, Swifties received a mean set of ammo in the form of extra seats and Klook’s hotel packages – thereby increasing their odds of scoring tickets.

While some opted to take their chances online, other Swifties began queuing outside certain SingPost outlets as early as 12am on Thursday, armed with food, foldable chairs and a fearless spirit. Despite SingPost issuing an advisory saying that those beyond the 30th in line will have a very low chance of securing tickets, fans remained unbothered and queued throughout the night.

However, upon the break of dawn on Friday, reports of people rushing emerged as a Taylor Swift fan group on Telegram shared videos of crowds running up escalators in Northpoint City to queue for tickets. 

At ION Orchard, fans queued as early as around 8pm on Thursday night but were asked to leave as the area was to be shuttered off. Many of them returned by the time Orchard MRT station opened at about 5.45am on Friday. Fifteen minutes later, the shutters opened and fans scrambled to be among the first to enter the outlet, with some crawling through the gap to get ahead of the crowd. 

Staff then told fans to form an official queue, allowing about 30 people to line up and wait at the designated area. Those who did not make it to the official queue were asked not to wait at the premises.

CNA Lifestyle visited SingPost’s Tampines branch at around 11am on Friday to check out the crowd and suss out potential victors of "The Great War".

Approximately 50 people were waiting outside the outlet. The first person in line, Celeste Ng, had been there since Wednesday midnight. 

“I brought a mat, a chair, a jacket and a portable charger. I feel relieved to be here first as (the SingPost branch at) Downtown East already had three people in the queue on Wednesday afternoon.”

Thankfully, Celeste’s efforts weren’t in vain as she managed to snag four tickets, which was the maximum per customer, once general sales started.

So what does the lucky 25-year-old plan to do now that she will see Swift live?

“I’m gonna go home, take a nap and rest up,” she said.

However, not everyone shared her luck. 

Minutes after the start of general sales, multiple fans said that SingPost’s systems across all branches were hanging. Fans at SingPost's Pasir Ris and Serangoon branches reported delays, causing them to grow increasingly worried about the prospect of not getting tickets.

At 12.42pm on Friday, those who were queuing after Celeste at SingPost’s Tampines branch were still waiting at the counters, with only the fifth person in the queue being served an hour in. 

Twenty-year-old Alden, who was seventh in line, expressed his confusion, saying: “It’s actually taking really long. It’s been about 40 minutes. I’ve queued for Coldplay, Twice and other concerts and I usually get (my tickets) instantly. Not sure what’s happening now.”

When it was finally his turn to purchase tickets, Alden faced an unexpected issue.

"I didn't manage to get my tickets because apparently, my access code was already used. There was an error code. So, unfortunately, I couldn't get mine."

Thankfully, Alden will still be attending Swift's concert as his companion, Sarah, managed to secure four tickets.

That wasn't the only drama at SingPost's Tampines branch.

At around 2pm, a small commotion broke out as a fan (who had been queuing for more than 24 hours) was unhappy that a few people had reportedly joined their friends who were ahead in the queue.

TICKETMASTER PAYMENT ISSUES

Things were not problem-free online either. Besides the expected long queues and wait times, a few users reported issues with paying for the tickets upon checking out at Ticketmaster.

Like Alden, a few people faced issues with their access codes and received an error message saying: “You have exceeded your promo code limit for this order. (#E0022)”, before being kicked out and made to queue again.

Surprisingly, fans who opted for Klook’s packages seemed to have an easier time of it. A Twitter user reportedly secured a package with VIP 1 Taylor Swift tickets and a night’s stay at a five-star hotel by 12.16pm.

By 2.22pm, Ticketmaster announced that reserved seats for UOB cardmembers had fully sold out.

Time will tell if the Grammy Award-winning singer will pull a Jacky Cheung and add even more additional shows at the last minute. If the past few days have taught us anything, Swifties do not care about any potential sound problems at the National Stadium and will do anything to catch their favourite singer in real life. But maybe think twice before you turn to scalpers for tickets.