However, Ticketmaster was singled out for praise by website performance monitor Keynote Systems for keeping its service online and usable throughout the period tickets were on sale.

Other sites such as Gigs and Tours, See Tickets and Stargreen were criticised as they all suffered slow page-loading times during this period. Many people wanting to buy tickets had to wait as long as 45 seconds for each page to load, according to Keynote Systems.

Martin Stern of Keynote Systems said: "It is so important for internet-only businesses to understand what the end-user actually experiences when visiting their sites. When purchasing tickets online, end-users will not excuse a website that fails to meet their expectations of responsiveness."

Stern said that sites that couldn't cope with the demand for tickets could also suffer in the long run.

"Annual music events such as the V Festival and Glastonbury have a cult following and, if online customers are disappointed with their experience on one occasion, they may simply not return, choosing to purchase future tickets from a more reliable competitor," he continued.

Have you had a good or bad online ticket buying experience recently? Have your say at www.webuser.co.uk/forums

www.keynote.com
www.ticketmaster.co.uk
www.seetickets.com/gat/index.asp
www.stargreen.com

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