BGT London. Their queuing system is a complete joke. They have multiple queues which aren’t monitored properly. When ‘security’ aren’t looking, people join the back of the priority queues without having their tickets checked. We waited for over an hour in ‘our queue’ to be told that there was a cut off and the entire queue next to us, who arrived after us! had to be cleared first? we were right at the front too. Work out that logic.

Firstly our BGT eTicket states the queue should be no more than 10-20 mins, we queues for nearly 2hrs. When we first arrived we were too early so was told to come back as the afternoon session were still queuing. We came back only to find the afternoon session still queuing because the show had been delayed. We spoke to a member of the team who told us to return at 3:30pm. Fortunately we arrived at 3 because the queue had already started. We finally exchanged our eTicket for seat tickets and asked when to come back. Here’s where it went wrong. The member of staff issuing our ticket told us to come back AT 7pm. She did not say BY 7, or doors shut at 7 or no later than 7. We arrived back at 7:10 to be told that the doors were shut and we weren’t allowed in. So my assumption is that the doors to let people in must have opened way before 7pm so why were we told to be back at 7pm. I appreciate the tickets are free but the travel, food & drink for our family is not. It would be great if Applause Store had some respect for others and ensured the staff representing them provide us with the correct information so that we can avoid disappointment & wasting our time & money. Not impressed at all!!

I write this evening after being allocated tickets for this evenings show of Britain got talent semi final at Hammersmith Apollo. I traveled 60 miles and arrived at 4pm, only to be told that the show had reached capacity. I was under the impression that I had a ticket and had to arrive by 5pm as the applaud store email suggested. I wasted money on travel and my eight year old daughter was left in tears. I have since read your terms and conditions. I believe that tickets should not be issued in such fashion. Tickets should be allocated accordingly to the "consumer" with no shows being allocated to people whom arrived without a ticket confirmation email without the aoplause store confirmation. I would ask that my expenses are refunded to me and allocated tickets are issued for the final. I look forward to hearing from someone either at ITV or and Applause store.

Travelled from London to Basingstoke, arrived an hour before the stated time to be told booked out. Very poor instructions regarding green car Park, Could not find as no signage outside of shopping centre car park for GREEN car park. Will be blocking any further contact. This practice is an abomination in this current climate when all are encouraged to limit FUEL CONSUMPTION as much as possible. So a high percentage of people travelling unnecessarily. Of course I am angry but these practices must be highlighted and operators held to account. I would encourage all to raise issue with MPs

Travelled 3 hours to watch a show with priority tickets and our group wasn't let in due to what was essentially an administrative error. Avoid if you live a long way away as you may be disappointed. Wasn't the end of the world obviously but very disappointing for our group of young people as we had got our hopes up. I'm sure it can be good in some cases but we were unlucky.

Terrible. I have been to many of their shows in London and Birmingham.Being a ballet dancer myself i went to see the greatest dancer auditions in Birmingham in the morning was told by the male host during breaks when not filming if we attend the afternoon show we get free tickets to the finals. We did just that,and i enquired with a woman from applause about this she took my details.Heard nothing since August its now February 2019.I emailed them 3times,even applied for the finals no tickets. I think im more disappointed in the fact no-one replied to my emails (no manners)and the woman didnt get back to me and the fact the host tries to try get people to attend.Its just terrible it puts me off ever seeing any shows from applause. p.s i sent emails to loads of different emails for applause and not one got back to me. I checked spam to before they even start.

Arrived about around 4/5 hours early told we had tickets, given out 15 mins after, came back later and watched auditions! Really helpful staff and all really clear.

I managed to get 2 tickets through Applause for the X Factor final on saturday. Applied early ( november 26) and by december 2 I got the confirmation e-mail and the tickets. Went just before 9am to queue, 2 hours later we had the tickets in hand. The staff of Applause were very helpful , and not rude at all as some people might have experienced, in their earlier reviews. They answered questions, helped as much as they could, gave correct informations. When they handed us the tickets we were told to come back at 5.30pm and queue up at our entrance gate ( which turned out to be South West). 10 minutes later we were in , the queue was going fast, our bags were checked, very efficient, no fuss. Then we had to wait another approx 20 minutes and we were let in to get to our seats. They were side view seats in row G, but right next to the stage, so we did have good view. Also to me it was interesting to see all the behind the scenes things, how much work goes in to a live event ,when everything has to happen very fast. This was the first time I ever applied for tickets through Applause, but my first experience was great. Also couldn't fault the staff at Wembley at all. Thing is, being polite goes a long way. Don't expect anyone to be lovely if you are horrible to them. My advice is ,treat them as you would want to be treated, believe me, they are doing their best, some things they just can't help as it's out of their control. We were chatting with them , had a laugh, and they were delightful. If you are rude to them from the word go, what do you expect? The only negative thing was the rain, but that was no one's fault was it ;)

Was a priority customer as I attended a show but haven't seen much advantage of it. You don't always get the VIP, seats are random and they plug for things they cant fill rather than your preference. Customer service is applying no reply, then when I email to say I'm leaving they basically said bye instead of offering solutions to problems,

Still no reply from applause store a week later so I thought I'd post my email to them on here - Good Evening, I am absolutely disgusted with the way we were treated yesterday. Firstly, we were unaware that two sessions were being filmed therefore we arrived around 11am to collect our tickets however we were told to return at 3pm as we were due to see the evening show. We returned just before 1pm to check for any queues only to see that tickets/seats were already being given out considering we had been told to return at 3pm at which point we were then told to return at 8:30pm and queue at the front of the arena as the previous session had over ran. We returned later that evening around 7pm (the time the show was originally meant to start) at which point I double checked with one of the members of staff as to where we should queue who then advised us to queue at a different entrance (around the side of the arena), had we not of checked with the second person we would of spent a considerable amount of time queueing in the wrong place! The lack of communication and assistance from applause store staff was shocking. At approx 7:50pm we were then guided by a member of staff to form a queue, we were then kept in this queue until around 9:30pm when we were then allowed into the arena. The filming eventually started around 10:30pm which was then very enjoyable! However at 12:15am the filming was then halted and told that time has ran out and to leave at the nearest exit. As you can appreciate most people had travelled a considerable distance to get to Wembley. Our last train home was due to leave London Charing X at 12:30am, we had already anticipated that filming was going to take around 4-5hours and had made the decision to get the first train home Monday morning however by stopping the show half way through it left me and my family stranded with no means of getting home! We were 4 women, one of whom was only 16 years of age therefore our safest option to get home was via a taxi which cost us £60! It is clear that the X factor team/applause store have absolutely no regard for their customer/contestants satisfaction or safety. Overall an enjoyable day had been turned into a very stressful experience! This being my first ever experience using the applause store I am very reluctant to apply for tickets again and will advise others not too. I would appreciate a response to the points that I have raised and some reassurance as to how you intend to change my current views of applause store. Regards

I took my my 12 year old son to fountain studios yesterday hoping to see the BGT final having got an email stating " you have now successfully received tickets to attend the recording of Britains Got Talent 2016 live final taking place on Saturday 28th May 2016 at 18.45". We live in Bucks so took about 45 mins by car and train and arrived at the queue at 11.15 am and were quite near the front - only about 30 people in front of us. I did explain to my son we would be waiting all day and might not get in, but he still wanted to go. Anyway at about 4.00pm our tickets were checked and we were given numbers and told we would be going in about 5.15pm. They started sending people away from the back of the queue as there was no chance for them and gave a number cut off point as to who could get in - quite a few behind us. At about 7.00pm they said they were really sorry but we wouldn't be getting in after all and a burley security man pulled the barrier across at the new cut off point - they only let about 20 people in. There was a huge uproar as you can imagine and many people still hanging about including a mother and daughter who was considerably older than my son and had arrived a lot later than us and were a lot further back in the queue, were suddenly let in as the girl was upset. I was furious and asked " why have you let that mother and daughter in when they were well behind us in the queue, I have a 12 year old who's waited all day, look at him" to which the man replied " there's nothing I can do". (By the way my son is small for his age so doesn't look 12 and yes I had ID for him.) he just couldn't understand how they had let this girl in and not him. - he was gutted. Absolutely disgusting to treat a young child in this way. He's even gone off a certain judge although it's not his fault. They should not be allowed to give out that many stand by tickets if there's only about 500 seats that are already given to production crew and contestants family and friends. Complete waste of a whole day and money to travel and park. Will deffinately not be recommending Applause Store to anyone or use them again. Very unhappy mother.

Me and my husband went along to the Birmingham live shows. The judges were about 2 hours later but when we got in we had a fantastic time I would go again

My friend and I arrived in London about 10am ,the email quite clear stated eticket was on a first come first serve basis. We got our tickets and then went sight seeing. We made our way back to the theatre about 2.15 , we were told 3pm, we got in about 3.30pm and had a fantastic time . We left about 7.15 and headed home. The whole day cost about £25 for train and lunch and I would definitely recommend. We went with the attitude if we don't get tickets we will have a day out in London and we were not disappointed. Thank you Applause Store. Would have been nice to know we definitely had tickets but its free!

If I could give no stars I would. Very disappointing with applause store. My friend applied for Britain's got talent auditions at Liverpool empire. She got an email to say and I quote "we are really excited that you WILL be joining us for one of the spectacular auditions of this hit.... You and your guests WILL now officially join all the judges to help them decide who should or shouldn't go thru to the next round" It doesn't say we are really excited that you have a CHANCE of joining us. We arrived at 5.30 to que to be told there were no tickets left, stund and annoyed is an understatement and we weren't the only ones, there were alot of people there in the same situation. We bumped into a few people who had got tickets and I believe tickets were available from early in the day from at least 2.30pm and maybe alot earlier and that the last tickets were given at 4.30pm. On the email and again I quote it states "arrive by 19:00, it does not say tickets will be available from...VERY MISLEADING!!! And not made clear that you at this point you DO NOT have tickets. As I can see from on here this happens all the time and so I ask the question why has the system not been changed??!!?? I understand that this is a free event but People take time off work and pay to travel to the venue thinking they are definitely going to see the show they have been told they "WILL be joining" to only be turned away. I think it is absolutely disgusting and a very unfair system. There are fairer ways of distributing the tickets. They could allocate them to people and put their name and password allocated to them of which they have to show ID and give at the door and then if they don't turn up to take their seats they would be charged so as to ensure if they can't make it they cancel in advance so as to pass the seats on to someone else Who can make it.

Myself and 3 friends had priority tickets to see celebrity juice. It was fantastic, all of the applause store staff were happy and friendly, the studio crew were amazing. I would recommend this to anyone, the tickets are free which is amazing. The show itself was hilarious, I have never laughed so much, it was well organised, my only gripe would be people trying to queue jump on the grounds of being pregnant, this is not an illness or disability. It is annoying when most people have arrived several hours early to queue only to see people trying it on!! Unfortunately it worked for them, so shame on them. That was the only gripe, everything else was fantastic so thank you so much.

We had priority tickets to the x factor- which means we had guaranteed entrance and were the first to get seats. However, applause store said on the ticket it started at 10:30 however the show didn't start until 3pm. Our priority status meant nothing- in fact we were seated up the back. It is the applause store managers fault according to himself.

I was so excited to go to bgt semi final. Around 3 hours early, looking very hopeful!!! The queue moves 20 people, then nothing. 7.46pm we get told there are no seats. SURELY somebody knows how many seats there are in the place! They use a clicker to count the queue, so there must be an idea of seats left and should wait til the show starts to send us home!!!!