FRINGE chiefs were told at least six months ago they were heading for disaster with their new untested ticketing system but ignored the warning, Scotland on Sunday can reveal.
The world's biggest arts festival has been thrown into chaos by a series of computer failures which crippled ticket sales.
Now venue owners and performers have revealed that they raised fears about the introduction of an untried computer system
as far back as February.
One venue operator, who himself raised concerns, described the event organisers as having a "village fete mentality" and called for a shake-up at the highest level.
And comic Ed Byrne, whose opening show was oversold by the Fringe box office, said he had been left "flabbergasted" by the handling of events.
Problems with the Fringe box office system have seen telephone and counter sales being suspended on numerous occasions. Printing problems meant that more than 150,000 tickets were not sent out until the last minute. In addition, some performances have been oversold, meaning people have had to be turned away.
The chaos, which has left promoters, performers and customers disappointed, meant that the Fringe was forced to borrow the box office system of the festival's "big four" venues to help clear the backlog.
The problems have centred around the new Liquid Box Office system, supplied by Pivotal Integration, which was launched in June but crashed the following day. An alternative system was brought in, but it too was plagued by a series of technical glitches.
Julian Caddy, the director of Sweet, which operates performance spaces at Edinburgh College of Art, Teviot Place and The Grassmarket, said: "The Fringe Society were warned well in advance about the computer system. It is something that people have been talking about, and raising concerns about, for many months now.
"They were most certainly told that bringing in a new computer system so late in the day was a real gamble. We were only told in February."
Caddy said that he and other venue managers expressed doubts at that time about getting the system up and running successfully in the short time available.
"We have been kept in the dark about the gravity of the situation and the depth of the problems that existed. The fact that this needless situation has been allowed to develop has very badly damaged my faith in the Fringe Society."
Caddy said the uncertainty had caused severe problems for him and his colleagues. He claimed the situation was not helped by the Fringe supplying the venue with three box-office printers that were not compatible with the new system.
"We have not had a box office since June and we only managed to process our first ticket a few days ago. We are very, very out of pocket.
"We have spent well over £100,000 in getting the venue up and running and there has been no box office revenue coming in. We have been literally working through the night to get this mess sorted, and our box office manager didn't go to bed for three or four nights."
Award-winning comedian Ed Byrne was dismayed to learn that 155 too many tickets had been "sold" for his sellout opening show.
He told Scotland on Sunday: "The whole ticket fiasco has been very annoying. My understanding is that the venues warned the Fringe box office that the software that they were using was not going to be up and running on time.
"I've been left flabbergasted by the fact that they went ahead anyway and tried to use this system without any practice.
"I think this will damage the Fringe as an organisation. I think what may very well happen is that in future big venues like the Underbelly, Pleasance, Assembly and Gilded Balloon will just sell all their own tickets and not rely on the Fringe any more."
The Irish TV comedian is calling on the Fringe to compensate those affected by overselling, which also hit 20 other performances.
"People paid £5 to see my preview show, but 155 of them will now have to pay extra to see a show where the price is £15.
"The Fringe messed up and they should pay the difference and book people in for another show, but they won't do it. There needs to be an investigation after the Festival to find out exactly what has gone wrong."
One Festival insider said that is exactly what would happen. He said: "I would love to be a fly on the wall at the first meeting of the Fringe board after the Festival. There will be fireworks, that is for sure. It will be interesting to see who, if anyone, is held to account for this mess."
Fringe chiefs have already committed themselves to a post-Fringe review, which could see the controversial Pivotal ticketing system being ditched.
A spokesman for one of the bigger venues said: "It was blindingly obvious that debuting an untried software system just before the Festival was a potential recipe for disaster and we made our feelings known."
The veteran director of the Assembly Rooms, Bill Burdett-Coutts, described the ticketing difficulties as the biggest problem in his three decades of involvement. He said: "The Fringe set-up has been a mess and we should have been ringing alarm bells a month ago.
"Whenever you introduce a new software system there are inevitably problems. It is probably the most complex ticketing system in the world. I'm very grateful that we are now up and running, but if we had opened any earlier we would have been in big trouble."
Faith Liddell, director of Festivals Edinburgh, the umbrella body for the festivals, declined to comment on Fringe ticketing problems, saying: "What we are interested in is the quality of the audience experience. We don't comment on individual organisations."
But one independent events organiser was not surprised at the difficulties.
He said: "Given the size of the project it makes no sense whatsoever to still be in an experimental stage just weeks before the tickets went on sale.
"When you launch a new computer system something inevitably goes wrong and you must be prepared for that."
The controversy has emerged at the worst possible time for the Fringe. The event has already been rocked by the big four venues breaking away to create their own Edinburgh Comedy Festival, while other rival "Fringe" events in Camden and Brighton have been growing in strength.
The impact of the credit crunch has been blamed for the "widespread" availability of accommodation in Edinburgh for the opening weekend, fuelling fears that some arts fans are choosing to stay away. Hotel bookings are thought to be down 6% on last year. A VisitScotland spokeswoman said: "There is an economic downturn affecting the whole of the UK, and Edinburgh is no exception."
The event contributes more than £135m to the nation's economy.
No one was available for comment at Pivotal Integration.
