Viagogo have hit back over claims they are scamming people over Elton John tickets, saying that they offer better prices to his concerts than the legitimate re-seller site.

Legendary rocket Elton John is set to play three shows in New Zealand early next year, with standard tickets ranging from $130 through to $330.

Fans have been left distraught after tickets were snapped up quickly, with the Mission Estate concert in Napier selling out entirely during the pre-sale. 

Yesterday, promoter Michael Chugg told Andrew Dickens that those who miss out should not buy tickets from Viagogo as they would not be honoured.

"Half the time they don't even have the tickets. They're taking the money and speculating that they're going to get tickets."

Viagogo today responded to Chugg's claim. In a statement, a spokesperson claims that "a majority of tickets" are being sold through the most expensive VIP and Platinum channels, shutting out most customers.

"In fact, last week so called “platinum tickets” were already on offer on Ticketmaster (ahead of the Elton John fan club presale) for upwards of $1,000 per ticket," the spokesperson said. 

He says that Viagogo provides a competitive price to those packages, "which are just window dressing to charge triple the face value for a cheap glass of wine and a lanyard". 

“The tickets sold on Viagogo’s platform are genuine tickets that have been sold on by the original ticket purchaser in good faith."

Refusing people entry for using resold tickets is "unfair, unenforceable and illegal", the spokesperson said. 

A second Mission Estate concert has been announced.