Porirua father Lloyd Mareko, his wife Robyn (left), and his 16-year-old son Kona at the Bruno Mars concert. Photo / Supplied
Porirua father Lloyd Mareko, his wife Robyn (left), and his 16-year-old son Kona at the Bruno Mars concert. Photo / Supplied
The Porirua man who saved the day and made a generous gift to a Tauranga father stung by fake Bruno Mars tickets has come forward.
Tommy Wilson, known for his work at Te Tuinga Whanau Trust and his columns in the Bay of Plenty Times, travelled to Auckland's Spark Arena on Saturday with his wife and 13-year-old daughter for Mars' final New Zealand concert.
But Wilson and his family were left heartbroken as were a number of others after their tickets turned out to be fake.
Porirua father Lloyd Mareko, his wife, Robyn, his 16-year-old son, Kona, and 21-year-old niece, Emma, all had tickets for the concert and came to Wilson's rescue.
"My niece couldn't make the concert because she had netball trials for a Porirua rep team, so we had a spare ticket we were intending on selling to someone who needed it," Mareko told the Bay of Plenty Times today.
"As we were standing outside the venue my wife approached a young girl who she saw bawling her eyes out and on hearing the family had been scammed we offered to sell to her.
"We felt so gutted for her and her parents and offered to sell our spare ticket to them for $150 and Tommy wanted to give me the money straight away."
Porirua father Lloyd Mareko, his wife Robyn (left), and his 16-year-old son Kona at the Bruno Mars concert.
Mareko said Wilson only had $160 in notes and so they agreed to make the exchange after the concert.
He said Wilson's daughter had to sit with him and his family throughout the concert because of the ticket arrangements which did feel a "bit strange" at first.
"But I was really happy that Tommy was willing to trust me to take care of his daughter, and she clearly thoroughly enjoyed the concert as much as we did."
Mareko said it was a fantastic concert and he just regretted not having another two spare tickets for Wilson and his wife.
He said after the concert Wilson tried to hand over the money.
"But I said to my wife 'Let's just gift them the ticket'. Tommy insisted he must pay but seeing the huge smile on his daughter's face and how happy they all were that she hadn't missed out on the concert, we just couldn't take the money."
Mareko, a service centre manager at the Ministry of Social Development, said he felt a bit embarrassed by all the publicity after the story ran on The Project and in the New Zealand Herald.
"I'm a bit overwhelmed by all the attention and I just felt sorry for this family and didn't think twice about not taking the money," he said.
Wilson said Mareko's random act of "cuzzy kindness" has highlighted what the true map of the human heart looks like.
"We cannot stand by and watch these opportunists commit an offence that, in my mind, is far worse than many of the crimes we lock people up for.
"Imagine the hurt and shame these 70 innocent tamariki must be feeling right now by being ripped off, not to mention how their parents who didn't have a brown knight come and rescue them."
Wilson earlier said Mareko had "saved his little girl from sadness" and people like him needed to applauded and recognised.
While waiting outside the arena, Wilson banded together with other ticket scam victims.
The group collected contact details of each person who Wilson and another woman represented when he travelled to Wellington today to meet with the Commerce Commission.
The Commerce Commission announced this afternoon that Viagogo was under investigation following more than 200 consumer complaints.
The 228 complaints included 21 received over the past weekend alone, relating to upcoming sporting events and concerts including Celine Dion, Ed Sheeran, and Bruno Mars.
The Bay of Plenty Times was unable to contact Viagogo for comment.
Viagogo is a Swiss-based company that allows ticket holders to resell their tickets.
It does not necessarily represent the company running the website but the ticket holder.
On its website, Viagogo states that "buyers are guaranteed to receive valid tickets in time for the event. If a problem arises, Viagogo will step in to provide comparable replacement tickets or a refund".
