But Cup bosses say if people had picked a second seating option then they should have got a ticket for the game.
Waihola woman Jacqui Frood said she was disappointed to miss out on a category A ticket for the three games to be played at Dunedin, after being bombarded with brochures urging her to get in quickly when sales opened.
She said having been a season ticket-holder at Carisbrook for more than 30 years, it was disappointing she was not able to get a category A ticket for the three games.
She had not ticked a second option, and was upset she had missed out.
"It was a bit ridiculous, considering all the material they sent to me telling me to get in early to get my tickets. Yet, I did that and missed out," Frood said.
She was so "brassed off" about missing out that she did not apply when she got a second chance last month, and would now have to look at going for tickets to individual games, which would go on sale next month.
Dunedin man Eric Lord said he was bemused to hear talk of slow Dunedin ticket sales when he had missed out on category A tickets.
He had now applied for category C tickets for the games and also got tickets for a quarterfinal.
He initially had sought only category A tickets as he thought not many would apply.
Dunedin woman Joy Hunter said her family and friends had applied for six category A Dunedin venue packs and not got any.
She had not applied for another category.
She said it was disappointing and would have to look at another way to get tickets.
Rugby New Zealand 2011 marketing and communications manager Shane Harmon said category A tickets were covered seats between the trylines and were limited, especially in Dunedin.
Only the main stand at Carisbrook fits the bill.
That had meant a high demand for those tickets, which led to people missing out.
"From the very beginning our advice has been very clear that to choose the next best seating option. It was limited in some categories and so people would have to go to the next option," he said.
"One of the challenges with Dunedin was that they still have to confirm their venue and we had to go with Carisbrook and they do not have that many covered seats between the try lines.
It should improve if the new stadium becomes available and there will be more seats."
There are 2976 seats in the main stand.
Dunedin ticket buyers had the option to buy category C tickets in a second-chance sale last month.
Harmon said as the World Cup was a separate venture, ground member tickets did not come into calculation in securing tickets, although he said a third of tickets had been kept aside for the New Zealand rugby family early on.
Many grounds and packs had been oversubscribed.
Eden Park and the All Blacks were particularly popular.
Individual match tickets would go on sale on September 10 and ticket sales numbers for games and grounds will be released later this month.
Harmon said about 500,000 tickets had been sold already, a number with which he was very happy.
A total of 1.75 million tickets are for sale at the tournament.
The tournament starts on September 9 next year, at Eden Park, when the All Blacks play Tonga.
The first game in Dunedin is between Scotland and Georgia, on September 14.
England will play either Uruguay or Romania on September 24 in Dunedin and the third game in the city will be a clash between Ireland and Italy on October 2.
A decision on whether Forsyth Barr Stadium will be used for the games will be made next year.
If it is used, category A tickets will be much more widely available, as there will be at least 10,000 prime seats between the 22m lines at the stadium.
