TicketBastards
My bitch with Ticket master.
I bought a couple tickets for a Bad Religion show in Chicago at the House of blues for Julie and her step-brother, Tim. I bought the tickets because I was the one who had computerized money (credit card/debit card). I am not going to be at the show as i will be 500 miles away back in Nashville.
The first thing you notice is the ridiculous charges that they add-on to the purchase of your ticket...
ticket price......................................23.00 x2
Building facility charge........................2.00 x2
"convenience" charge.........................8.55 x2
additional taxes................................0.70
order processing fee..........................4.60
ticketFast (print the ticket out yourself)....2.50
for a total of ...................................74.90
WOW!
now here's the deal, i originally clicked the will call option as we're less than 10 days away from the show and ticket master wont mail them to you after that (for free. they will charge a lot to have them expedited by carrier). will call was our best and cheapest option. HOWEVER, after purchasing the tickets i noticed a disclaimer: the person who bought the tickets has to be present with the actual credit card and a photo ID to present to will call to receive the tickets. Well, fuck. i was going to be 500 miles back home in Nashville.
so then i called ticketmaster and waited 15 minutes for a CSR. I told them that I cant be at the show and that the tickets were bought as gifts. He said something about a "special will call" but that would still have to be a person with the same last name as mine picking up the tickets. that would not work either as julie does not have the same last name as me. so he then suggested the "print your own ticket" option. i said, "what"? he said, yeah, you can just print them out yourself. I said sure, that's fine. He also said that it would be 2.50 to do that. I said, Whoah! there's no way i'm going to pay anymore for these tickets. he was already charging me 26 bucks over the cost of the tickets as it was! I told him that their policy created the inconvenienced and that I won't pay that. (look at me fighting for my 2.50!). he ended up waiving the TicketFast charge and emailed the tickets to me.
I began to ask him about their policy and that i'ts easier to get on a plane than it is to apparently pick up a ticket at will call. if I purchased a ticket online and printed out a conformation, i should be able to use that conformation page to pick up said tickets. It's the same concept as a boarding pass. show them the info you have and a photo Id to match the data that they have and all is well. but no. Ticket master has to suck! He just said that he was sorry a lot. he even said he would have it "looked into." well, I'm glad he's on it!
but aside form the almost total failure of nobody being able to go to that show if i didn't notice some fine print at the end. I think it should be noted that TicketMaster charges WAY TOO MUCH for what they do. I personally don't want to be a customer of their's anymore. I will do what i can to avoid anything purchased thru ticketmaster. I hope you will do the same.
with the advent of the internet, I'm sure that in time local venues will be able to sell their own tickets more easily and cheaply. we can only wait and encourage them to do so but in the meantime, I'll be going to the venues and buying tickets straight from them.
I bought a couple tickets for a Bad Religion show in Chicago at the House of blues for Julie and her step-brother, Tim. I bought the tickets because I was the one who had computerized money (credit card/debit card). I am not going to be at the show as i will be 500 miles away back in Nashville.
The first thing you notice is the ridiculous charges that they add-on to the purchase of your ticket...
ticket price......................................23.00 x2
Building facility charge........................2.00 x2
"convenience" charge.........................8.55 x2
additional taxes................................0.70
order processing fee..........................4.60
ticketFast (print the ticket out yourself)....2.50
for a total of ...................................74.90
WOW!
now here's the deal, i originally clicked the will call option as we're less than 10 days away from the show and ticket master wont mail them to you after that (for free. they will charge a lot to have them expedited by carrier). will call was our best and cheapest option. HOWEVER, after purchasing the tickets i noticed a disclaimer: the person who bought the tickets has to be present with the actual credit card and a photo ID to present to will call to receive the tickets. Well, fuck. i was going to be 500 miles back home in Nashville.
so then i called ticketmaster and waited 15 minutes for a CSR. I told them that I cant be at the show and that the tickets were bought as gifts. He said something about a "special will call" but that would still have to be a person with the same last name as mine picking up the tickets. that would not work either as julie does not have the same last name as me. so he then suggested the "print your own ticket" option. i said, "what"? he said, yeah, you can just print them out yourself. I said sure, that's fine. He also said that it would be 2.50 to do that. I said, Whoah! there's no way i'm going to pay anymore for these tickets. he was already charging me 26 bucks over the cost of the tickets as it was! I told him that their policy created the inconvenienced and that I won't pay that. (look at me fighting for my 2.50!). he ended up waiving the TicketFast charge and emailed the tickets to me.
I began to ask him about their policy and that i'ts easier to get on a plane than it is to apparently pick up a ticket at will call. if I purchased a ticket online and printed out a conformation, i should be able to use that conformation page to pick up said tickets. It's the same concept as a boarding pass. show them the info you have and a photo Id to match the data that they have and all is well. but no. Ticket master has to suck! He just said that he was sorry a lot. he even said he would have it "looked into." well, I'm glad he's on it!
but aside form the almost total failure of nobody being able to go to that show if i didn't notice some fine print at the end. I think it should be noted that TicketMaster charges WAY TOO MUCH for what they do. I personally don't want to be a customer of their's anymore. I will do what i can to avoid anything purchased thru ticketmaster. I hope you will do the same.
with the advent of the internet, I'm sure that in time local venues will be able to sell their own tickets more easily and cheaply. we can only wait and encourage them to do so but in the meantime, I'll be going to the venues and buying tickets straight from them.