I HATE Ticketmaster
So today is my Mom's birthday, and she decided she wanted tickets to see Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band at Giants Stadium in July. The shows happen to be at the same time as Macworld so it actually works out pretty well.
So at 9 AM, I had various computers going on ticketmaster.com and had two phone lines and a few cell phones trying to reach Ticketmaster. It's very hard to get tickets to see Springsteen no matter what venue he's playing so we had to be on the ball. His CBS special last night only fueled the chances that we wouldn't get tickets.
Immediately, all of my computers were placed in queues of 15 minutes or longer. After a while, they would time out, one by one, or would go down in time until it would reach 'less than one minute' when they would either shoot back up in wait time or give me some kind of bogus error.
My Mom was in a queue for about 40 minutes and it finally got down to 'less than one minute' when she got an error. When she refreshed the page, she was told tickets were sold out for the event. After sitting by the computer for 2.5 hours on your birthday to try and get tickets to a concert, only to come up empty handed, she was very upset.
She came into my room, very disappointed saying that she got the message that tickets were sold out. Just as I was about to close down, I got into the system. I scored 6 tickets in the nosebleed section (325) for Thursday night.
From what I've heard, New York radio stations were airing ads for some 1-800 ticket agency before the tickets were even on sale advertising that they had 'thousands of seats'. eBay auctions have sets of 2 seats together up for $1000.
But after trying non stop for 2 hours and 22 minutes, I finally got into the system and scored the tickets. It was almost a ruined birthday so I'm glad things worked out, but Ticketmaster has to get their act together because scalpers are scoring all of the tickets over regular people. To wait in a queue for an hour, only for it to shoot out an error is totally unacceptable.
The sad thing is that they probably won't ever fix the problems as they have no incentive to- they are a monopoly. If there was an alternate ticket broker besides Ticketmaster, I would have gladly tried them first.
So at 9 AM, I had various computers going on ticketmaster.com and had two phone lines and a few cell phones trying to reach Ticketmaster. It's very hard to get tickets to see Springsteen no matter what venue he's playing so we had to be on the ball. His CBS special last night only fueled the chances that we wouldn't get tickets.
Immediately, all of my computers were placed in queues of 15 minutes or longer. After a while, they would time out, one by one, or would go down in time until it would reach 'less than one minute' when they would either shoot back up in wait time or give me some kind of bogus error.
My Mom was in a queue for about 40 minutes and it finally got down to 'less than one minute' when she got an error. When she refreshed the page, she was told tickets were sold out for the event. After sitting by the computer for 2.5 hours on your birthday to try and get tickets to a concert, only to come up empty handed, she was very upset.
She came into my room, very disappointed saying that she got the message that tickets were sold out. Just as I was about to close down, I got into the system. I scored 6 tickets in the nosebleed section (325) for Thursday night.
From what I've heard, New York radio stations were airing ads for some 1-800 ticket agency before the tickets were even on sale advertising that they had 'thousands of seats'. eBay auctions have sets of 2 seats together up for $1000.
But after trying non stop for 2 hours and 22 minutes, I finally got into the system and scored the tickets. It was almost a ruined birthday so I'm glad things worked out, but Ticketmaster has to get their act together because scalpers are scoring all of the tickets over regular people. To wait in a queue for an hour, only for it to shoot out an error is totally unacceptable.
The sad thing is that they probably won't ever fix the problems as they have no incentive to- they are a monopoly. If there was an alternate ticket broker besides Ticketmaster, I would have gladly tried them first.
Comments
PS Yes, I know you're a man and I'm not just confused by the FRAN name. But I'm simply just kidding.
I haven't been to a stadium concert or sporting event in years so I haven't had to deal with it. Too expensive and sitting in the nose bleed section for a concert is the equivilant of listening to the performer at home on your iPod.
I like smaller venues, less people and more intimacy with the performers. Plus, I'm not of a big sporting fan.
I heard Metallica tickets were going for $85.00 each. Guess they have a lot of lawyer fees to pay...
go to the south bronx and very rarely are there many people online for a clapton, u2, or pearl jam concert
Then, there are probably people who log on with computer farms to make sure they get as many as they can to scalp them...well, on eBay.
It's ridiculous. Next time Dave Matthews Band is to come to K.C., I'm going to have to figure out a good way to get decent tickets. Otherwise, I don't have a prayer...except for paying out the ass or winning them from a radio station.
EDIT: If I don't get tickets this next time, I may just have to buy one of their concert DVD's and crank it in my house. <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" /> <img src="graemlins/oyvey.gif" border="0" alt="[oyvey]" />
[ 03-01-2003: Message edited by: CosmoNut ]</p>
It would seem that the "professional" scalpers have a lock on the system. Maybe a type of lottery would be better.
On another note, Fran did you watch the Bruce special? My wife was the post super on it.
Ticketmaster is in the same league as the College Board. Monopolistic bastards
The next day I pick up the tickets from the box office. They have my name on them and say purchased with visa. Huh? Check with my mum's bank and they have taken money of her switch card. Also huh? I can't check my card 'cos I don't have telephone banking. So we phone ticketmaster. After about an hour of being transferred from person to person, trying to find someone who knows what they were doing, I was told that the system got the orders mixed up. They had taken money from my mum's card but printed the receipt as if they took it from my card.
When we went for the show the next day, we found they'd also double booked our seats. A few minutes after we sat down, another couple came along with tickets for the same seats on the same day. They were very nice and went to find a staff member, and I assume they were given more seats 'cos they didn't return.
Amorya
I'm really curious as to what is so damned convenient about buying tickets these days...
ull like it.. if u hate ticketmaster The Walking Dead - Ticketmaster Apocalypse -
What other places are Ticketmaster outlets?
fed up of Ticketmaster's High Ticketing Fee?? then ull like this video
- Check our blogs at www.fanarchist.com and feel free to share your views and experiences with us.
fed up of Ticketmaster's High Ticketing Fee?? then ull like this video
- Check our blogs at www.fanarchist.com and feel free to share your views and experiences with us.