February 2, 2009

How Do We Put An End to Ticket Scalping Once and For All?

Tickets for Bruce went on sale at 10:00 am this morning. I was on Ticketbastard's Ticketmaster's website at 10:00 am and had a two minute wait.

A pair of sweet tickets popped up, I was thrilled. I went through the steps, hit "purchase" and waited for a confirmation. It seemed to be taking longer than it should. I started to get nervous and opened a new window and started a separate purchase just in case something went wrong with these "too good to be true" seats. Sure as shit, up popped a notice saying something about a problem with the purchase and to try again.

By this time there was a 9 minute wait to get tickets! When my next set of tickets came up they were literally the worst seats in the house - literally I am not exaggerating here, top row furthest from the stage. But alongside the option to buy these sad seats was the option to buy some EXCELLENT seats from a company called "Ticket Now" for THREE TO TEN TIMES - YES

THREE TO TEN TIMES

MORE

than the face value of Ticketmaster. And guess who owns Ticket Now? Right. Ticketmaster.

How can this be legal?

WILL SOMEONE TELL ME HOW THE F*CK THIS CAN BE LEGAL?

I purchased the crap@ass seats and will sit in them if I have to but damn it I am pissed. This happens to me every time. There are only two bands I go to see (you know who they are) and I want GOOD SEATS. I am even willing to pay a couple hundred bucks for good seats, that's not the point. The point is they don't give us a fair chance to buy them. Its bullshit.

10 comments:

chez bez said...

I wish Eddie Veddar had achieved more success in his fight with them way back when.

Anyway, I'm glad you're going. I've only seen Bruce once, but what a show!

Dan said...

It happens everytime I try and purchase as well. I even e-mailed the ticket broker to see how in the hell they get the best tickets. I got a reply and he was a real jerk! Saying something like they pay a lot of money to get those tickets. Seems like a scam to me.

Jessica said...

I hate that too! So annoying, and I think most of the time they are scam artists. I'm glad you are going though! :)

Wonder Boy said...

It's legal because our lame lawmakers allow it to be legal. I think the system stinks and have blogged about it myself when my frustration boils over. I have been to countless concerts in my life and only got good tickets through ticketmaster once. The rest of the time, the seats are crappy or I paid a kings ransom for the tickets.

The whole Ticketbastard thing needs to be reworked. The system right now favors the brokers and the rich. The artists don't get a share of the excess ticket profits. How can some talentless ticket dweeb make more money on a concert than the artist? It blows my mind.

Back before brokers were legal, I knew a guy that was rich by the time he was 20 because he had connections in the ticket offices of most of the venues in Chicago. No skill really, just conections.

It ain't right.

Barb, whats the best seat you've ever had at a Springsteen show?

Jeff said...

One of my favorite things about buying tickets from Ticketmaster are the twenty dollars in "convenience charges" I get charged for each ticket I buy. I'm not sure what convenience they are doing me to charge me an additional twenty dollars a ticket, but all I know is it makes me that much poorer.

Jeff said...

Oh by the way, I would highly recomend checking Ticketmaster every day until the date of the actual show. I scored GA tickets to Metallica two days before the show despite it being sold out. It seems like they release extra tickets closer to the date of the show. If you find better tickets you could always be the kind scalper who is willing to sell their tickets at face value to real fans.

Vinny "Bond" Marini said...

TicketMaster has ruined the concert business...totally ruined it

I agree with your review below almost 100% ...including the Patti comment...What was she thinking???? I almost thought it was someone else

Bar L. said...

Thanks everyone. I have seen so many similar posts and facebook comments on this very subject in the last day! THE PEOPLE ARE MAD BUT HOW DO WE GET OUR VOICES HEARD WITHOUT MISSING OUT ON OUR BELOVED CONCERTS?

Jeff, good tip, I am going to do that. Thanks!

Mike said...

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - A New Jersey congressman is demanding an investigation after Bruce Springsteen fans were unable to buy tickets from Ticketmaster's Web site — which then promptly offered them more expensive tickets from a subsidiary.

U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell of Paterson wants the Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department to investigate possible conflicts of interest involving Ticketmaster and a ticket reseller it owns, TicketsNow.

When tickets for Springsteen's Meadowlands show went on sale Monday, some fans got an error message on their computer screen that shut them out from buying tickets. A TicketsNow ad offered tickets for hundreds of dollars more than face value.

A Ticketmaster spokesman says only a few fans reported problems.

Cinnamon Girl said...

I live in fear of the presale for U2. It didn't go so well on the fan site last time around. I don't even know if they are going to do a presale. I am gonna do GA this time anyhow.

Oh God, and Green Day will be touring soon. MORE Ticketmaster. That is why I love small venues.

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