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Ticketmaster is a horrible company

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Re: Ticketmaster is a horrible company

#191

Post by [deleted] »

RUG3Y wrote: post #63
parthdesai wrote: post #41

I wanted to buy tickets for MLS final in Toronto this year. General Sale was at 1pm. I log on at 1pm, site doesn't load. Keep refreshing and all tickets are sold by 1:01pm. And rows appear on stubhub at 1:20pm for ~$500 a ticket. I can fucking watch Real Madrid vs Barcelona (arguably the biggest soccer game in the world after CL final) for a ticket price cheaper than that. Fuck Ticketmaster.

I've repeatedly experienced this frustration when trying to buy tickets to see big bands. It's impossible to buy a ticket for a major band these days, I just stick to small bands at local venues now.

[deleted]

Re: Ticketmaster is a horrible company

#192

Post by slantyyz »

pvg wrote: post #149
parthdesai wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The stadium seats 31K for a side that wouldn't even probably be good enough Segunda division. 2nd Leg of El Classico is usually crucial for title race. Ticket prices for CL final are : Category 4: €70 Category 3: €160 Category 2: €320 Category 1: €440 [0] It IS Ticketmaster's fault that fans don't even get a decent shot at buying the tickets. How do you justify site not loading at 1:00pm and tickets selling out at 1:…

I didn't miss your point, it just makes your comparison even worse. You're comparing secondary market ticket prices to tickets with artificially lowered prices sold through a lottery. Decent El Clasico tickets cost a lot more and the median income in Spain is about half the Canadian one. The relative quality of the games also doesn't really matter, what matters is there are a lot more people in Toronto who want to se…

>> what matters is there are a lot more people in Toronto who want to see an MLS final than there are places to put their butts in.

The TFC demand in Toronto is a very recent thing though. They pretty much sucked for most of their existence, and there's a huge hunger in Toronto to win a title from a "big league" sport, even if it is "just" MLS.

Re: Ticketmaster is a horrible company

#193

Post by Gargoyle »

ksenzee wrote: post #104
zdean wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"It is a testament to our weak antitrust laws that Ticketmaster has been able to gouge the public for decades with no repercussions whatsoever." Genuinely interested to know what is keeping a nimble new startup from stepping in and blowing this up.

No need for a new startup. Brown Paper Tickets is the obvious successor.

We used them for a film festival I helped run almost 10 years ago now. We were a pretty shoestring operation at the time and needed to get our cut of the money from the first few days' sales to fund an event at the end of the festival (whee!) and they were quite helpful in transferring it to us in an expedited manner.

I don't know how they are now, but they were great to work with then.

Re: Ticketmaster is a horrible company

#197

Post by kenbaylor »

cynoclast wrote: post #183
kenbaylor wrote: post #115

The Federal Trade Commission very actively prosecutes 'Deceptive Practices' that affect consumers. Sounds like the author (or anyone else affected) should file a complaint. A FTC 'consent decree' is effectively a $100m fine. Google, Microsoft and others have had to comply with FTC consent decrees: https://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/supmanual/cch/ftca....

What have they done to tm?

Looks like their last interactions were in 2010. Time for a rematch :-)

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2010/02/ticke...

Re: Ticketmaster is a horrible company

#198

Post by Bahamut »

dublinben wrote: post #180
anoonmoose wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're not serious, are you? As a person who goes to dozens of concerts a year, not using Ticketmaster would be a huge hassle. Let's take just one example: I'm going to see Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds in NYC. I have three options to get tickets directly: -Ticketmaster -In person -Over the phone Since I don't live in NYC, I don't want to give my CC number to some random theater employee over the phone, and I am not goin…

>I am not going to skip seeing my favorite band in the world, what do you suggest I do? See them somewhere else, in a venue that hasn't sold out to Ticketmaster.

Because people should spend potentially thousands of dollars just to avoid seeing one artist at a venue using Ticketmaster - this is ludicrous.

There were a couple of times I had no choice this year but to go through Ticketmaster because they were the only times when the day & location aligned. I had little choice when booking an Iron Maiden ticket, or a ticket to two Dream Theater shows. I generally avoid Ticketmaster when I can and when it is convenient enough to do so, but I'm not going to idiotically avoid going to a show I want to go to and sacrifice enormous time & money to not use Ticketmaster.

The reality is that Ticketmaster is largely immune to a ticket purchase boycott - their involvement in owning venues mitigates the effect of a boycott because they're the only way to see a huge swath of entertainment.

Re: Ticketmaster is a horrible company

#199

Post by aioprisan »

codazoda wrote: post #88

Listen, I'm no fan of Ticketmaster but you should be very careful in your wording of a piece like this. Although clearly opinion, it contains real slander and you should tread lightly. For example, "Which means that ticketmaster is purposefully delaying their efficiency in order to get people to purchase more expensive shipping times". This is the conclusion you came to but the company may be able to prove it has the…

It's neither slander nor defamation, it's someone's opinion based on a very real, repeatable, documented experience.

Re: Ticketmaster is a horrible company

#200

Post by tim333 »

jansenv wrote: post #177
austinjp wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Much of this reminds me of Vistaprint and Ryan Air. Horrible.

What evils has Vistaprint committed? I'm curious. I know their products suck.

Vistaprint effectively stole £30 off me when I ordered a few business cards for £5 or so. It seemed fine but four months later I found £10/month disappearing from my credit card. After calling the bank I found Vistaprint had signed me up to some 'discount club', presumably because I didn't check some no thanks box in the small print that I didn't see. I complained but only got the last payment refunded.
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