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Ticketmaster is a horrible company

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Re: Ticketmaster is a horrible company

#21

Post by jandrese »

brogrammernot wrote: post #16

They're also the worst company I've ever had a phone screen with. I remember being told it was with a member of the technical team, and it was a technical recruiter who asked me questions straight off of a paper that made no sense I hate having to use their service but they seem to be the best worst to use when it comes to selection. They screwed me a bit too when I bought a pair of pricey US Open tickets ($800+ tota…

Being an effective monopoly means you don't need to care about customer service.

Re: Ticketmaster is a horrible company

#22

Post by firloop »

nathancahill wrote: post #2

That "Minutes left to complete the purchase" is one of the oldest tricks in the sales book. I felt my blood pressure going up just looking at that gif, and I wasn't even buying tickets! Edit: I know why they do it, but it isn't necessary for most ticket sales. Just turn it on when there's high demand.

Not a huge Ticketmaster fan, but I actually don't have much of a problem with this as they have a complicated problem: allocate demand of a often scarce good (event tickets) in a way that's fair to non automated buyers. By placing a hold on the stock for a few minutes (rather than allocating at final checkout), it gives humans a fair chance to check out as their ability to secure the stock isn't based on how quickly they check out. Showing the time left to purchase is transparent to the buyer and eliminates confusion.

Re: Ticketmaster is a horrible company

#23

Post by tptacek »

I understand the psychology here, but it seems pretty irrational. Even after every modifier Ticketmaster applies, tickets to major events are underpriced, as evidenced by the fact that things like the Japandroids show this person bought tickets for almost certainly sold out, and by the fact that the secondary market for tickets clears.

I too would rather get one simple straightforward price, rather than the pointlessly itemized breakdown Ticketmaster provides. But that's just because I want to read and click less to make my purchase.

Re: Ticketmaster is a horrible company

#24

Post by jandrese »

jbverschoor wrote: post #8
jarjoura wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, it's 100x better than the old days of waiting in 6-8 hour lines to guarantee a ticket to popular events.

Have you ever tried to get a ticket for something popular with TM?

At least there is no wait, the website just stops responding for 5 minutes then comes back with "all tickets sold (to scalpers)".

Re: Ticketmaster is a horrible company

#25

Post by lolc »

drzaiusapelord wrote: post #9
nathancahill wrote: post #2

That "Minutes left to complete the purchase" is one of the oldest tricks in the sales book. I felt my blood pressure going up just looking at that gif, and I wasn't even buying tickets! Edit: I know why they do it, but it isn't necessary for most ticket sales. Just turn it on when there's high demand.

Thats to stop DOS attacks by putting all seats in a shopping cart and having the next guy who logs in see no seats available. You need to hold them somehow as it takes a couple minutes for most people to pull out their credit card and fill out the form, so you use a timer. If they don't finish, the seat gets listed as open again. I don't think its a sales tactic at all, but certainly can be made to look more urgent t…

Well that's a sensible explanation for events that sell out quickly. They shouldn't be trying to "upsell by default" on the smae page however.

Re: Ticketmaster is a horrible company

#26

Post by bradleyankrom »

SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #3

Can anyone offer any evidence to confirm or dispute the rumor I frequently see online in message boards that Ticketmaster is passing most of the profit from these fees onto the venues and it's really the venues that are doing the price gouging here? The idea that is frequently floated is that Ticketmaster bears the brunt of the hate from fans in exchange for letting the performers and venues collect most of the extra…

I can't point to tangible evidence, but I did work in the touring industry for a number of years. In venues that TM doesn't own, the exorbitant fees are not being driven by the venues, nor do they or the artists see any appreciable cut of those fees.

Edit: clarification

Re: Ticketmaster is a horrible company

#27

Post by tonylemesmer »

As somewhat of an antidote to the tale here, but probably worse than useless to a chap from Seattle, when I discovered this website[0] it restored my faith in humanity. I only discovered it after a similar experience on Ticketmaster and reached out to try and get some gig tickets a few years back. Scarlet Mist saved the day, even if it is a truly abysmal example of a website.

edit: oh yeah, and news is[1] that Ticketmaster / Livenation supplies tickets directly to touts/scalpers whatever they call them in your locality, so yes they truly are a horrible company.

[0] http://www.scarletmist.com/

[1] http://www.musicweek.com/live/read/reports-suggest-italian-g...

Re: Ticketmaster is a horrible company

#29

Post by x0x0 »

jarjoura wrote: post #4
nathancahill wrote: post #2

That "Minutes left to complete the purchase" is one of the oldest tricks in the sales book. I felt my blood pressure going up just looking at that gif, and I wasn't even buying tickets! Edit: I know why they do it, but it isn't necessary for most ticket sales. Just turn it on when there's high demand.

To be fair, it's 100x better than the old days of waiting in 6-8 hour lines to guarantee a ticket to popular events.

In the sense you can not get tickets from the convenience of your couch!

Re: Ticketmaster is a horrible company

#30

Post by Bartweiss »

SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #3

Can anyone offer any evidence to confirm or dispute the rumor I frequently see online in message boards that Ticketmaster is passing most of the profit from these fees onto the venues and it's really the venues that are doing the price gouging here? The idea that is frequently floated is that Ticketmaster bears the brunt of the hate from fans in exchange for letting the performers and venues collect most of the extra…

Sort of. Ticketmaster buys some venues (as LiveNation), and acquires exclusive online-ticket-sale rights to others. They enable this by pouring profit from fees into the venues (either to fund purchases or to afford licensing).

The result isn't greedy venues letting TicketMaster take the heat - if that were the case box office tickets wouldn't be so much cheaper. Instead, it's TicketMaster/LiveNation using venue lock-in to prevent artists from escaping their tendrils. There are some bands that have explicitly attempted to avoid using TicketMaster, and what they usually find is that it becomes very hard to find venues. In smaller cities/towns, it's often the case that there are no large non-TicketMaster theaters, so you can either feed the beast or abandon your fans in that location.

(So in a very indirect sense, TicketMaster is hiding behind zoning/licensing laws and that's why it can offer such anti-competitive pricing.)

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