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Ticketmaster is a horrible company

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Re: Ticketmaster is a horrible company

#211

Post by FireBeyond »

TallGuyShort wrote: post #58

Yeah they've been disgraceful to deal with for me too. They once double-booked seats I was in and I was given the option of being seated elsewhere or leaving with a refund. I opted to be seated elsewhere, but the venue took so long to do it I missed the first few songs and ended up seated where the show wasn't even visible. I was then refused a refund because it was too late to choose that option, and the venue insis…

Yeah, just like the tales from the NBA Playoffs, etc.

Got 200K Twitter followers? Ticket sites will "reach out to the team" to get you seats when they mess up.

No? Well, you'll get a "so sad, too bad, credit toward future purchases from us".

Also happened (one of the most egregious) - someone bought tickets to the Lakers in what would become, months later, Kobe's last home game. -MONTHS- after the purchase (and when ticket prices were now sky high for that game), buyer got an email saying "Sorry, the original seller told us he sold you those tickets by mistake. Here's a refund."

Re: Ticketmaster is a horrible company

#212

Post by vonklaus »

anoonmoose wrote: post #167
droithomme wrote: post #145

> "If I can help it, I will never order another ticket from them again." I find these to be weasel words. I don't use Ticketmaster. Full stop. If your concert uses Ticketmaster, I'm not going to that. It's not a problem because all the cool acts don't use Ticketmaster. Only lame old decrepit acts use Ticketmaster anyway. And if I wanted to see those, I'd go to Vegas, and at least get a comped all you can eat buffet a…

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…

Buy a prepaid vanilla visa. Give credit card info over the phone.

Give regular credit card over the phone.

Buy tickets on craigslist (at least not directly supporting TM)

Go a day early, buy tickets at the venue.

Have friend buy extra tickets at the venue.

Re: Ticketmaster is a horrible company

#213

Post by vonklaus »

dublinben wrote: post #203
Bahamut wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 Ticketmast…

Ticketmaster is immune to a ticket purchase boycott because of people like you who will go to great lengths to justify why they have no choice but to continue purchasing their tickets.

I agree. Patronizing a company diametrically opposed to one's interests is terrible. Disproportionately, music lovers seem to be the first to deride TM but defend why they won't use anything else.

Re: Ticketmaster is a horrible company

#214

Post by vonklaus »

elastic_church wrote: post #122
squozzer wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then the path to disruption is clear -- bypass the venues. Hmmm, maybe this Internet thing might be useful after all, assuming you can set up a decent streaming service and avoid the pitfalls.

Sounds like someone that hasn't seen music live, physically, for a long time. Computer speakers are incapable of replicating the sounds and air distortions that your body can actually feel. Computer screens are incapable of emulating the pyrotechnics that your body can actually feel even from way back of the venue. There are plenty other nuances that limit the utility of a streaming service.

What about buying rights to the liveatream and setting up a huge movie screen and sound system. Sell tickets to the live rebroadcasting venue.

Re: Ticketmaster is a horrible company

#215

Post by pzh »

anoonmoose wrote: post #167
droithomme wrote: post #145

> "If I can help it, I will never order another ticket from them again." I find these to be weasel words. I don't use Ticketmaster. Full stop. If your concert uses Ticketmaster, I'm not going to that. It's not a problem because all the cool acts don't use Ticketmaster. Only lame old decrepit acts use Ticketmaster anyway. And if I wanted to see those, I'd go to Vegas, and at least get a comped all you can eat buffet a…

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…

> Since I don't live in NYC, I don't want to give my CC number to some random theater employee over the phone

I seriously wonder why people are so paranoid about their CCs. Most cards have really good fraud protection with pretty much zero liability, and there's also the option of a virtual CC. E.g. some banks like Citicards allow you to generate a temporary CC number with a very low limit, and then you can safely give that number to any merchant over the phone or internet.

Re: Ticketmaster is a horrible company

#216

Post by syphilis2 »

rasz_pl wrote: post #181
toddmorey wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dating myself by mentioning this, but when I was in college Pearl Jam (huge at the time) tried to go around Ticketmaster and got their asses handed to them. They basically had to end up cancelling and offering refunds. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/pearl-jam-taking-on-t...

Louis CK was successful in 2012, although he admitted it meant playing smaller obscure theaters.

I bought tickets to his tour when he did that, it was as good a ticket buying experience as there could be, and even included a download of the show. It was disappointing to hear that he has since stopped doing his own ticket sales.

Previous comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11837453

Re: Ticketmaster is a horrible company

#217

Post by parthdesai »

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…

You are missing the point. It IS upto Ticketmaster to try and avoid scalpers/bots buying all the tickets and then reselling. Bring credit card that you bought tickets with and show it at the door along with government ID. It is easily possible. MLS is to blame, but so is Ticketmaster.

Re: Ticketmaster is a horrible company

#219

Post by jason_slack »

gnicholas wrote: post #185
jansenv wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Vistaprint tries to sell all sorts of addons after you've chosen what you want to buy. Got your business cards? Great—here's a mug, t-shirt, balloon, and hat that all say the same thing. Just finished your purchase? Here's an offer to get 50% more for a "discounted" price (which may actually be higher per-unit than what you just paid, if you used a coupon code). For me, Vistaprint has actually been a good vendor with…

Yes, I am so careful when I order from them!

Since you mentioned this practice. I don't use GoDaddy anymore because of all the stuff they try and add on and select it by default hoping you don't notice before you checkout.

Re: Ticketmaster is a horrible company

#220

Post by pvg »

parthdesai wrote: post #217
pvg wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

You are missing the point. It IS upto Ticketmaster to try and avoid scalpers/bots buying all the tickets and then reselling. Bring credit card that you bought tickets with and show it at the door along with government ID. It is easily possible. MLS is to blame, but so is Ticketmaster.

You can't tell me your point is the price is unreasonable when comparing non-comprable prices inaccurately and then when I say that's not true, I'm missing the point because ticketmaster, who doesn't organize the event or the venue, didn't magically run some fairer ticket distribution system. I mean. You can, it just doesn't make any sense.
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