how i hate ticketmaster

[shopper]

trying to get tickets this a.m. for sk8 with elvis was like pulling teeth..
at 10 a.m. right on the nose they are saying that 14th row is the best seats.. give me a break... and after all the aggrevation, having to pay $9.00 extra a ticket for their crappy service... just had to vent.

[adrianchew]

Ok - I'll share the secret - 9AM is not the best time to buy tickets online. Keep on toying with their site constantly until something better shows up. Sometimes it can take half a day. Yeah... and you get slapped with the "convenience" charge too... I wonder why they can't show you a realtime grid of the arena with available seats and let you pick? Surely the $9/ticket must go towards something? :roll:

[dbny]

I hate Ticketmaster too! I have two teenaged daughters who each wanted four tix to the same Weezer concert. I bought them in two separate sessions, with different credit cards. I printed the online receipts. Evidently, having the same address was enough to get the second set of tix cancelled WITH NO NOTICE! You can't imagine the stress this caused in my household when we finally found out that we weren't getting all the tix just two days before the event. When I am forced to use Ticketmaster nowadays, I go in person and pay cash. They will get as little of my $ as I can manage.

[Sing_Alto]

I despise Ticketmaster, too. I called one minute early (according to them) to get tickets for the '97 U.S. Pro., and they made me call back! When I finally got through, the best seats I could get were 13th row. What a racket they have going!

[hydro]

I wonder why they can't show you a realtime grid of the arena with available seats and let you pick

the reason this will never happen is because Ticketmaster wants you to think you are getting the best available tickets from the entire arena or theatre, but really, you are only getting the best available tickets that are offered to the general public.

there are tons of ticket promotions where the best seats are never seen anywhere on ticketmaster. radio, company sponsors, etc get tickets ahead of time that are usually better than commercially released tickets.

don't be fooled by Pre-sales either! a pre-sale doesn't offer you an advantage in seating area, just that you get your tickets early. only about 30% of tickets are released during a pre-sale, and are always scattered around the venue. most times the best commercial tickets are left for the regular sale.

some ticketmaster tips:
1. buy tickets on a fast connection. if you don't have cable or dsl, find one to buy your tickets. i always buy my tickets through the school's T1 line, it gets me through very quickly. when i ordered Madonna tickets (everyone of her shows sold out in under 10 min), i got floor seats using a T1 line, while my sister got upper level seats using a modem. we both bought our tickets at 10am when the show went on sale. i have other examples of this, but just suffice it to say, get yourself to a fast connection.

2. Try to ticket upgrade. a lot of times the best tickets are never sold. when i went to go see Tori Amos, i asked for a ticket upgrade when i go the the venue. my original ticket was for upper level seating, and i traded for a ticket 5 rows in front of the stage. why was i able to do this? most tickets are sold in groups, 2 or 4 or 6, so rows get split up. so rows are left with an odd number at the ends or in the middle. if you don't mind sitting by yourself, try an upgrade.

3. finally, don't buy tickets in large groups! you most likely won't get good seats. either buy 2 or 1 tickets. i've found that when i buy 1 ticket at a time, i usually get in the very best sections. for ice shows, i'm usually center ice about 3 rows up. for concerts i've always gotten 2-3 rows from the stage. if you don't mind sitting by yourself and catching up with the people you go with before and after the show, this works out well. for concerts, i usually tend to do this. for ice shows, i like to sit with people, so i get 2 seats together.

ticketmaster is a pain, but if you work the system a little, you can usually end up with pretty good seats. also, never ever rely on venue maps online, CALL the venue for seating information before tickets go on sale and you fork over a lot of money.

oh, and you know that tripe about no ticket refunds? if you make enough noise, you'll get your money back, especially if you call 72 hours before the actual event.

[jeb]

I also find it better to go to an actual ticketmaster outlet, and talk to a person. Yesterday, when I phoned at 1:00 p.m., as soon as I finished work, the "best available seats" were 18th row. I drove to the nearest ticketmaster outlet, about 20 minutes, and was able to get row 1, centre ice. (single ticket) I told the lady that I would rather be off centre, but closer to the ice, and somehow she found these centre ice front row seats. I'm not sure how that happened, but I consider myself very lucky.

[shopper]

well i was there right at 10 and i spoke in person to a total stupid individual who kept telling me i should be happy with what they can give me...
and he said there was no first row seat no where... never even discussed how many tickets i wanted...
so they either lie or just issue some seats and when those sections are full, go to another section... don't know but really am annoyed.

[~RL~]

I know how you feel... dealing with Ticketmaster can be really frustrating! A couple of years ago I was ordering tickets for Stars On Ice and I went to a ticketmaster outlet in person to get tickets as soon as the went on sale. I asked for 3 tickets, best possible seats, and was thrilled to find out they had front row ice level seats (I've never sat along the ice before so I was thrilled to get the opportunity). The ticketmaster lady took her time showing me the seating chart on the screen and putting the order through. Then she went to confirm the details with me and said "Okay, so that TWO seats, row 1..." She had only put two seats into the computer when we needed three! So she had to go back and redo the whole order, and we ended up about 15 rows back. I couldn't believe my bad luck!!! I'm sure it was an honest mistake, but it still made me really mad. The person who worked there didn't seem to care either, and that really bothered me too. Even if there was nothing she could do to fix it, an apology would have been nice. And I STILL haven't had on ice seats yet, after years of going to Stars On Ice and other shows. It would have been so great...

[Tpangner]

The same thing happen to me on Admission when I ordered my tickets. On the website, there were only tickets remining behind the net so I decided to call and I ended up with first row tickets on the side !!! I think next time I'll call first !!:D ;) :P

[JD]

I hate TM too----I had seats second row, centre ice-but then when I put my stuff through-at 9:59 AM--ticketmaster deleted my express ordering, etc, etc...happened three more times, and spent 20 minutes trying to get through by phone-at work, mind ouy, by the time I had a chance to do it again-it was section 303---just crazy...my little girl had her heart set on the lower level-where she could actually see-and for $60 a piece, I wasn't go to take the top level when bottom is same price....grrrr so we haven't gotten them yet...we were hoping better tickets might get released-or maybe we will win some...:(

[Sassafras]

The article on Ticketmaster's refund policy was in Thursday's paper -

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E23827%257E883537,00.html?search=filt er

I'd like to see the same reporters do a story on their seating policy! :evil:

[speedy]

I was under the impression that you pre-order SOI tickets through the mail anyway, not through Ticketmaster, if you want the best seats. That's what we did a couple of years ago and we got awesome on-ice seats by mailing in the order form as soon as they were available. We also got front row seats for COI during the Internet pre-sale last year, so that's not true that the pre-sale means nothing LOL. There is no way we would have received front-row seats by waiting to buy later! Yes Ticketmaster is a huge scam operation as far as this "best available seat" business but it also depends what event you're buying tickets for...I remember being on the phone for hours at a time back in the mid-80's when U2 would come around and just being overjoyed at even getting seats at all! I've never had a problem getting great seats for skating events compared to some of the concerts I've been to...but of course I take it a lot of you are from Canada and skating events sell out much faster up there. I love how any time I buy tickets online, even if it's not Ticketmaster, they charge you an outrageous "convenience charge!!" It's not shipping either, you pay that separately...what a scam. Just put it all in the price of the ticket up front and quit demeaning our intelligence LOL.

[Greek Chic]

Well at sometimes I do like ticketmaster, but most times I despise them. Some seats are better if you do however purchase them over the internet. Even though I am not going to the event as yet, I still check the site on a periodic basis, to see what has opened up. The best that I found was row6 in the 100 section. I should have gotten them, but I have decided to wait to see if something better has opened up.

At one point I really hated ticketmaster. I tried to call in to buy Leafs tickets that were going to go on sale at that time, and I got through the queue not a problem (which was really surprising), then when I finally got through to the operator it was 1 minute before, and she told me that I would have to call back. I demanded that I spoke to a supervisor, but needless to say, she claimed herself to be a supervisor. I started ranting and raving, and then the minute passed, and told her to look for the ticket at that time. She came back on the phone and told me that they have been released to the general public and that she could get me seats in the price range that I was looking for. So try that scenario it will work. She then apologized to me for being a you know what.

Another time was when I had box seats at the Air Canada Centre for a Raptors game, and I tried to get my fiance a seat in the regular area. I called through the regular number and nothing was available. I also asked her if the internet site displayed more seats, then to what was available over the phone. They told me NO WAY!!!!. So I decided to check for myself, and guess what? I got him a standing area section ticket.

So once again, try to go online as much as possible to get the tickets. You will find better seats. It happened with me as well when I tried to get better seats for 2001 Stars on Ice in Toronto.

[Black Sheep]

Nine bucks is too high even for TM!:evil: