TheSufferingVilla Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 So I was just ordering tickets for none other than George Michael at Madison Square Garden, (yeah laugh all you want) when I came to the conclusion that Ticketmaster should be banned. So since this isn't the most serious of concerts I decided to grab the cheapest tickets available, no problem thats $49.75 a mere 25 pounds in the Brummy bills. Not too shabby but you know how these things work, tickets go on presale so in order to get the cheap seats you need to take some obscure route cause by the time they go on regular sale all that's left is the VIP $250 seats. So todays presale was open to people buying George's latest compilation on iTunes, the George Michael fanclub and American Express carholder. Firstly I refuse to buy anything off iTunes, secondly there's no way I'm joining George Michael's fanclub but thankfully I do have an American express card. Great, a couple of tickets at $49.75 but wait what's this a $10.50 Convenience Charge, well i guess that's how Ticketmaster makes their money, per feckin' ticket!!! so no matter how many I buy 10 or 100 I have to pay a convenience charge of bloody $10.50 because the fantastic service I was just offered by Ticketmaster is worth that much. I'm sure they have a professionally trained team of paper artists currently painting my hand crafted tickets before beautifully wrapping them and sending out a former olympic sprinter to hand deliver them before the ink is dry but wait, it appears I have to also pay for the delivery privallage. Behold if I want it sent by snail mail instead of the 40cent price of a stamp it's going to cost me another $10, I hope the person stuffing the envelope has a bloody PHD, 2 day, 3 day and next day deliveries are all more than twice what they should cost and behold, if I want to print the tickets myself I have to pay $2.50 for the Ticketmaster site to serve me about 60kb's of html. By volume that must be more expensive than Saffron. Now I know some other sites deliver the same shady add-ons and outrageous charges like Ryanair, but generally those sites are providing a service at bargain prices and a service you can get elsewhere. Ticketmaster have cornered the market, there is no way to get these tickets elsewhere as they will sell out before they go on personal sale or be gobbled up by touts. So how can Ticketmaster operate within the letter of the law? Surely it is anti-competative business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paddy Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 They're a horrible horrible company, I remember when Villa sold tickets through them, used to charge all sorts of ridiculous fees and frequently messed up orders, it's been much better since it's been in house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leviramsey Posted March 31, 2008 VT Supporter Share Posted March 31, 2008 Keep an eye on the battle between LiveNation and Ticketmaster... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 i used them to get some tickets on broadway ... funny enough broadway.com only offered me the VIP tickets at $250 a go whereas ticketmaster got me good seats without the need for the VIP upgrade /rip off tickets were waiting for me when i called at the theatre ok they charged me a fee but no more than i would have expected Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrissmith921 Posted April 1, 2008 Share Posted April 1, 2008 I use ticketmaster for Wales football tickets if I can (ie dont have to go through the FAW's paper pushers) because the £1.50 a ticket 'handling fee' they charge is far less than the £8 for postage and £4 a ticket fee the FAW charge. And yes, they charge postage if I pick them up by hand.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa89 Posted April 1, 2008 Share Posted April 1, 2008 Scum. Robbing scum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blandy Posted April 1, 2008 Moderator Share Posted April 1, 2008 Absolute scourge on humanity.though to be fair their efforts to prevent you going to see George Michael are slightly redemptive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted April 1, 2008 Moderator Share Posted April 1, 2008 Keep an eye on the battle between LiveNation and Ticketmaster... Its a very interesting little battle that one ben keeping an eye on it for a while Thing is, the UK music industry wanted some sort of legal action taken against touting as "it was hurting the industry", they failed ultimately to get the parliamentary committee to agree. But then you have "ticket agencies" that add on booking fee's per ticket (and exorbitant ones at that. What's that then if its not touting? But Ticketmaster et al are alright because they are "inside" the music industry, still a bunch of ticket touts if you ask me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSufferingVilla Posted April 1, 2008 Author Share Posted April 1, 2008 My old company worked briefly on a partnership with LiveNation a couple of years back, I've nothing positive to say about them, on the surface they appear the lesser of two evils but deeper down it's just the same bunch of scumbags. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted April 1, 2008 Moderator Share Posted April 1, 2008 Absolute scourge on humanity.though to be fair their efforts to prevent you going to see George Michael are slightly redemptive Brought a smile to my face that Bandy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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