Ticketbastard rant!

[ForeverAutumn]

I wasn't going to go to Trans Siberian Orchestra this year but I found out tonight that my 15-yr-old niece wanted to go and needed someone to take her. So myself, along with two of her uncles all volunteered and four of us are now going.

I went to buy the tickets tonight. $43.50 for the ticket plus another $15 per ticket in service charges. The service charges are 33% of the bloody ticket price! Then to add insult to injury, I go to checkout and there's another $5.75 processing fee tagged onto the price. For what?! I printed the tickets at home. They don't even have to mail them to me. What a bloody rip off. I am getting so sick of this scam called TicketMaster. Unfortunately, there isn't another alternative. When will someone come along to compete with this company.

Anyone? Anyone? Beuller? Anyone?

Grrrrrrrrr.

[MasterCylinder]

$15 + $5.75 = $20.75 (4) = $83

$43.50 (4) = $174

83/174 = 47.7%

I'd rather pay a scalper than TicketBastard.

For Christmas, I bought my daughter a ticket to see WICKED next month in Austin.
I paid a scalper $230 for one seat.
The original price was $158..............I would rather the scalper make the $72 profit before I give it to TicketBastard...................72/158 = 45.6%.
As one can see by the comparable percentages here, a scalper is a scalper.

But my scalper provides one clear advantage :
The ticket I bought is 13th row, center orchestra section at the fantastic Bass Performance Hall on the U of Texas campus.............she will enjoy this show.

[ForeverAutumn]

$15 + $5.75 = $20.75 (4) = $83

$43.50 (4) = $174

83/174 = 47.7%

That's just brutal.

We talked about going down to the show and buying tickets from scalpers but my niece wants to see this so badly we didn't want to risk not being able to get tickets and disappointing her.

I just don't understand how Ticketmaster can have such a monopoly. The regulator that agreed to the Ticketmaster/Live Nation merge needs to have their head examined.

[MasterCylinder]

Good old Capitalist economic (a.k.a. "greed") theory reflects that, with a margin of that size, a competitor will eventually figure out a way to enter the market............I'm unsure of all the barriers at this point.

[3LB]

...I'm unsure of all the barriers at this point.

organized crime syndicate

[MasterCylinder]

organized crime syndicate

Sadly, there could be something to that.
I have at times noticed at the top of these pages, TicketBastard is an advertiser.

[JohnMichael]

When I went to see Wicked, loved it, I bought the tickets directly from the venue's ticket office. I did not have to pay any fees.

[MasterCylinder]

When I went to see Wicked, loved it, I bought the tickets directly from the venue's ticket office. I did not have to pay any fees.

Yup..............same for me when I saw it in Chicago three or four years ago.
Very good !


In this instant case, I'm having to look on the web for a sold-out show in another town.
My daughter thinks I did really well...............

[Hyfi]

Here is the deal. It is just like everything else people ***** about but keep doing.

If everyone starts refusing to buy tickets to the shows where that is the only way to get a ticket, they will have to do something about it. All you did was to perpetuate the problem and let them know you have no problem doing so.

I stopped going to larger venues and the two places I go to allow you to buy tickets at their own box office. Yes there is a little $3-$5 dollar fee tacked on but it goes to the upkeep and restoration of the old buildings they are.

Same thing goes with the price of gas. Everyone keeps putting on unnecessary miles and frivolous driving on a daily basis instead of combining trips together. So if it has to do with demand, the more you drive, the more they jack up the price. If everyone stops driving except for work and food, the prices will drop just like they did over the last 8 month period, where the reports noted that people drove less in those months.

My signature is the new definition of Capitalism but it keeps on going because people won't take the stand and actually do something about it besides ***** and moan.

If your not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.

Next time, buy the kid a box set and they can listen to the band forever for less than the price of the ticket.

Sorry, you struck a nerve!

[Jack in Wilmington]

When I went to see Wicked, loved it, I bought the tickets directly from the venue's ticket office. I did not have to pay any fees.

That's what we do when we want to see a show. When we were in New York to see Momma Mia we went over and bought tickets for Wicked at the theater that was showing it. I know that it's not always convenient and it is a lot easier to get tickets to Broadway than it is for some concerts. My nephew got tickets for his girlfriend as a Christmas present to see Phantom and he's going to get us tickets to see The Addams Family while he's up there.

[MasterCylinder]

Here is the deal. It is just like everything else people ***** about but keep doing.

If everyone starts refusing to buy tickets to the shows where that is the only way to get a ticket, they will have to do something about it. All you did was to perpetuate the problem and let them know you have no problem doing so.

I stopped going to larger venues and the two places I go to allow you to buy tickets at their own box office. Yes there is a little $3-$5 dollar fee tacked on but it goes to the upkeep and restoration of the old buildings they are.

Same thing goes with the price of gas. Everyone keeps putting on unnecessary miles and frivolous driving on a daily basis instead of combining trips together. So if it has to do with demand, the more you drive, the more they jack up the price. If everyone stops driving except for work and food, the prices will drop just like they did over the last 8 month period, where the reports noted that people drove less in those months.

My signature is the new definition of Capitalism but it keeps on going because people won't take the stand and actually do something about it besides ***** and moan.

If your not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.

Next time, buy the kid a box set and they can listen to the band forever for less than the price of the ticket.

Sorry, you struck a nerve!

This recent recession has created a paradigm shift in which the consumer was forced to change behavior; the companies that banked on that demand being maintained are the ones in bankruptcy.
TicketBastard has such a market share that a structural change must be made before we see any consumer benefit............they are counting on their service to lazy North Americans being worth 47%.

[ForeverAutumn]

It's a bit of a conundrum. I will ***** and complain about Ticketmaster but I'm not going to sacrifice my enjoyment of life. If I want to see a show I'm not about to let TM ruin my fun. How does that help me? Unfortunately, this venue uses TM for their ticketing so even if I go to the box office I'm still going to pay the fees. The end result is that if I want to see a show, I pay the fees. I've accepted that. But that doesn't mean that I have to like it.

I don't have an issue with capitalism when fair business practices are used. I do have an issue with monopolies. There are government organizations and antitrust laws in place to protect consumers from monopolies. The Department of Justice should never have approved the Live Nation/Ticketmaster merge. By doing so they handed over what is, essentially, a monopoly...exactly what they are supposed to be protecting people from.

[Hyfi]

Government Agencies do nothing to protect the common folk. The only way to make change happen is to take a stand and have enough people do it with you to force change. If enough people just said enough is enough, then something would have to give. You would not have to give up your life or enjoyment forever. That is also part of the problem. Some people think if they do something to make a stand, they don't see the whole picture and that in the near future they can go back to what they were doing but with a positive change in place. If nobody purchases tickets from LM for 1 year, they are gone. The performers and industry would see to it at that point.

FA, it isn't any different than giving up fireworks all over the world and using that money to feed starving people, as I have suggested in the past. No no, not my fireworks. My life would be over if I missed them for a whole year.

Being complacent does not bring about change.

[MasterCylinder]

One thing that has been overlooked in this discussion --

Hats off to FA and the Uncles for making sure the niece had a Christmas wish come true.

[ForeverAutumn]

One thing that has been overlooked in this discussion --

Hats off to FA and the Uncles for making sure the niece had a Christmas wish come true.

Thanks MC. We had a blast! TSO never disappoints.

[Jack in Wilmington]

Alright FA you got the snowball rolling downhill. I just had to use Ticketmaster to order tickets and now I feel your pain. First they added a $1.00 per ticket Facility Charge. Then they added a $10.75 per ticket Convenience Charge. Then they added $3.75 for Processing Fee. But the kicker was after I ordered the tickets, I get a seperate E-mail from some company thanking me for buying "event ticket protection" at $7.00 per ticket. That was the straw that broke the camels back. I called them up and got the ticket protection charge taken off. Enoughs enough.