Ticketmaster paperless tickets

[crustycurmudgeon]

So Ticketmaster is trying to eliminate scalping by instituting a "paperless ticket" system. The person who bought the tickets must present his credit card and photo ID when entering the venue and all persons in his party must enter at the same time. But what if someone buys tickets for a show and later finds that he or someone in his party can't attend for whatever reason? TOUGH LUCK! You can't resell them and Ticketmaster doesn't give refunds!

Did you know that if you buy a ticket for a show, including all the associated fees, and the show is canceled, Ticketmaster doesn't refund the fees?

Oh, and then there's the included parking fee, regardless of whether you drive to the event or not. So folks who use public transportation to get to a concert are being punished by Ticketmaster! Not to mention people who carpool to an event. Everyone in the car has paid for parking.

Is it any wonder I don't go to concerts anymore? :expl

Frank

 

[Starfury]

You can actually resell a lot of tickets. We ended up doing that for an AC/DC concert last year. My buddy accidently bought tickets for the wrong date, so we ended up buying new tickets and selling the old ones through a third party (ticketmaster-approved) website. All worked out ok in the end.

Not saying it's a fantastic system, as no system is perfect, but it does help prevent mass scalping.

 

[blue65coupe]

I'm with ya Frank. I've pretty much stopped going to anything like concerts, sporting events, etc. If I'm not boycotting the sports industry and their outrageous $$$, I'm boycotting the ticket company and their outrageous fees. Last time I bought a concert ticket the ticket itself was $12. (Lawn seat) After all the fees the thing cost me $25. There's always someone selling tickets at the event and if you wait until right after the start, you get GREAT deals. "You want how much? Do you realize if I sit right here in the parking lot enjoying my $12 case of beer you're going to make $0?"

 

[daveSanborn]

Didn't TicketMaster join up with Live Nation? I'm pretty sure that they did.

One of the purchasing options is paperless tickets. As far as I know, the other options are still available. I purchase and printout our tickets at home.

Did you know that if you buy a ticket for a show, including all the associated fees, and the show is canceled, Ticketmaster doesn't refund the fees?

This is utter nonsense.

I had tickets for the A to Z tour (Aerosmith/ZZ Top) and the show got cancelled. After receiving notification of the cancellation I called Live Nation and had a full refund of all charges. I bought another set of tickets for the same show at a different venue, it ended up getting cancelled also... and I did nothing. A month or so later Live Nation emailed me notifying me that they had placed the entire purchase amount back on my CC.

If you cancel for whatever reason, yes, the processing fee is not refunded, but why should it be?


Now.... the "parking fee" is ridiculous. I've been explained to that the "parking fee" is not so much for the actual parking space as it is to pay for all the teenage employees with neon green t-shirts walking around blindly with their heads up their asses talking on their cell phones and texting each other instead of actually helping me into an available parking spot.

 

[crustycurmudgeon]

They must have changed their policy then, because when The Cars w/Todd Rundgren canceled here in the Bay Area, I got a refund of the ticket price, but not the fees.

The story I heard on the news is that the paperless ticket thing is expanding to more shows and that will be the ONLY option--no more hard tickets mailed out. The purchaser of the tickets must present his credit card and photo ID at the venue and all persons in his party must enter at the same time. This cuts out the possibility of reselling tickets. They're specifically going after services like StubHub.

Does Ticketmaster still auction off the best seats for their hottest shows? Wouldn't this be considered scalping?

Frank

 

[daveSanborn]

Does Ticketmaster still auction off the best seats for their hottest shows?

I'm not sure if they're actually auctioned off or not, but the best seats in the house are usually reserved for "high roller type" bundled packages.

I've read most of the press releases for the Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger and their plans for paperless tickets. Most of the work they're doing is to combat illegal scalping, but I'm pretty sure the option will always exist to print your own tickets at home.... with your name on them... and show your ID and ticket at the door.

The problem that Ticketmaster is having is that tickets will go on sale on-line at 10AM and ten minutes later all of the best seats are gone to four or five big volume buyers. The buyers are working for rival on-line ticket outlets that are doing nothing more than jacking up the price of the tickets they bought only minutes earlier. It's "on-line" scalping and is IMO bullcrap. I'm comfortable with the efforts that Live Nation is taking to make concerts/events more affordable to the general public. Is it a monopoly? Sure it is. Can they set their own prices without fear of competition? Sure they can, but Live Nation ticket prices have always been lower than any other on-line ticket outlet, so I'm pretty sure they have their priorities straight.

If the show you speak of was cancelled, the only non-refundable charges you should have incurred would be if you elected to have hard tickets shipped/mailed to you. Only the shipping charges are non-refundable.

I remember last summer when Van Halen came through on their last tour.... I was at my home PC and searching Ticketmaster for some good seats the minute they went on sale. By the time I determined and selected the area I wanted to sit in, the quantity of tickets to buy and the god awful long enter your CC info/verification process.... the tickets in the entire area were "sold out". In the same sitting I found the exact same tickets available on other ticket outlets for incredibly higher prices.