Posted By headparrothead
In an attempt to give some added defense to those who are being slammed for their legitimate gripes, I would like to say...
HORSE-HOCKEY!!!
I've been to every outlet in my city over the years and they ALL are packed with people except for a local broadway style theatre that only sells TM tix for events "at that theatre" (and therefore they are NOT open at 10am on Sat.morning).
I've been at outlets where it was proven that the lottery was rigged. I have friends that were at a rigged lottery yesterday in a small town where there is only 1 TM outlet - they still managed to get tix though.
TM outlets in my city started allowing credit cards last year and therefore have managed to slow down a process that used to be systematic:
CASH = FAST MOVING LINES & TICKETS FOR EVERYONE!
PLASTIC = SLOW LINES AND SOLDOUT SHOWS AFTER LESS THAN 10 PEOPLE!
I got tix for Indy because I took someone with me to the same line and we split up - she ended up being the 7th person in line after the lottery - I was dead last!
AND SPEAKING OF THE LOTTERY...
Not every outlet does the lottery the same way; in most cases I've seen, the winner (and everyone behind THAT person) moves to the front of the line, but I've also seen lotteries where ONLY the WINNER moves to the front and all others stay put.
I've even seen a lottery where they drew EVERY SINGLE LOTTERY TICKET until every single person had been moved to a different spot in line!!
Because the TM lottery system is not uniform across the country we see familiar events that are reminiscent of last year's Presidential Election.
PilotJustin makes a good point about the person running the ticket counter not knowing what they're doing. I was in line one day a few years ago on one employee's 1st day and he screwed the whole thing up for everyone.
How could ANYONE in line have known that this kid was going to be there that day? It could've happened at ANY OUTLET anywhere in the country. That was certainly not OUR fault.
And what about the dumb people at the front of the line who don't know what they want, or they make it complicated for the person behind the counter?
The woman in front of my wife yesterday asked the guy in front of her (whom she didn't even know) to act as a proxy for her and get the maximum tickets, plus she asked the agent if she could pay for HIS "extra" tix with HER credit card (which also held up the line because that action had to be approved by a supervisor). She then proceeded to purchase the maximum allowed to her after her proxy got his own tix and left the ticket window -- ALL WHILE BEING ON A CELL PHONE TRYING TO GET THE MAXIMUM THAT WAY TOO!
People started to chant, "HANG THE BLONDE, HANG THE BLONDE" over and over.
After all that was said and done she had held the line up for OVER 10 MINUTES!!!
The same agent also gave my wife a hard time because the name of the venue had changed and the woman had to be picky about how the venue wasn't actually "IN" the city limits of Indianapolis, but was actually in the small town of Noblesville.
Meanwhile, tickets are selling at a pace exceeding 1,000 tix per minute.
Some of us get false info at some outlets too, which is also not our fault. Sometimes it doesn't matter how much research you do - If you can't learn the truth about how some outlets function and are subject to things beyond your own control then where does the blame lie?
In my personal opinion...standing in line is the ONLY way to go; even if I have to drive to a neighboring state.
I also have a contingency plan for other cities inside my purchasing area if my city sells out before I get to the window.
Yes, there is something to be said about "planning", but no matter how much you plan there is STILL a certain amount of luck that hangs over every single TM outlet.
Compare it to trying to win a radio contest over the phone...it's not a matter of being a fast dialer, having the # on speed dial, or trying to guess when is a good time to call. It's a simple matter of 100s or 1,000s of people trying to get through to the DJ all at the same time because they want free tix to a concert, a free cd, or a free pizza.
Logistics has little to do with it, luck has much more.
THANKS AGAIN TICKETMASTER !!! part 2
Moderator: SMLCHNG
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Guest
Posted By Burgh Bird
HPH-
Someone at the front of the line yesterday realized halfway(?!) through the transaction that she did not have enough cash, and proceeded to attempt to go half cash and half credit. Credit card would not scan, thus causing at least 4 minutes of lost ticket time for the rest of the line. As much as I hate to take that much money out of the ATM in one shot, I really think the places that do it cash-only have it right.
By the way, I went to the same outlet we've been going to for 3 years and have never had a huge crowd to battle, and always good lottery picks. This year, I trusted that, and I went back, only to find about 30 people already there when I got there. Only about 20 people actually got through the line before it sold out. Poor planning? No, I don't think so- it's always been a good plan before. Bad luck- sure! It really wouldn't have mattered a hill of beans if I was the first one in line at 3:00 in the morning. The lottery ticket that was pulled was the lucky one. Even if there were only 20 people in the line, I could have had the last ticket anyway, and still been shut out. I still say it has a lot more to do with luck! And as the saying goes, if it weren't for bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck at all!
HPH-
Someone at the front of the line yesterday realized halfway(?!) through the transaction that she did not have enough cash, and proceeded to attempt to go half cash and half credit. Credit card would not scan, thus causing at least 4 minutes of lost ticket time for the rest of the line. As much as I hate to take that much money out of the ATM in one shot, I really think the places that do it cash-only have it right.
By the way, I went to the same outlet we've been going to for 3 years and have never had a huge crowd to battle, and always good lottery picks. This year, I trusted that, and I went back, only to find about 30 people already there when I got there. Only about 20 people actually got through the line before it sold out. Poor planning? No, I don't think so- it's always been a good plan before. Bad luck- sure! It really wouldn't have mattered a hill of beans if I was the first one in line at 3:00 in the morning. The lottery ticket that was pulled was the lucky one. Even if there were only 20 people in the line, I could have had the last ticket anyway, and still been shut out. I still say it has a lot more to do with luck! And as the saying goes, if it weren't for bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck at all!
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Guest
Posted By pleiades03
The worst part is that it's hard to plan when you can't get reliable information out of TicketMaster. As I posted before, when my husband was trying to "plan" his ticket attack, he couldn't even get a correct phone number for the outlet in Altoona from TicketMaster.
As for the "cash only", I'm afraid it had better be "exact change only" because I would hate to see those brain-dead ticket agents try to make change.
The worst part is that it's hard to plan when you can't get reliable information out of TicketMaster. As I posted before, when my husband was trying to "plan" his ticket attack, he couldn't even get a correct phone number for the outlet in Altoona from TicketMaster.
As for the "cash only", I'm afraid it had better be "exact change only" because I would hate to see those brain-dead ticket agents try to make change.
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Guest
Posted By Matt D
Ticket-Bastard is the DEVIL!!!!!!!!
We made it all the way through the online ticket purchase and when we clicked "finish" it came up...."page cannot be displayed"....this happened 3 more times and finally it said that our transaction "Timed out"
So, basically we were screwed out of tickets. We had 6 lawn seats and ended up with squat. The thing that really makes me angry is the fact that 2 minutes after the show sold out there were people on E-Bay selling the tickets for 200 a piece......that should be illegal. It is no different thatn scalping if you ask me. What is a true parrot Head supposed to do????
Ticket-Bastard is the DEVIL!!!!!!!!
We made it all the way through the online ticket purchase and when we clicked "finish" it came up...."page cannot be displayed"....this happened 3 more times and finally it said that our transaction "Timed out"
So, basically we were screwed out of tickets. We had 6 lawn seats and ended up with squat. The thing that really makes me angry is the fact that 2 minutes after the show sold out there were people on E-Bay selling the tickets for 200 a piece......that should be illegal. It is no different thatn scalping if you ask me. What is a true parrot Head supposed to do????
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Guest
Posted By pleiades03
WD-- true story, one nice day at the hospital, they set up a little outdoor buffet for lunch. The girl at the cash register went into an absolute panic when she realized they had set up an old fashioned cash register that didn't tell her how much change to give back. She was totally clueless.
WD-- true story, one nice day at the hospital, they set up a little outdoor buffet for lunch. The girl at the cash register went into an absolute panic when she realized they had set up an old fashioned cash register that didn't tell her how much change to give back. She was totally clueless.
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Guest
Posted By Anonymous
I agree with those who comment that cash-only is
the fairest thing when dealing with the line
of people waiting to get tickets when they
first go on sale. Several years back we
were in line at a ticketmaster in NC. After the
lottery number was drawn and everyone lined up
30 minutes prior to on-sale, the lady at the
record store went to everyone in line and
wrote down their name and the number of tickets
they wanted next to their number. When tickets
went on sale she basically pulled up tickets as fast as she could without even waiting for people
to get to the front of the line. A second
employee put the tickets in the envelopes with the
number of the person they corresponded to. A third
took the cash from the people and gave them their
tickets. It was very efficient since the lady
at the machine didn't even have to wait for people
to funmble around with cash.
I agree with those who comment that cash-only is
the fairest thing when dealing with the line
of people waiting to get tickets when they
first go on sale. Several years back we
were in line at a ticketmaster in NC. After the
lottery number was drawn and everyone lined up
30 minutes prior to on-sale, the lady at the
record store went to everyone in line and
wrote down their name and the number of tickets
they wanted next to their number. When tickets
went on sale she basically pulled up tickets as fast as she could without even waiting for people
to get to the front of the line. A second
employee put the tickets in the envelopes with the
number of the person they corresponded to. A third
took the cash from the people and gave them their
tickets. It was very efficient since the lady
at the machine didn't even have to wait for people
to funmble around with cash.
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Guest
Posted By Buffy
I go to a Publix Grocery Store for my tickets. They do the lottery system (Year before last hubby picked #2, God BLESS him!). AND it is CASH ONLY. About 20 minutes before tickets go on sale, a lady comes out and writes doen the first 10 - 15 people's orders. As soon as 10AM hits, two people are keying into TM, two people are stuffing envelopes and two people are taking cash. It works like a well-oiled machine. They have the routine down. The manager even scouts the line for known "brokers". An interesting tidbit - I asked the manager who he has the most problems with crowd-wise for concert tickets. he said Buffett and Backstreet Boys. He said the Mothers of little girls are bad and that he has more fights break out in line for the Buffett concert than anywhere else. Strange that I didn't see any........
I go to a Publix Grocery Store for my tickets. They do the lottery system (Year before last hubby picked #2, God BLESS him!). AND it is CASH ONLY. About 20 minutes before tickets go on sale, a lady comes out and writes doen the first 10 - 15 people's orders. As soon as 10AM hits, two people are keying into TM, two people are stuffing envelopes and two people are taking cash. It works like a well-oiled machine. They have the routine down. The manager even scouts the line for known "brokers". An interesting tidbit - I asked the manager who he has the most problems with crowd-wise for concert tickets. he said Buffett and Backstreet Boys. He said the Mothers of little girls are bad and that he has more fights break out in line for the Buffett concert than anywhere else. Strange that I didn't see any........