Ticketmaster crap

Guest · Post by **Guest** » May 14, 2001 12:30 am

I just found this on ticketmaster's web page:

"At ticketmaster.com, we understand that when your favorite act comes to town, you want to be there, and we want to help you get there."

They need to put on their Bob Marley tape and practice what they preach, for crying out loud!

Troj27 · Post by **Troj27** » August 10, 2001 6:00 pm

Yea, they want to help you get there alright, it's getting you into the concert that they have a problem with. They can get you some great parking passes though.

BottleofRum · Post by **BottleofRum** » August 13, 2001 9:56 am

I think they do a good job considering all they have to deal with, what solution would ,make you happy. Sometimes the demand for tickets is greater than the tickets available so what shall they do? Between dealing with the venues, promoters and performers they have their hands full, sure there will be "screw ups" on their part but thats part of doing buisness everything can't be perfect. I was in line in the spring and got a crap lottery number and didn't get tickets I wasn't upset with TicketMaster I was just let down that I didn't get tickets it's not their fault JB is tickets are in high demand. I did luck out though when my friends at another location got a good number and pulled 8 tickets for the Saturday night Great Woods show, all in all I think Ticketmaster is far and above beeter then NEXT ticketing, the company that did do Great Woods in the mid 90's! They had you call in at 7pm on the Thursday prior to the tickets going onsale, if you were able to get through by the cut off time OF 7:10PM they took your name and gave you a number, on That Saturday you had to go down to great Woods by 7AM and wait outside in line according to your number until the tickets went on sale at 10, well seeing Jimmy's tickets went on sale in March and it is Boston and as luck would have it was 20 degrees and snowing, we all froze our asses off. That was the only palce you cpould go and get tickets from, you could call and try over the phone but if you didn't get that number over the phone on Thursday and you drove down to Great Woods you were SOL, lucky for us we got tickets but it turned out to be a long cold morning.
So all in all I am happy the way Ticketmaster handles things.

Caribbean Soul · Post by **Caribbean Soul** » August 13, 2001 2:16 pm

BottleOfRum-
I'm not sure I agree with you about NEXT Tickets. We were always able to get through to them for phone sales at Great Woods. Since TicketMaster took over the selling we have NEVER been able to get through by phone OR on-line. I got real lucky with the lottery this year but the folks at home (3 phones and 2 computers) got skunked as did all my friends from many different cities who were also trying for tix.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » August 13, 2001 3:05 pm

Well Carib I guess you can ask 100 people and get differant answers but for the few years NEXT did it i found it very messed up, its like they tred soooo hard to keep scalpers away from buying lots of tickets they made it hard for everyone. I do agree with Next it was easier to get through ove r the phone the day of the onsale, or at least thats what I have been told but trying to get through when they had that nuber system taht you had to call in in the 1o0 min period was tough. I will say about NEXT they always released tickets the week of the show, thats how we were able to get tickets one year. But I prefer TicketMaster over NEXT Ticketing.

BottleofRum · Post by **BottleofRum** » August 13, 2001 3:05 pm

Well Carib I guess you can ask 100 people and get differant answers but for the few years NEXT did it i found it very messed up, its like they tred soooo hard to keep scalpers away from buying lots of tickets they made it hard for everyone. I do agree with Next it was easier to get through ove r the phone the day of the onsale, or at least thats what I have been told but trying to get through when they had that nuber system taht you had to call in in the 1o0 min period was tough. I will say about NEXT they always released tickets the week of the show, thats how we were able to get tickets one year. But I prefer TicketMaster over NEXT Ticketing.

DebSabriel · Post by **DebSabriel** » August 13, 2001 3:56 pm

Have been reading this thread with great interest, and thought I'd throw my .02 in.

Let's be honest folks - TicketB*****d could care less about fans. As long as they get their money, they're happy. My boyfriend's work has a dedicated T3 - and we couldn't get tickets at onsale. We didn't bother waiting out because the lottery is a joke - scalpers can always get bodies out there to get numbers - when they haven't paid off the ticket clerk to pull the cream off the top. I personally think TicketMaster should switch to will-call only. Under the current system fans are getting screwed, the artists are getting screwed, and the only folks who make out are scalpers and TicketMaster.

Frankly, I think TicketMaster is as consumer-unfriendly and as much a monopoly as Microsoft. I hope the Justice Department goes after TM next. TM needs to have its wings clipped - and it's long overdue.

All the best,

Deb.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » August 13, 2001 9:37 pm

Ticketblastard sucks!!! they are still listing tickets as "on sale" for both shows at the Tweeter on 8/30 and 9/1. And the tickets have been sold out for months. Plus how is it that its illegal for me to sell a ticket but the "legal" scalpers can ask 5x face value for it? thats BS too. Sorry Jimmy, gonna miss this year, maybe you can do something about this for your fans???

F1NZUPP · Post by **F1NZUPP** » August 14, 2001 8:44 am

Imagine that, more b!tching about TM. Dude, TM sometimes releases tix close to the show, that's why they are still listed as on sale. Scalping is illegal, however, brokers can ask whatever they want as long as they have a license to sell tickets, kind of like every other business know to man. You may choose not to pay the premium, but have fun at home.

BottleofRum · Post by **BottleofRum** » August 14, 2001 9:22 am

Well last week Madonna played in Boston and the shows sold out quick, the night before the first show around 11pm i looked at Ticketmaster.com and they released tickets for both her shows, awesome floor seats and lower level seats so there is hope. Altough the last few years at Buffett no tickets have been realesed for the great woods shows, makes me happy to know I got my 8 ticktes for saturday.

BottleofRum · Post by **BottleofRum** » August 14, 2001 11:08 am

Hey to the problem with getting Ticketmaster deemed as a monopoly is they have almost straight 1 - 3 year deals with venues after the contract is up the venue can change their ticketing agent. They cover themselves so they can't be deemed a Monopoly, they allow the venues a way out but with Ticketmaster "Name" the venues don't want out, a few years back the old Boston Garden took advantage of the TM “out” policy and went with an in house ticketing system called ProTix, lasted about a year or two then it was back to Ticketmaster, Great woods tried the same thing with NEXT Ticketing, after a few years NEXT went belly up and was "Bought out" or "saved" depending on who you ask by Ticketmaster so its hard to deem them a Monopoly when they allow you to go elsewhere. Its like that girl (or guy) that you break up with, sure they may go out with someone else but they always come back to you in the end. The Red Sox have had success keeping ticket sales in house only because it’s the Red Sox and they will always sell out. I used to worked for a “broker” (Or scalper as they are referred to here) from the late 80’s to the mid 90’s, I started when I was 15 getting $50 to stay out over night from about 10pm till 10am the next morning to be first in line, this was well before the raffle and wristband system. It was decent money and the more of my friends I got to join me the more money I made so back then making $50+ for hanging out with my friends and/or girlfriend was well worth it, these days I wouldn’t do it for $500. After a few years I was working in the brokers office selling tickets and I was amazed at how much people would pay for tickets, $200 for a ticket that costs $25, but its the cooperate big wigs who buy them. We used to have a guy come in almost every month and spend money on tickets because he had money to blow off his expensive account. One time he bought 2 Box seats to a Red Sox game for that night and gave them to me because he had to spend the money or lose it, so it’s people like this who are keeping the brokers in business. Although I do speak to the Broker I used to work for once in a while ( An he really is a good guy often donating tickets to charity auctions) and he tells me with the influx of online auctions his sales are down. So who know what the future holds for these brokers.