Marg Cafe and Black Tie Screwed Me

[rich_big]

I can not put into words how upset I am with blacktie-louisiana and Margaritaville Cafe. Last night before going to bed I logged on to see if I needed to pre-register or anything to get tix for the Freddy show. The site said RSVP-purchase. I was thrilled. I filled in my info, gave my credit card and bought a ticket. I printed my confirmation, and got an email confirmation saying I bought one ticket. I went to sleep last night with a smile on my face. This morning I slept in, went to Big Tommy’s for breakfast, and had no worries since I was set with my tic. I was a happy camper this morning. Get to the office, log into my email and what do I get?


Subject: your buffet tickets are not valid
We were testing the form when you came into purchase. Tickets do not go on sale until 10.00 central time.
Your credit card has been refunded and you don’t actually have tickets for the concert. You will not be admitted with the tickets that you purchased earlier today


Today I got no work done, spent all day trying to get people to email me and phone me back. I told them the story and said I have a confirmation. Was told that everything said tix go on sale at 10. I explained that at the time I purchased my ticket, it said ‘purchase’. I paid for it, and got a confirmation. I did not try to log on and buy one at 10 because obviously they went on sale early and I got one. The lady at the Margaritaville Cafe said sorry, you are out of luck, but you could come to a ‘block party’. I told her I do not drink; there is no reason for me to go to New Orleans other than to see Buffett. Standing on Bourbon St does not turn me on and is not worth a Los Angeles to New Orleans plane flight and hotel cost. I am so incredibly upset about this it is hard to express my story. If this is the best Margaritaville, Inc can do, I have to reevaluate my loyalty and where I spend my money.

[conched]

I am so sorry this happened to you. I hope you find a ticket and all will be good!!!!

[MacPhin]

i feel badly for you.

i have bummed all day because i logged in at 10 central, entered my info for 1 ticket clicked the button and got booted out. i couldn't believe it. how can you get a ticket and then it gets robbed from you while you're entering the info. i would think that when you nab a ticket from "out there" that's your assigned ticket. i gave it credit info. anyway, i called blacktie at 10:04 and she said that the tickets were sold out in 3 minutes.
i had the entire thing all planned out and it wasn't easy getting frequent flyer seats yesterday for thursday.
anyway, all i can say is that something else will come along and make me/you forget about it. until then, i'm still sad as heck.

i feel your pain.

[OystersandBeer]

I'll join the club. I was p*** when I saw tix were two hundred a piece. But I'll see him Sat. So, f Marg. and their charity BS.

Sorry, I'm taking this so lightly. I know you are frustrated, but look on the bright side. You have two hundred and more to just plop down on a Buffett concert whenever you want. I don't. You should be happy about that. Being poor sucks. And as long as I'm a teacher I'll always be on that borderline. And I'll always b**** about. Yes, I know it's my choice. And it is also my right to b****.

[Salukulady]

Very frustrating, I would be in tears. A normal everyday person wouldn't understand your disappointment, but being a parrothead is more than being a fan of his music. His music sets the pace of my life. Once I've got my mind set on a show and know that I'm going, it affects my life in such a positive manner for months in advance. Had my tics for 5 months prior to my first show. Had wanted to go for ten years. My g-friends(8 of us) all worked out daily "getting skinny for Jimmy". Spent weeks getting our tailgate stuff together. Money was no object. I had waited years to do it and we did it perfect. Every concert since has been just as great. Some years I can't afford to go and I deal with it, but if I thought I had tickets and then didn't, I'd be p***. I guess if your not a parrothead, it appears as crazy fan worship. But I don't care. It's a huge part of my life and I completely understand your disappointment and frustration.

[Karacal]

Well said Ukulady! I'm sorry about the tickets Rich and MacPhin.
I wanted to go but didn't try for tickets because I knew it just would not work out this time. I can't complain...we are going to Charlotte Tuesday and also have tickets for Atlanta. Still it's my dream to see Jimmy in a small setting. Maybe one day.......

[Bfan53]

Despite all of your careful planning & doing what you thought was right, the "system" tosses you out! That really stinks......

And you're right: People other than diehard Parrotheds just wouldn't understand your frustration over this.......

I can only wish that your future JB ticket buying experiences are better!

[Gardner McKay, Jr.]

Disappointment? Yes. Reevaluate loyalty? Get real, with the problems in this here world today, your little set-back is nothing more than a pimple on a pirate's ass. Think about the situation in Iraq for a few minutes. Waa, waa, waa, maybe you should have a drink, it just might be good medicine for you. Try a cold one, or a glass of merlot, it might mellow you out just a bit. A big enough fan to fly from L.A. for ''Freddie'' on one hand, but because of a mix-up you're gonna jump ship? Gimme a break, your tantrum is stupid. Get a life big guy, there's over 4000 military personnel that had one, and lost it.
As always, G.M.,Jr.

[SuperTrooper]

Hmmm...Ticket sales don't start until 10, but a glitsch lets you in to buy tix. It seems to me they did the only "fair" thing they could have done. If enough other people had done what you did the tix could have been all sold before the sale even starts.

I got in on the Fenway pre-sale by using a password someone gave me for GW season ticket holders. When they couldn't match my name up with that list they refunded my card. I couldn't complain then and you can't now. Sorry.

[catsway]

First I am thanking my lucky stars that we were able to get passes for the Freddy Show. Regarding your situation, imagine how I would felt if I had followed the instructions to the letter only to find out that they had sold some or all of the seats to others who signed on early. I would have been very outraged and dissappointed. Rules are rules and it gave us phans an equal chance to get the few passes available.

[Salukulady]

Disappointment? Yes. Reevaluate loyalty? Get real, with the problems in this here world today, your little set-back is nothing more than a pimple on a pirate's ass. Think about the situation in Iraq for a few minutes. Waa, waa, waa, maybe you should have a drink, it just might be good medicine for you. Try a cold one, or a glass of merlot, it might mellow you out just a bit. A big enough fan to fly from L.A. for ''Freddie'' on one hand, but because of a mix-up you're gonna jump ship? Gimme a break, your tantrum is stupid. Get a life big guy, there's over 4000 military personnel that had one, and lost it.
As always, G.M.,Jr.

Well, if this isn't a safe place to whine about the corporate BS that clogs our ticket buying love of music, I guess nowhere is, big_rich. And what the hell does ticket buying woes have to do with the war?

[Disneynut]

Disappointment? Yes. Reevaluate loyalty? Get real, with the problems in this here world today, your little set-back is nothing more than a pimple on a pirate's ass. Think about the situation in Iraq for a few minutes. Waa, waa, waa, maybe you should have a drink, it just might be good medicine for you. Try a cold one, or a glass of merlot, it might mellow you out just a bit. A big enough fan to fly from L.A. for ''Freddie'' on one hand, but because of a mix-up you're gonna jump ship? Gimme a break, your tantrum is stupid. Get a life big guy, there's over 4000 military personnel that had one, and lost it.
As always, G.M.,Jr.

The problems you cite above regarding Iraq were created by our president and not the person who is complaining. He has every right to complain. His "tantrum" is on point and your bringing up the military is the truly stupid statement. Last I checked, our armed forces are comprised of volunteers. Although I respect what these men and women are doing for our country, the bottom line is that this is what they signed up for.

[murPH]

Disappointment? Yes. Reevaluate loyalty? Get real, with the problems in this here world today, your little set-back is nothing more than a pimple on a pirate's ass. Think about the situation in Iraq for a few minutes. Waa, waa, waa, maybe you should have a drink, it just might be good medicine for you. Try a cold one, or a glass of merlot, it might mellow you out just a bit. A big enough fan to fly from L.A. for ''Freddie'' on one hand, but because of a mix-up you're gonna jump ship? Gimme a break, your tantrum is stupid. Get a life big guy, there's over 4000 military personnel that had one, and lost it.
As always, G.M.,Jr.

Well, if this isn't a safe place to whine about the corporate BS that clogs our ticket buying love of music, I guess nowhere is, big_rich. And what the hell does ticket buying woes have to do with the war?

Thank you Ukulady. In the great scheme of the world, getting screwed out of tickets to a concert does not rate up there with the real tragedies. But it indeed is extremely irritating to fork over money in good faith, only to be dealt with unfairly. I would be doing a MAJOR whine if this were me, and I feel so bad for the OP. In a year or two, this little inconvenience will be off the radar, but for now I say whine away!

[Tiki Bar]

I think you had unfortunate luck, but I don't think it's fair for you to accuse Margaritaville or Blacktie for screwing you. I think they did the right thing cancelling and refunding the early birds, which as you know, I was one of.

I recalled that the Newport tickets went on sale earlier than they were supposed to, and like you, was surprised and thrilled that I was able to get on early yesterday morning and order our tickets.

At that time, I had no idea how many "a limited amount" would be. If you think about it, at 4 per person, that meant possibly 25 people would be able to buy tickets, or 50 people max, taking into account that some were only trying for 1, some were getting 4, and some were in between. Allowing the before 10am transactions to go through would be SO unfair to everyone who waited until the 10 o'clock bell. Like someone said, there might not have been any left by then.

When I got to work and saw the message that tickets weren't on sale yet, it was a total red flag to make sure I'd actually gotten them. All it took was a quick online check to see an error message on my order, and a quick phone call to Blacktie to get a very friendly and personable explanation of what happened, and that no, the order would be credited, as they did not go on sale until 10am.

I actually think they have a pretty impressive and sophisticated system for these ticket sales, that prevents scalpers as well as people trying to buck the system by getting in early.

And Margaritaville certainly should not be blamed... they hired Blacktie to do a job, and they did it very well.

Would I have been disappointed had I not gotten them the 2nd attempt? Of course! But I wouldn't be blaming anyone. What's fair is fair.

[Skibo]

I don't believe any of this. Only ticketmaster would do something so insidious. Yeah, I'd be annoyed too.

[Brown Eyed Girl]

What kind of reputable company would conduct a test like that, knowing how in demand those tickets were? Surely they could have used a mirror site to test everything to make sure it worked...or have added something to the page saying they were conducting a test and that any sales that went thru weren't valid. I call BS on "they did their job very well".

Yes, I would have been suspicious of any sale that went thru and would have definitely checked back before the actual on sale time...but the fact that everything went thru including receiving a confirmation email shows very poor management and business practices IMHO.

I'm curious as to the lag time between rich's confirmation email and the one saying the sale wasn't valid.

[Candyman]

i feel badly for you.

i have bummed all day because i logged in at 10 central, entered my info for 1 ticket clicked the button and got booted out. i couldn't believe it. how can you get a ticket and then it gets robbed from you while you're entering the info. i would think that when you nab a ticket from "out there" that's your assigned ticket. i gave it credit info. anyway, i called blacktie at 10:04 and she said that the tickets were sold out in 3 minutes.
i had the entire thing all planned out and it wasn't easy getting frequent flyer seats yesterday for thursday.
anyway, all i can say is that something else will come along and make me/you forget about it. until then, i'm still sad as heck.

i feel your pain.

I know the feeling.

[Candyman]

rich_big
Sorry that happened to you. Nothing worse than getting something you really wanted and then having it taken back. I was hoping they would have come up with a better solution for you.

[Tiki Bar]

What kind of reputable company would conduct a test like that, knowing how in demand those tickets were? Surely they could have used a mirror site to test everything to make sure it worked...or have added something to the page saying they were conducting a test and that any sales that went thru weren't valid. I call BS on "they did their job very well".

Yes, I would have been suspicious of any sale that went thru and would have definitely checked back before the actual on sale time...but the fact that everything went thru including receiving a confirmation email shows very poor management and business practices IMHO.

I'm curious as to the lag time between rich's confirmation email and the one saying the sale wasn't valid.

But do you think it would have been fair if it sold out before 10am?

[SMLCHNG]

Rules are rules and it gave us phans an equal chance to get the few passes available.

Yep... that's the way I see it.
Disappointed? You bet.
Should they have made their website accessible during their 'test', probably not.