Ticket Agencies

SA_BlackSmith

Ok… so it not exactly political but it is an issue, one that even pearl jam have battled, it’s the issue of the ticket agencies basically not giving a #$% about the fans.

After a whole sting of bad experience with the local ticket companies beginning slowly a few years a go and becoming ever more frequent I have decided to try and do something about it.

One man alone does not (possibly could, but not me) stand a chance of making them play fair…. But lots of people together will make a difference.

Hence why I have created this site: http://www.ticketwoes.com

So if any one else shares my frustration I encourage you to head on over and share your stories.

Mods: My apologies for the blatant plug but I’m struggling to get the word out.

monkey spanker

bump this back up. everything on this board does not have to be about life and death right...bought tickets from ticketmaster for a show this summer in indy...$10 convenience charge for ticket...what a rip off. somebody needs to step up and do something.

SA_BlackSmith

That someone is us!... thanks for responding

Getting something moving is slow but the more people that head over to the site i made and post their stories the better.

I have a local journalist that is looking in to some stuff here, if he publishes his story it will be a huge plug for the site... but until that happens and/or i get put in the search engine data bases im just relying on word of mouth and the few internet forums I read.

lalalalaaaaaaaa

My main problem is not really the convenience charges, but the illegal presales that go on before the public sales. This involves "ticket brokers" and sometimes bands and promoters (Tool for example) buying up a chunk of the best seats, and holding them for later sale at rediculously high prices. Not to mention the ticketmaster employees who reserve a bunch for themselves before public sales.

JOEJOEJOE

Saturnal wrote:

My main problem is not really the convenience charges, but the illegal presales that go on before the public sales. This involves "ticket brokers" and sometimes bands and promoters (Tool for example) buying up a chunk of the best seats, and holding them for later sale at rediculously high prices. Not to mention the ticketmaster employees who reserve a bunch for themselves before public sales.

The promoters are the ones who control the ticket allocation....ticketmaster merely sells the tickets they are told to sell....there is nothing illegal going on here....it may be a bit dodgy that they hold back so many good seats, but it is not illegal.

Also, ticket brokers do not participate in illegal presales....they may have made some questionable deals with people on the inside, but they do not get to purchase their tickets outwardly before the public.

TM employees get to purchase tix for shows, but this is a perk of being an employee, much like employees of almost any other company enjoy.

It may suck that you can't get great seats,but there is nothing illegal going on here.

lalalalaaaaaaaa

JOEJOEJOE wrote:

The promoters are the ones who control the ticket allocation....ticketmaster merely sells the tickets they are told to sell....there is nothing illegal going on here....it may be a bit dodgy that they hold back so many good seats, but it is not illegal.

Also, ticket brokers do not participate in illegal presales....they may have made some questionable deals with people on the inside, but they do not get to purchase their tickets outwardly before the public.

TM employees get to purchase tix for shows, but this is a perk of being an employee, much like employees of almost any other company enjoy.

It may suck that you can't get great seats,but there is nothing illegal going on here.

Bands do have a say in the auctions:

http://www.ticketmaster.com/h/auction/ticketmasterAuctionsUS.html

And many TM employees reserve tickets on their own illegally. That's in addition to whatever perks they get. There's a difference.

And to say it's not illegal is technically correct, but not realistically. Yes, tickets can be reserved, but the bottom line is, most of the good seats are reserved for scalping eventually.

RockinInCanada

Not only do employees get access to tickets but also ALL of the venue sponser companies get first crack....my friends dad was an electrican for MacDonalds and we scored thrid row seats for a show a week before they went to the public...plus all season ticket holders get first crack of tickets as well....there are many groups/people that get acess well before the general public.....

SA_BlackSmith

Do any australain readers know some one that got $109 GA tickets to the RHCP? im trying to find this out for a news artical.

comfortably numb

i can't imagine why ticket agencies would, or we'd expect them to, give a #$% about the fans.

its sucks but is part of life i guess

JD Sal

I bought tickets to a college basketball game last year. The price of each ticket was $17.50 with an $8 convenience charge. A 45% convenience fee?!?!

Ticketmaster is pure evil.