We went to a concert at a large local sports bar last night. The tickets said the doors opened at 8. We went there at 8 to find the bar full of people watching the football game for free. The football people stayed after the game and got to see the concert that we had paid $40 per ticket for free.
Have you ever heard of this? Do you think we have any recourse with the venue for getting some or all of our money back? Are we just big babies for being upset about this? We do realize that we fully intended to pay $40 each for the show, and that really hadn’t changed.
ETA: For Albertans, the venue was Flames Central, so you can get in to see free shows in the future, too.
Are you sure you know the whole situation? Maybe they were friends and family of the band or maybe they were preferred bar customers and got a perk to help fill out the audience. You admit that you didn’t lose anything yourself because of it. People get free stuff all the time that others have to pay for. I am sure you have too.
It’s somewhat analogous to a bar offering a free cover before a certain time. People get the same “entertainment” but some of them see it without a fee because they showed up earlier. Bars around here do this, to both get drinkers/spenders in the door earlier and to keep the venue from having an “it’s always dead before 11 pm” reputation.
What’s different in your case is that by buying tickets “in advance” you didn’t know of this apparent option of coming earlier and seeing the thing for free.
Instead of the free show, I personally would tend to be crankier about the other patrons having better seats, because “doors open at 8” implies to patrons that previous to that time, all ticketholders will line up according to when they arrived and have first crack seats according to their time of arrival.
One- the legal answer (IANACL, but this should be universal) is that your recourse is limited to the amount of actual damage you suffered. So, what ACTUAL damage did you suffer? Pecuniary? I think not.
Two- the non-legal answer: what recourse would you want, and how would you go about asking for it? Seriously, I want to hear your answer to this question. Who would you ask and how would you phrase it?
To respond to your question: yes, you were and are being a baby about this. A big baby.
As far as “better seats” goes, was it “doors at 8” or “show starts at 8?” If the former, you’re still a baby, but with a quasi-logical reason for being a baby. If the latter, you have no excuse.
On edit- if you’re only now discovering that people sometimes go to a bar early to avoid the cover charge, I have to ask- just how old ARE you? I’ve been doing that before I could even drink legally. Cover starts at 8? Then you and your friends get there at 7:15 to get prime seats and no cover. So you spend half an hour drinking in a near-empty bar. Advantages still outweigh detriments.
I’m not up in arms about this, mind you, but come ON, dude.
Jeez, Happy, I think that’s a bit harsh on the OP.
If I had paid $40 dollars to see a concert at 8PM, only to discover that other people had showed up at 7:30, paid nothing to get in, and took all the prime seating, I’d be pretty miffed.
I’m very familiar with the ‘show up early to the bar and see the show for free,’ deal, but never has that been for a show that the venue was charging $40 a ticket for.
‘Cover’ usually implies a charge at the door, not advance ticket sales.
Yeah, Happy, you’re being too harsh. I can’t get to that link here at work, but a $40 ticket <> cover in my mind either.
Not to mention that it never would have occurred to me to do that “getting there early to avoid cover” trick either, as I generally only go to bars to drink or eat, so I’ve never paid cover in my life.
I haven’t been to Flames Central yet but I’m not surprised this has happened. It’s a new bar and they haven’t worked out all the kinks and/or they’re trying to advertise so are not kicking out the admission dodgers.
I find this difficult to believe based on the remainder of your response, but I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt.
As to the OP, I seriously doubt you have a legal leg to stand on, but I can imagine being miffed if I’d found myself in the same situation. Here’s hoping you actually enjoyed the concert after that!
Ouch. $40 is a lot more than a simple cover charge, I’d be pretty pissed too. Most bars around here charge a nominal cover (less than $10) once the show starts, so some patrons do get there early to avoid it. But they also don’t sell advance tickets. Every venue that sells advanced tickets only allows ticket-holders in the door, so there’s no way to beat that charge.
I don’t think there’s much you can do, besides an angry letter or phone call to the bar. I doubt you’d get a refund, but it might make you feel better to vent. And it might make the bar think twice for charging such a high price for those tickets when early birds pay nothing- I’m sure coming in an hour early to beat the cover and buying a few more rounds than you would have otherwise doesn’t add up to $40. Unless you drink a lot more than I do or have expensive taste.
That sounds like part of the problem. The venue didn’t decide what it was supposed to be that day. There are tons of bars here in Toronto that host concerts where the tickets are $30 and up, but they do NOT let the general public in before hand and let them stay if there are advance tickets sales.
Happy advance tickets sales are nothing like a cover charge that comes into effect later in the night. A lot of the bigger bars here that are also concert venues require you to get your tickets from TicketMaster or something similar. In those cases, the venues are typically closed to non-ticket holders.
Ticket holders aren’t just getting cheated there, the performers are as well because their contracts usually stipulate a percentage of ticket sales. If people coming to buy tickets at the door are turned away because the venue has reached capacity and there are a 100 people there who didn’t buy a ticket, they’d be pissed too.
A bar down the street holds pretty big concerts. On concert nights they either stay closed until the doors open to ticket holders, or they close for a couple hours between 5:00pm and “doors open” time.
Or, perhaps more to the point, what band plays bars and thinks they can command $40 a pop?!? (And how do they feel about a bunch of people getting in for free?)
The “get in early, skip cover” doesn’t work anywhere I’ve been. When they start charging a cover, they go around and collect the cover charge from everyone already there. You don’t want to pay the cover, out you go.
Many bands here play for just the door - they’re not about to let a bunch of wankers get a free show just because they started drinking early. The bar may slide a couple of freebies for very favored customers when they’re paying a flat-rate for the band, but that’s few and far between IME. People who’ve been there for hours have likely slowed down drinking and the bar does better getting them out and some fresh meat in.
And there’s a hella difference between a $5-10 cover and a $40 ticket.
Yeah, I’d be pissed as hell.
I’d also be annoyed that the doors were open earlier than stated on the ticket, meaning that the freeloaders got the best seats and you didn’t have that opportunity.
About your only possibility is to talk to management, which can be tricky in a bar. I’d try to find out when the manager is available before/after hours, and either call then or make an appointment and stop by (depending on how far away the venue is). Explain your dissatisfaction with the situation politely and calmly.
You may or may not get a refund, but you’ll have the chance to express your feelings to the actual responsible party.
THE new sports bar in the city. That’s what. Of course I’ve also been to concerts at bars which ranged from 20-40 a pop. I find there’s a difference between live band and concert territory… live band is more likely to be small, local, maybe moderately well known but not enough to presell tickets through ticketmaster (which is where I am guessing Featherlou bought her tickets?) with just the usual bar cover, maybe a bit more than usual because it’s live music and the bigger bands command a full house, more expensive tickets bought ahead (eg it’s unlikely you can buy tickets at the door of the bar unless it’s from a scalper). I’ve been to both sort of concerts here.
Happy Scrappy, I think you’re being a bit harsh. This sort of thing you buy your ticket and you show up, or you hope they have tickets at the door. Some clubs regularly have bands, and those you show up as you normally would at the bar… there is no advance ticketing beyond some promo tickets tossed around downtown, and it’s contingent on you getting to the door in time to still have tickets left. That’s how it works here.
IME when I’ve gone to concerts at bars you have to pay for your ticket at the door or show it to even get in if you prebuy. I went at least two concerts at sports bars, and though I got there early (to eat supper and get started on the drinking) I still had to pay to get in (one I prebought, one at the door) and have the privilege of watching the Oilers beat the shit out of the Flames before the concert (hey, I lived in Edmonton at the time and my loyalty depends on where I live and they really did beat the shit outta them…). One bar was closed for the setup and didn’t open until a couple hours before the concert was slated to start, the other was big enough that the concert area was closed off from the rest and only ticket holders were allowed in to that area and the rest was cleared out before the concert itself started.
Featherlou perhaps they arrived pretty early and paid for the concert/had tickets? It’s possible.
Of course it’s just as possible the people running the bar are idiots and didn’t give a shit. That’s why I don’t go out much anymore.
I think with a newish establishment that is still getting its procedures in place, and clearly having made you some unhappy customers, the manager might well be willing to comp you something. Hopefully something more valuable than free tickets to the next concert . Businesses trying to get good publicity instead of bad frequently comp something to unhappy customers as a practical business practice. A refund is unlikely. A gift certificate for a future visit is more likely.
One is the “club” thing, like the Roseland, where they sell tickets, and the doors don’t open until an hour before the show and you don’t get in the door without a ticket.
Another is the “bar” thing, like the Red Lion, where you can drink at happy hour and all night if you want, and people who come to see the band (which gets on at, say, 10) show up at 8 and pay a cover, tell the door which band they came to see, and that’s how the band makes money. If I get there at 6, I’m not paying any cover.
This place seems to be some twisted amalgam of both. If you let me in at 5, and I’m drinking at your bar, and you have a show on, and nobody comes by to tell me I have to leave, I’m not leaving. If you bought a ticket, that’s not my problem. If you toss me because there’s a private party/concert, such is life.
But in this case, it just seems to me like the OP is mad because someone else got for free what he paid for. There’s a name for that- and it IS babyish. Take a look at the bar. There’s plenty of space to watch whoever was up there.
By the way, who WAS up there that you’d pay $40CDN a ticket for the privilege of standing in THAT overtrendy monstrosity?
and they really did beat the shit outta them…). One bar was closed for the setup and didn’t open until a couple hours before the concert was slated to start, the other was big enough that the concert area was closed off from the rest and only ticket holders were allowed in to that area and the rest was cleared out before the concert itself started.
. Businesses trying to get good publicity instead of bad frequently comp something to unhappy customers as a practical business practice. A refund is unlikely. A gift certificate for a future visit is more likely.