I know that Ticketmaster stands for all that is evil and unholy in the concert world, but here we go again.
A friend at work let me know that John Prine is going to be in concert in L.A. at the Wilshire Theatre. I head over to the Ticketmaster site to buy tickets, knowing that I am going to be raped with fees.
I order the tickets and at the end this is what I have.
tickets 34.00x2 Reasonable I guess.
convenience charge 9.85x2 I knew this was going to be a lot, but damn!!
building facility charge 3.50x2 Just charge 40.00 for the damn tickets!
4.order processing charge 5.60 damn, double damn!!!
I spent just over a hundred dollars on sixty eight dollars worth of tickets, it’s o.k., I really want to see John Prine.
I get to the delivery method, and this is where I lose it.
The standard UPS and mail delivery and will call pick up.
That’s all good, and then there is the ticketfast®:now
WHAT THE FUCK TICKETMASTER???
It’s not bad enough that you made 25.30 off of me first,
but you want to make another 2.50 to mail me a link to print my own ticket
You are going to charge me to use my own ink and paper.
FUCK YOU YOU FUCKING FUCK!!! YOU TWATWAFFLE COCKHOLSTER!!!
This should be in MPSIMS but then I couldn’t cuss.
Hello in there, everybody wants to feel like you.It’s a big old goofy world. It’s happening to you. All the best. It’s better than Christmas in prison hell it’s paradise. I get tired of people puttin people down. A Prine concert is the best for killing the blues and at least you’re not down by the side of the road. It’s the price we pay for living in the future. You don’t want to sound like the oldest baby in the world and at least they didn’t charge you one red rose. You got a ticket, you got gold so everything is cool. For me the show is just a spanish pipe dream so enjoy your illegal smile. Use your common sense and write Dear Abby. Forget about sweet revenge and enjoy the show.
You lucky bastard. It would be cheap at twice the price…
Pearl Jam brought a law-suit but lost. But now some bands are trying to use the Internet to get around Ticketmaster.
Did you consider going the to Wilshire’s boxoffice? I’ve never been there, but I’ve avoided Ticketmaster by going to the box offices of the Universal Amp and the Greek Theater. Yeah, they also have hidden charges, but I assume it’s cheaper. After all, the venue doesn’t profit from Ticketmaster’s outrageous fees.
What makes this possible is that the owner of the venue signs an exclusive contract with Ticketmaster, that every event in that facility must sell the tickets through Ticketmaster. Especially annoying when it’s a public facility, built and paid for with taxpayer money. That should be illegal! At the very least, they, as voters, ought to express their objection to the elected officials who sign such agreements with Ticketmaster.
Oh, and in some of their newer contracts, Ticketmaster is demanding that the facility charge the extra fees even from customers who come to the box office to pick up their tickets, and pass those fees on to Ticketmaster.
And you know the best part (not sure if this also applies to ticket master) but last time I looked for a vendor (i.e Tiketek and thier ilk) to sell tickets for a charity event I was arranging, they also charge the show organiser a fee for every ticket - including the comp and vip tickets.
I honestly don’t understand the complaint. I mean, I could understand a rant about how expensive tickets are. But a complaint that they’re itemizing your costs? Why is $40 better than $35 plus $5?
Then of course there is the fact that some large number of those tickets will be on a scalper site before they’re even on sale to the public. So you can get a decent seat, but you’ll be paying the scalper for it.
Because they’re dishonestly advertising the price of the ticket as being $35, and you only find out about the rest of the fees when they’re added on at the end of the sale. Would you be pissed off if you went to the store to buy a gallon of milk for $3.50 only to find out that it has a carton charge of 50 cents and a drinkability charge of 50 cents and a refrigeration fee of 50 cents?
I rented a car in Phoenix last year. The price of the rental doubled when you added in all the taxes, EPA fees, etc. Given that all rental agencies charged identical taxes and fees, it wasn’t as bothersome as the companies, such as hotels, that later add in fees (e.g. mandatory “resort fees”) so that they look more reasonable on a side-by-side comparison.
I thought I read somewhere that airlines now are required to list their all-in price in lieu of a base price, then later adding in mandatory taxes, service charges, gate fees, destination charges, EPA charges, fuel surcharges, etc., so that consumers can make a comparison.
The thing that’s bothersome about TicketMaster is that $35 of the OPer’s money went to the band, which he cheerfully paid since he enjoys their music. It’s a bit maddening that other vultures can make gobs of money (43% of the ticket price!) without spending the thousands of hours that the band spent honing their talent.
Of course, I think we’d all be dismayed at how little artists in any industry make. Friends of mine recently wrote a book. They made *10 cents *on each book sold. It retailed for $24.95. Then we have the recording industry, etc.
I can get behind hating Ticketmaster for charging outrageous fees. But in your example, I can’t say I’d be pissed if I was accustomed to such practice. For me, I know before I even start to look for show tickets that the final price is going to be much higher than listed, because I know Ticketmaster charges these crazy fees. The same isn’t true of everyone, though, and I can’t see how this practice helps Ticketmaster. If they just advertised a $40 ticket at the final price of $70, and offered you the option to “view a breakdown,” they’d probably have far fewer people complaining.
What, they think people are going to see “$40!” and ignore everything else until they hit Submit Payment?
Well, on second thought, they probably paid someone to do research and see that some idiots do. :smack:
I thought that TM imposed those fees so that they would still get their shitload of money if the venue canceled.
The ticket price gets refunded but all of the processing “fees” don’t because the services represented in those fees are still performed.
I’ve never held a canceled ticket. Does anybody want to verify or refute my belief?
Its extra shitty when you realize the TM is assuming no risks for the performance yet still charging outrageous fees for processing that costs them a small fraction of those fees.
Well, as catsix says, it’s frankly misrepresentative, but quite apart from that they’re itemised in insultingly untruthful ways. In no conceivable world is the mere privilege of being allowed to buy something commensurate with a $10 “convenience fee”, nor does any business that actually has to compete expect customers to pay another $5 for merely processing their order (presumably the return part of the transaction is not part of the “convenience”). The precise nature of a “building facility charge” is open to speculation, but it’s very hard to imagine that the rent overheads associated with processing a small piece of thick paper are of the order of $4. Far more honest would be if they stated a single tariff of $20, labelled simply, “up yours, chump.”
Certainly, Ticketmaster’s main sin is the extortion of cash for minimal service by abusing a monopoly position. The blatantly fictitious itemisations are just the final kick in the teeth.
I hate this practice as well, but I will say that TM does stand behind their service. I bought tickets for an event at Madison Square Garden for myself and my SO because I received a discount code for 50% off. I wrote down the code and went through the ticket selection process and it ended up charging my card before it applied the discount. I immediately called their customer service department and they applied the discount over the phone, refunded the difference to my card, and upgraded our seats at no cost for the confusion. I hate all the crap fees that they charge and I wish that they would disclose them all up front but they made absolutely sure that my problem was solved quickly and efficiently and I don’t mind paying for that kind of service.
A friend of mine works for a local performing arts center, and he told me how these things work.
The ticket price ultimately goes to the venue, who pays the performer their agreed-upon fee and keeps the rest for their costs. I’d also imagine that the facility charge also goes to the venue, but why that’s not rolled into the ticket price isn’t clear.
Ticketmaster has to make a profit in order to stay in business, and to do that they nickel-and-dime you for their fees. Frankly, they really are a convenience if you’re looking to go to a show that is pretty far from where you live. If I wanted to see a show in Philly or Pittsburgh, which are on either end of the state, or even Hershey, which can be a 45-minute to an hour’s drive, it’s not worth it to me to drive to the venue box office to save a few bucks and get lousy seats. Ticketmaster capitalizes on this.
Ticketmaster also serves as a clearinghouse, so there is no need to contact every venue for a show schedule.
To be fair, I’d like to see Ticketmaster justify their fees, which are high and which probably could be regulated under anti-scalping laws.
But they do provide a valuable service and they have the right to profit from it.