Ticketmaster 'mishaps'

[walterfredo]

...are becoming all too common.  I have very little doubt this latest incident was a not a random accident.  I also know there is no way the band had anything to do with it whatsoever (that's just absurd).  This latest incident with the Palace tickets was no accident.  Ticketmaster=shady as hell.  I'm not usually one for conspiracy theories...but this is Ticketbastard we're talking about.  So the fans were locked out while brokers/scalpers, were basically allowed to purchase freely with there Citi bank cards..and now they have TONS of tickets on their sites.

Other recent TM 'mishaps'.....

-MMJ L.A. Pantages show went on sale at least 15 minutes early.  I'm sure this was no accident either, brokers could have been tipped off to this and were on it early.  Subsequently, very few fans got good seats on the floor. 

-Phish in Lake Tahoe went on sale last Friday.  Everyone knew this was going to be a ridiculously tough ticket to get.  Ticket limits for extremely hard phish shows are usually set at 4 (even 2 in some instances), yet for some reason the limit to these shows was set at 8....but only initially, after about 5 minutes into the sale they were mysteriously switched to 4...everyone knows that the brokers/scalpers magically gain access to the system before joe public, so they basically were allowed a few minutes to gobble up ridiculous amounts of tickets, before TM discovered this 'glitch' and switched it to 4.  Also, fans that had more than 4 tickets in their carts at the time of the switch, were booted from the system...shows were sold out by they time they could try again.

-Phish at Red Rocks in 2009, another crazy hard ticket.  Tickets to these 4 shows mysteriously became available via TM 3 days before the on sale was supposed to occur, and the majority of tickets were sold before the glitch was found.  However, for this instance fans were so upset, as was the band, that TM was forced to refund everyone that made purchases and then resold them on the scheduled date/time.

-LCD Soundsytem's last ever show at MSG.  Fans pretty much got nothing, brokers/scalpers cleaned house. 

...just a few that I can recall off the top of my head.  I know there are many more. These are no accidents, in my opinion, this is ticketmaster being a slimy, shady company. 

[Tracy 2112]

I have had a couple of incidents with Ticketmaster when there were really "hot" shows at the Ryman here in Nashville: REM and The White Stripes; not the same bill, but both times I logged in to get tickets for these shows, right on time, refreshing the screen waiting for the sale to start, just like every other show that I was able to get tickets to, the "box office" remained closed for a good 6-7 minutes after the top of the hour rolled by. Once it opened, all they had was back rows and singles.

[BH]

A "unique programming error".   That's one way to describe it.

Can we divert congress away from the NFL and get them onto ticketmaster?

[mgriff73]

That would make to much since.  They are to worried about baseball and football to stop this monopoly.  I love when they don't have tickets they send you to another ticket company that they own for premium prices.

[walterfredo]

I love when they don't have tickets they send you to another ticket company that they own for premium prices.

due to some legal issues, they are no longer allowed to do this, but yes, that was horrible.

[ericm]

A "unique programming error".   That's one way to describe it.

Can we divert congress away from the NFL and get them onto ticketmaster?

They've gotten involved in the past.

I got caught in this Ticketbastard scandal. I got right in at 10:00 AM, went through the captcha,and was given the "no tickets to match your request" page at 10:01!! ??? I went back in and was re-direced to TicketsNow, but knew it was their sister/broker site and didn't fall for the bait and switch.

Here's an article from about a week after the onsale. There are quite a few aticles on this particular incident on Google, including the settlement of suits brought against TM as a result of this investigation.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/02/09/schumer-calls-ticketmaster-probe-suspicious-springsteen-sales/

[CTdeadhead]

Unfortunately stupid stuff like this will never get the attention it deserves as it is Corporate America.  However, this stuff has also been going on before the internets.  In the old days, you went to a Ticketron (eventually TM) and the manager of the store operating the machine would nab up all the good seats while a "problem" was preventing the folks in line from getting tickets at the moment of on sale. 

Corruption will always find a way. 

[el_chode]

I spoke with an industry person who said its hard to get them pegged on too many things because they sort of operate through informal agreements and less contractual obligations that would be considered uncompetitive.

Not sure how true that is

[Fully]

It still seems like we've been screwed as usual.

[johnnYYac]

It still seems like we've been screwed as usual.

Sorry.  I moved this to its own thread here:

http://www.mymorningjacket.com/forum/index.php?topic=15845.0