Astoria tickets

[John Majka]

This is interesting, because I had a similar experience just a couple months
ago.  I ordered tickets for a Ravi Shankar concert and they never showed up
in the mail.  I contacted Ticketmaster the day before the event, and they
assured me that new tickets would be waiting for me at the box office at the
venue, but that I had to arrive to pick them up between the hours of noon
and four in the afternoon (considerably earlier than the concert).  I was
annoyed at having to drive to another town and hang around for hours and
hours before the show, but nevertheless I went there early to find that the
box office wasn't even open until 6 pm that day!  I was forced to wander
around town for hours, and when the box office did open, they knew nothing
of my plight.  Strangely, some philanthropist had left a couple of tickets
at the window to be given away free, and they kindly gave me one of those,
but had that not happened, I never would have seen the show.  I telephoned
ticketmaster the next day (something which will require at least an hour of
your time as you are transferred between operators) and told them I wanted a
refund for tickets that were never used, and they told me I couldn't get a
refund because the event had already occurred!  How moronically stupid!  Why
else would I want a refund?  I could understand not refunding before the
event... but not doing so after???  No amount of arguing would convince them
to do anything, even though I called every day for a week.  There were of
course all the additional "handling charges" etc. and they would not even
refund those.  In short, I was ripped off for around fifty dollars.  I did
in fact see the show, but that was only through the kindness of a donated
ticket.  Had it been down to ticketmaster, I would have paid them fifty
dollars and received nothing in exchange.  *still fuming*
John Majka
jmajk at indy.rr.com

> >Ticketmaster, what a rip off!
>
> Not for nothing have they earned the nickname Ticketbastard.
>
> I once used them to buy tickets for a gig (not HW) in Brighton, when I got
> down there I found the venue was still being built!! The gig itself was
> taking place at a different venue, something I discovered purely by
chance.
> When I got to the second venue nobody knew anything about our
> supposed "reserved tickets" although the promoter was kind enough to let
us
> in for free when I explained the situation. When I subsequently complained
> to Ticketmaster I received no reply.
>
> I swore I would never use them again, but foolishly did so- I booked a
> ticket through them to see the Magic Band at the Garage earlier this year.
> The gig was cancelled but they declined to provide a refund on the grounds
> that the ticket was valid for the following night's gig - however I could
> not go the following night. Subsequent emails were again met with a wall
of
> silence. Short of contacting a lawyer there's not much that can be done
> about such practices, except to alert others. My advice: avoid
Ticketmaster
> like the plague.
>
> Nick