Astoria tickets

[Stephen Swann]

Whatever else you may think about Pearl Jam, they actually
tried to take on the Evil Empire of TicketBastard.  At the
height of their popularity in the mid-90's, they undertook a
tour where they tried to sell tickets for reasonable prices
through alternative distribution methods, and they got
beaten into the ground for their efforts.  They completely
lost the fight, and TicketBastard is still a monopoly.

--
Steve Swann    | Speak to me in many voices, make
swann at cugc.org |     them all sound like one


On Thu, Nov 11, 2004 at 11:04:31AM -0500, John Majka wrote:
> 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