Astoria tickets

[Muad'Dib]

Does England have a consumer affairs protection agency?  You should contact
them and file a complaint.   They may be able to investigate.


----- Original Message -----
From: "John Majka" <jmajk at INDY.RR.COM>
To: <BOC-L at LISTSERV.ISPNETINC.NET>
Sent: Friday, November 12, 2004 2:34 AM
Subject: Re: Astoria tickets


> 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