- Joined
- Jun 10, 2003
- Messages
- 26,250
- Real Name
- Josh Steinberg
(Apologies in advance for the rant.)
This morning, I purchased a ticket to a concert I was very excited to see. (Lindsey Buckingham & Christine McVie, I'm guessing I'll be the youngest guy there but I think it'll be great.) I was so happy when Ticketmaster offered me a seat in Row A during an American Express presale. I mean, how often does that happen?
I should've known it was too good to be true.
I got a call a few hours later from the venue's disability services office, asking me to call back. (I do not have a disability.) I returned the call and spoke to a lady who asked me about my disability and I said I didn't have one, that there must be a mistake. She said I bought a disabled ticket and she'd have to cancel it since I wasn't eligible to use it. I agreed that I shouldn't be in a seat reserved for a disabled person but that I hadn't done that. I politely asked if I could speak with her supervisor, and had to ask three separate times before she allowed me to do so.
After some connection issues I was connected to her boss, who identified himself as the "director" of the program. For half an hour, the guy lectured and berated me about how I couldn't keep my ticket and basically that I was a monster for trying to steal a seat from a disabled person and a liar when I claimed otherwise.
The thing is, I'm a frequent Ticketmaster purchaser, and I know how to buy tickets. I am as sure as any one person can be that this ticket was not labeled as a disabled seat. I specifically selected "American Express Presale" and "Best Available" seats, and not the "Disabled" option. I think it's pretty clear that in a moment when the Ticketmaster system was getting innundated with thousands of requests at the same second, something somewhere glitched.
But this guy would not give a single millimeter. He repeatedly insisted that the system couldn't make a mistake and that I either screwed up or was lying. I never lost my temper or raised my voice, but the guy kept at it and took away my ticket. They're offering me a refund and saying there's nothing they can do and that they have no connection to Ticketmaster or tickets or anyone who does. But there's still a presale ticket in Row Z available and they said I could buy that instead. As if Row A and Row Z are somehow comperable.
Unbelievable.
I understand mistakes happen. But what I can't believe is that there's no one there who can go, "Ok, something didn't work out right here, but let's try to fix this. We need the handicapped seat back but the general public onsale hasn't happened yet, let's see if the box office can find you something comperable so everyone's happy. It might not be Row A but let's get you a seat in the same neighborhood before they go onsale."
I suggested as much but the guy reacted as if I was suggesting genocide.
For what it's worth, nowhere on my order receipt does it say that it's a handicapped ticket. After the phone call, when I refreshed the webpage that designation appeared, but it wasn't there earlier. Unfortunately I can't get my browser cache to show the older version of the page.
I get that they need that particular seat for a handicapped person and despite what they think, I'm not a monster. But I'm really furious at this idea that their system made a mistake, and they're taking absolutely no responsibility for that. No apologies, no efforts to find mutually amicable solutions, just accusations and insinuations and a forced cancellation of my order.
It's really irritating that consumers get treated like this by big companies and have no recourse. Ticketmaster never lets consumers cancel or modify orders even if the customer made a mistake, with no recourse for the customer, but they're more than happy to cancel things for their mistakes and there's nothing the customer can do. And I'm also sick of this thing where different companies work together for their benefit but not yours. Like in this instance, you can't buy tickets from the venue can gig cab only get them from Ticketmaster, but then the guy at the venue insists the venue has no relationship with Ticketmaster. Well, they're the only way to buy a ticket to a show at your venue, so whether or not you want to acknowledge it, you are connected. It seems to me it should be their job to work this out with Ticketmaster.
I made a good faith effort to purchase a ticket, my card was charged and the transaction was processsed successfully. They made a mistake. The burden should be on them to make it right, not me.
This morning, I purchased a ticket to a concert I was very excited to see. (Lindsey Buckingham & Christine McVie, I'm guessing I'll be the youngest guy there but I think it'll be great.) I was so happy when Ticketmaster offered me a seat in Row A during an American Express presale. I mean, how often does that happen?
I should've known it was too good to be true.
I got a call a few hours later from the venue's disability services office, asking me to call back. (I do not have a disability.) I returned the call and spoke to a lady who asked me about my disability and I said I didn't have one, that there must be a mistake. She said I bought a disabled ticket and she'd have to cancel it since I wasn't eligible to use it. I agreed that I shouldn't be in a seat reserved for a disabled person but that I hadn't done that. I politely asked if I could speak with her supervisor, and had to ask three separate times before she allowed me to do so.
After some connection issues I was connected to her boss, who identified himself as the "director" of the program. For half an hour, the guy lectured and berated me about how I couldn't keep my ticket and basically that I was a monster for trying to steal a seat from a disabled person and a liar when I claimed otherwise.
The thing is, I'm a frequent Ticketmaster purchaser, and I know how to buy tickets. I am as sure as any one person can be that this ticket was not labeled as a disabled seat. I specifically selected "American Express Presale" and "Best Available" seats, and not the "Disabled" option. I think it's pretty clear that in a moment when the Ticketmaster system was getting innundated with thousands of requests at the same second, something somewhere glitched.
But this guy would not give a single millimeter. He repeatedly insisted that the system couldn't make a mistake and that I either screwed up or was lying. I never lost my temper or raised my voice, but the guy kept at it and took away my ticket. They're offering me a refund and saying there's nothing they can do and that they have no connection to Ticketmaster or tickets or anyone who does. But there's still a presale ticket in Row Z available and they said I could buy that instead. As if Row A and Row Z are somehow comperable.
Unbelievable.
I understand mistakes happen. But what I can't believe is that there's no one there who can go, "Ok, something didn't work out right here, but let's try to fix this. We need the handicapped seat back but the general public onsale hasn't happened yet, let's see if the box office can find you something comperable so everyone's happy. It might not be Row A but let's get you a seat in the same neighborhood before they go onsale."
I suggested as much but the guy reacted as if I was suggesting genocide.
For what it's worth, nowhere on my order receipt does it say that it's a handicapped ticket. After the phone call, when I refreshed the webpage that designation appeared, but it wasn't there earlier. Unfortunately I can't get my browser cache to show the older version of the page.
I get that they need that particular seat for a handicapped person and despite what they think, I'm not a monster. But I'm really furious at this idea that their system made a mistake, and they're taking absolutely no responsibility for that. No apologies, no efforts to find mutually amicable solutions, just accusations and insinuations and a forced cancellation of my order.
It's really irritating that consumers get treated like this by big companies and have no recourse. Ticketmaster never lets consumers cancel or modify orders even if the customer made a mistake, with no recourse for the customer, but they're more than happy to cancel things for their mistakes and there's nothing the customer can do. And I'm also sick of this thing where different companies work together for their benefit but not yours. Like in this instance, you can't buy tickets from the venue can gig cab only get them from Ticketmaster, but then the guy at the venue insists the venue has no relationship with Ticketmaster. Well, they're the only way to buy a ticket to a show at your venue, so whether or not you want to acknowledge it, you are connected. It seems to me it should be their job to work this out with Ticketmaster.
I made a good faith effort to purchase a ticket, my card was charged and the transaction was processsed successfully. They made a mistake. The burden should be on them to make it right, not me.
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