Ticketmaster Customer Service
P.O. Box 62429
Virginia Beach, VA
23466-2429

To whom it may concern:

I am writing in regard to the order I made In October – order #10-22508. I purchased four tickets for the Chemical Bros. show, which took place at Manhattan Center in New York City on November 15th. The tickets were $25 a piece with total surcharges at $24; the total purchase amounted to $124.00. I demand to be reimbursed for the purchase price of these tickets, as services were not rendered as offered.

When I ordered the tickets, I was told by the representative that the show was general admission and standing room only at the Hammerstein Ballroom in the Manhattan Center. This made sense to me. When I arrived on the evening of the 15th, I soon learned that there were two distinct groups of tickets, those for the ballroom floor and those for the balcony, and I had arbitrarily been assigned four balcony tickets. If I had known this, I would have chosen floor tickets, if available. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have purchased the tickets, nor would I have driven three hours in a winter storm from my student residence to get there. Apparently the floor tickets were not sold out at the time I ordered; another friend of mine had attended the concert and luckily received floor tickets. She ordered her tickets well after I did and reported that you also failed to note the distinction between types of tickets to her.

The Manhattan Center box office staff refused to exchange the tickets, otherwise grant us entrance to the ballroom floor, or help us in any way other than to direct me to call you. Your offices were closed at the time. Security staff hassled my friends and I while we stood in the lobby trying to figure what to do. Finally, we decided to proceed upstairs. Upstairs we found rows of seats and no space to dance. The Manhattan Center decided to leave all the lights on in the balcony, despite my repeated requests to the security staff. The whole situation was ludicrous. I was completely furious and disgusted; my friends and I left midway through the show. I am fed up enough that my time was wasted. However I will not allow my money to be wasted.

Allow me to explain further that this is not a simple case of ‘bleeder’ seats vs. front-row. The Chemical Bros. are a techno act. It is an event for dancing. There is no sense sitting in a balcony watching two people push buttons from afar. This is akin to sitting in seats and watching a DJ spin records. If there was anything to see, it was impeded by the lights left on in the balcony section. Again, I was sold general admission to the Hammerstein Ballroom; I was there to dance.

I have been an avid attendant of many concerts over the years, and therefore, due to your monopoly in the concert industry, have been a frequent Ticketmaster customer. At this point, I am finding it hard to justify paying the exorbitant ticket prices and Ticketmaster surcharges to see my favorite music acts and then be treated like cattle by venue staff. The concert industry has been devoid of courtesy and a sense of customer service as it is; a situation such as this was truly uncalled for. A customer service representative of yours commented to me that Ticketmaster cannot be responsible for the actions of venue staff (i.e. leaving lights on in the balcony). Well if you can play the role of middleman when you take my money, you will play that role in getting it back. You are interface and representative to the venue. What are all the Ticketmaster surcharges for? The outcome of this situation will definitely make or break it for my friends and I; if I am not reimbursed, the four of us will forgo attendance at shows in the future and suffice to merely listening to CD’s, etc. I am definitely not going to attend other Ticketmaster events I had planned to until this situation is resolved.

 I have already contacted my credit card company and will file a dispute on the charges if need be. Services were not rendered as offered and I will not pay for them. I currently can be reached by phone at my student residence at <phone number>. Responses by mail should be sent to the above permanent address. . I hope that this situation can be quickly resolved and I will hear from you soon.

          Sincerely,
 
 

          <Fongaboo>