January 5, 1998
Mr. <Fongaboo>
<postal address>
Dear <Fongaboo>,
Thank you very much for your recent letter detailing the circumstances that encountered with regards to your ticket order for the November 15th performance of The Chemical Brothers at the Hammerstein Ballroom. Credit for your Ticketmaster tickets, unfortunately, can not be authorized.
During the ordering process all information was confirmed
with you three separate times, i.e., venue, day/date & time of the
show, number of tickets requested and the total charge for the order. The
Sales Agent acquired the best reservation available and confirmed the location
with you as general admission Mezzanine.
(The Hammerstein Ballroom has two general admission sections:
Floor & Mezzanine)
All Ticketmaster sales are final. There are no refunds, exchanges, or cancellations. Ticketmaster collects no part of the price of each ticket sold through our service. We are contractually obligated to remit all revenues directly to the promoter/facility involved. After an event has passed, all such remittances have been forwarded making the funds for credit unavailable. Ticketmaster can no longer authorize credit action.
We regret we are unable to be of further assistance in this matter.
Sincerely,
Eric P. Poulsen
Phone Service Coordinator
Second of all, the agent did not acquire the "best reservation possible" as I have confirmed
that floor tickets were available at the time and for a while after I ordered. A friend of mine
went to the same show separately and was lucky enough to arbitrarily receive floor tickets even
though she ordered at least a week later than I did.
Third point is, the statement that the agent confirmed the location with me as general admission
Mezzanine is a flat-out lie. I was told general admission Standing room only.
The agent informed me of no distinction in tickets or of sections of Manhattan Center. The agent my
friend ordered from did not inform her of this information either, but she was just lucky enough to
have gotten floor tickets.
"All Ticketmaster sales are final." Even if Ticketmaster screws up and
totally ruins my night?
Screw that! "Ticketmaster collects no part of the price of each ticket
sold through our service."
So what are they? A non-profit service? And why is it my problem what
contracts TM has with promoters and facilities or whether funds have been
remitted to
them or not? If I order a product from a mail-order distributor and it is
defective, do I have to listen to the plight of the distributor about
their contracts with the manufacturer? Do they tell me they can't refund
my money because they've already paid the manufacturer for the cost of the
product and they can only refund me the shipping and the profit of the
item? No - they refund my money completely and it is the distributor's
problem with the manufacturer of the item as to recouping their cost.