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My fight with Ticketmaster Blow-by-Blow


* Mid-October - I am informed that the Chemical Bros. are coming to New York City. I order four tickets from Ticketmaster over the phone using my Visa card. The representative confirms with me four tickets at $25 a piece plus $24 total in surcharges and fees, general admission standing room only at the Hammerstein Ballroom at Manhattan Center.
 
* November 14 - My friend and I drive three hours through a Noreaster from my upstate student residence to my permanent residence in the New York City suburbs to ensure that we make it to the show. We spin out once and nearly get run off the road by a Greyhound bus and a tractor-trailer. It was a nerve-wracking experience, but we make it home safely.
 
* November 15 - Along with three friends, I drive down to Manhattan for the show. We end up spending another $40 for parking and gas, on top of what we have already paid for admission and those all-important ticket surcharges and handling fees. We pick up our tickets from the box office and proceed to the entrance of the ballroom and we are refused entrance and informed that we have 'Mezzanine' tickets. This is ridiculous. It's obvious the traditional entertainment industry is having trouble integrating electronic music. I'm here to dance. I return to the box office and complain and I am told there is nothing they can and am instructed to call Ticketmaster. Just for my health, I go to the payphone and call the almighty ticket deity; of course they are closed at 11 PM. My friends and I congregate in the lobby and discuss our options. We are hassled by Manhattan Center security staff for standing in the lobby. We confer with a few strangers who apparently are facing the same sitation. We give up and decide to proceed to the balcony. The Manhattan Center does not shut off the lights in the balcony. We sit in seats and watch the Chemical Bros. push buttons for a while from hundreds of feet away. The lights make it hard to see anything there is to watch and I can see all the people around instead of being able to focus on the 'show.' I am solicited by a 'performance artist' who is walking around and handing out business cards throughout the well-lit balcony in the middle of the show. I complain to Manhattan Center staff about the lights. They respond that they must keep the lights on for people who are 'dancing' in the stairwells. Finally fed up, we walk out midway through the show. My friends tell me they never have seen me so furious.
 
* November 16 - I talk to a friend of mine who I find out attended the same show. She tells me that she got floor tickets even though she ordered at least a week later than I did. So obviously the sales agent did not "acquire the best reservation available." My friend also tells me that she was not told of any distinction in ticket types by the sales agent either.
 
* November 17 - I make my first call to Ticketmaster. Of course I have to wade through and endless maze of touchtone-pushing and waiting on hold. Not suprisingly, I am not able to directly address the situation in real-time with a human being, but am instructed to write to their customer service address in Virginia.
 
* November 18 - I send my first letter of complaint to Ticketmaster Customer Service. I explain myself completely and provide every reasonable justification for a refund of my money.
 
* November 19 - I email A+R at Caroline Records, the Chemical Bros.'s record company. I receive a reply the same day from Clayton Sparks. So far he is the only person in the industry I have dealt with who is sympathetic. He points out that he and others in the business are just as powerless as concertgoers are, but offers me complimentary tickets the next time the Chemical Bros. are in town, as well as some other free stuff. Cool!
 
* January 7 - I make another call to Ticketmaster. They tell me they "got backed up over the holidays" and finally got around to sending me a letter which should be onroute to me.
 
* January 9 - I finally receive said letter from a Mr. Eric P. Poulsen of Ticketmaster Customer Service. He informs me that they are not going to redress my grievance in any way.
 
* January 11 - I call Ticketmaster again and directly protest the letter. Unable to get any satisfaction from the telephone agent, I ask to speak to Mr. Poulsen by name. It being the weekend, they direct me to call back during the week.
 
* January 13 - I make another call to Ticketmaster, wade through multiple transfers and wait on hold for ages. Asking directly for Poulsen, I am directed to make a long-distance call to their office in Virginia. I get into an argument with a phone rep.
 
* January 14 - I begin work on the Ticketbastard website. I send out my second letter. I make a call to the Virginia office of Ticketmaster. After many transfers, much time on hold, and hassling with multiple phone representatives I am able to get Mr. Poulsen on the phone. I tell him that I received his letter and that it is unacceptable. I point out the lies inherent in the letter. He basically regurgitates the fodder contained in the letter. After much arguing, he offers a refund of the total of the Ticketmaster surcharges. I tell him that perhaps that would be acceptable at the time of his first reply, but because of the aggrivation I've had to go through and the fact that I've probably already spent at least $24 in phone and postal charges, nothing less than a full refund is acceptable. He says that he is unable to authorize a refund. Whatever. The conversation concludes: "YOU KNOW, MR. POULSEN? I WORK FOR A SERVICE PROVIDER MYSELF, AND I DO CUSTOMER SERVICE OVER TELEPHONE AND WE HAVE TO MAKE SURE THAT WE PROVIDE CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AND ADDRESS AND GRIEVANCES SWIFTLY! BECAUSE IF I DON'T WE DON'T, WE KNOW OUR CUSTOMERS WILL HIGH-TAIL IT TO ONE OF THREE OR FOUR LOCAL COMPETITORS! BUT SINCE TICKETMASTER HAS A STRANGLEHOLD ON THE TICKET DISTRIBUTION INDUSTRY, THEY CAN FLIP THEIR CUSTOMERS THE BIRD! I GUESS I AM GOING TO HAVE TO SEEK OTHER RESOURCES IN ORDER TO GET MY MONEY BACK!" *CLICK!*
 
* January 15 - I make a phone call to Glendora, an acquaintance from my public-access television days. Glendora is well-known for being a thorn-in-the-side of many injust corporations, and especially her successful lawsuit against Cablevsion Systems Corporation. Her weekly television show "A Chat with Glendora" can be seen on a multitude of cable television public access channels in the Tri-State Area, including Manhattan Neighborhood Network in New York City. Glendora gives me much advice on what steps to take next and agreed to feature my story and my website on her TV show.
 
* January 16 - I call Ticketmaster Customer Service to clarify exactly what surcharges I was charged and what they are for. For each $25 ticket they applied a $5.25 'service charge' and they charged a $3 'handling fee' to the whole order for a total of $24 in surccharges. I ask what each charge was for and was told that the 'service charge' was for using Ticketmaster and the 'handling fee' was for the processing of the order itself. Whatever that means! I send out a mass email promoting the Ticketbastard website. It is officially launched and I submit it to the major search engines..
 
* February 19 - I make another call to Ticketmaster's Virgina office. I make sure to first ask each representative I speak with whether they can authorize full refunds and to forward me to someone who can. I end up with Mr. Poulsen again. I point out how ludicrous his excuses are regarding contractual obligations and funds not being available: "When I order from a mail-order distributor and they send me a defective product or something that is not what I ordered, they do not simply refund the shipping charges and the amount of profit they made, claiming that they have already paid the manufacturer the cost of the item. They refund me the full amount I have paid and it is the distributor's matter to reclaim the cost of the item." Poulsen again tells me to take other avenues. I assure him that I am, but in the mean time I will not be leaving them alone. He claims he has done the best he can. I say I must speak to someone who can do better and ask for the name of someone else I can speak to on a non-holiday (It was Martin Luther King Day). I am told to ask for Mr. Nunnally, Services Manager.
 
* January 27 - I call back to the Virginia office to speak with Mr. Nunnally. Of course I have to wait on hold forever, then speak to a sales agent, who makes me wait on hold forever while she forwards me to customer service, then I speak to a customer service agent, ask for Nunnally and then have to wait on hold FOREVER. I tell you I have nightmares about that fucking Paula Cole song that just keeps looping, as well as that Buffy the Vampire Slayer promo: "Things are about to get veeeerrry interesting.." I've heard them both for about four months now. I finally get the service agent who informs me that Mr. Nunnally is in a meeting. I'm sure it's a discussion of ways to better serve the customer. Well I ask for a call back, figuring that CEO Fred Rosen has drilled all of his employees in the '24-hour rule' (See 'Two Filthy Guys..', #7). Of course, I am asked 'What is this in reference to?' as I understand the 38-hour-a-week part-time phone rep is required to ask. So I have to go into my schpeel, which she tries to dispel. I tell her I understand that she is just doing her job, but ask if she could please relay my message and have Mr. Nunnally me back.
 
* January 28 - I call WABC 770 AM New York's "Call for Action" line. This is a consumer action line. Although I always hear their promos advertising successful cases of getting satisfaction for consumers, I have never dealt with them before. I have always been a loyal fan of WABC Talk Radio though. Hopefully they can get something done for me..
 
* January 29 - I mail a letter to Fred Rosen, President and CEO of Ticketmaster, and I carbon-copy it to Paul Allen, Chairman of the Board, and Andi Poch, Vice-President. I also write to Mr. Nunnally at the Virginia Beach office. I mail copies of all of my letters sent and received to both the Better Business Bureau and Call for Action. I call the Better Business Bureau and file a formal complaint against Ticketmaster. The operator tells me they have gotten a lot of complaints against them in the past.
 
* February 3 - I receive a voicemail at my student residence from a Mr. Dave Holman. He leaves me a phone number from the New York City area code, leaving me curious as to which of my numerous routes of complaint he is responding to. I am foolishly optimistic, as his is a new name from neither the LA, Virginia Beach or Ohio offices, and maybe he can handle things differently.
 
* February 4 - I call Mr. Holman back at his NYC office. Curiously, he dodges the question twice when I ask him specifically which letter he is responding to. Once again, I find myself in a ridiculous argument. So much for being hopeful.. This guy is obviously gets paid to deal with people like me - someone who I imagine failed the Bar Exams but still has all that personality to be put to good use. He seems to enjoy debating me and aims to keep going till I am worn out. I do match each of his claims with valid responses. However I do drop out after he keeps running in circles back to one piece of doubletalk: the claim that the agent and Ticketmaster made no mistake and that they were going on whatever information Manhattan Center provided them. Well the whole thing just got silly.. Here are some examples:

(Ticketmaster provides a service..)

HOLMAN: So where were you when you ordered the tickets?

ME: I was at my student residence upstate."

HOLMAN: So therefore you didn't have to travel all the way to the box office to buy the tickets?"

ME: No I didn't. I also called a mail order distributor in Ohio and purchased a piece of computer hardware and I didn't have to travel to Ohio to get it. When what I received was not the right item, the distributor refunded me to total of the money I had paid: cost of the item to the distributor, profit and shipping."

HOLMAN: And this was after you kept and used the item for four months?"

ME: I contacted Ticketmaster the next business day. It is because of Ticketmaster that this has dragged out for four months.

(Passing the buck..)

ME: If this is not your fault, then why did Manahttan Center tell me to call you when I complained at the box office?"

HOLMAN: I guess that's called 'passing the buck'?"

ME: So I guess you're doing it again?"

HOLMAN: Did you ask for your money back?"

ME:They would not give me my money back."

HOLMAN: So you stayed at the event?"

ME: Yes I had travelled hours to be there and had already spent at least $30 on gas, tolls and parking. I decided to cut my losses and check out what facilities were available in the 'mezzanine'. They were ridiculous. I got pissed off and left!"

(That's impossible!..)

ME: What the agent read to me and what I got at the box office were two different things.

HOLMAN: That is not possible. The agent can only see on their screen what is available.

ME: Well I know mistakes of these types to be very possible. I once ordered tickets to a standing-room only venue from you guys, and the agent tried to tell me that there were only two seats left, not next to each other. Obviously, being familiar with the venue, I caught it before it could be a problem. I've also read many articles about how your computer system is archaic and how mistakes like these are commonplace at Ticketmaster.

HOLMAN: Oh yeah? What articles are these?

ME: I don't have them in front of me, but one is by a writer from 'Creem' magazine which describes your archaic computer systems (See 'Two Filthy Guys'). The other is a webpage by one of your own ex-employees which describes how errors of this type are typical . If you would like me to send you copies, I can.

Well we finally got to a point where we had nothing to say and I said goodbye. Infuriated, I called the Better Business Bureau back and ordered a copy of their history report. I will post it here when I get it.
 
* February 25 - I contact Joanna of WABC's Call for Action. She tells me that Ticketmaster refuses to refund my money, but that I will be designated for 'priority seating' next time I make an order. Uh.. Next time??
 
* March 4 - I order tickets to see John Zorn, Mike Patton & Ikue Mori at the Knitting Factory in Manhattan, NYC. This is my first concert-type event since the infamous Chemical Bros. incident. Much to my suprise/delight, they do not use Ticketmaster for distribution. They instead offer phone orders via credit card directly from their box office for a mere $1 extra and also offer ordering through the web-based Ticketmaster challenger TicketWeb. Although I have not tried them, as I am still a bit leary about most web transactions, I encourage you all to check them out..
 
* April - I haven't been doing much this month if you couldn't tell already.. School and other responsibilities have kept me busy. I'm also moving into my first apartment in June, so preparations have been a bit of a distraction. The only thing I really got to do this month was check with the Better Business Bureau on the status of my complaint. Apparently I failed to submit a form that was required, so I will have to do that. I should become a bit more active after finals are done.
 

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