Ticketmaster Why not charge a service fee for toilet paper? Concord California
Today I tried to buy four tickets to see Chicago and the Doobie Brothers at the Sleep Train Pavillion in Concord, CA. Une 7, 2008. The tickets were advertised as $79.95 for a four-pack for lawn seats. When I tried to purchase them, there was a $7.65 convenience charge per ticket, a $4.50 facility charge, per ticket. More to get them mailed. So my question is: where is the charge for the toilet paper I may use, the water to flush the toilet, the paper towels, the lawn maintenence fee, the air surrounding the Pavillion that I have to breathe and the security guards uniform fee? This should be worth another $100 to them! It certainly is worth over $30 for some minimum wage worker to hand me four tickets!! Why don't they hire four people for minimum wage and take an hour to each give me ONE ticket. I am sure these poor minumum wage people MUST take an least an hour per ticket to make it CONVENIENT for me. I personally, will NEVER buy a ticket from ticketmaster again. This is the ultimate rip off. Almost as good as all the extra fees tacked on by banks when you borrow money for a home....like the interest they charge is not enough!!
Long tall sally
Pioneer, California
U.S.A.
3 Updates & Rebuttals
Past Ticket Employee
Phoenix,Arizona,
U.S.A.
Ticket Fees
#4Consumer Comment
Sun, December 07, 2008
Well, I have news for everybody who might not be aware of how Ticketmaster deals with the convenience fees they charge. If for some reason the performer you are going to see either cancels or postpones the show and you are told to turn in your tickets for a refund, you WILL NOT be getting the FULL amount back that you paid. Ticketmaster keeps the convenience fee they have charged you on each and every ticket. I don't see why they don't charge just one convenience fee but they charge every ticket, that in itself is a rip off, but not giving you back everything you paid is a BIGGER RIPOFF. You didn't get to see the show and now you're still out some money.
How hard is it to sit in front of a computer, punch some buttons and out pops a ticket?! Not hard at all as I did this some years ago when I worked for a company called BASS Tickets. They started in CA and then moved to FL where there was also a ticket company called Select A Seat. BASS bought out Select A Seat, so we were the only game in town during the 80's. BASS was a good company to work for who did not lie to their customers or cheat them, like Ticketmaster does. If a performer had to cancel their show, you got back EVERY PENNY YOU PAID! I worked alot of shows that had been cancelled and refunded everybodys money. Then along came Ticketmaster to FL and bought out BASS Tickets and the rest, as you know is history. Ticketmaster feels they can do anything they want and treat people anyway they want, since basically they are the only game in town.
Another little secret and one I'm sure Ticketmaster will not tell you is that no concert is ever 100% sold out until the actual concert and then usually not even. I've been in line where a couple of minutes after tickets go on sale they will tell you they are sold out. That's BS! They hold tickets for guests of the performer, either family or just friends, press people, sometimes even people who work at the ticket agency. If they tell you a show is sold out, go to the box office where the show is going to be, on the day of the show and see what seats are open. Nine times out of ten you will get a good seat. That's usually when they release these seats they had on hold. You can not go into an outlet or do this on the phone. You have to go in person to the box office. Also, if it's a performer in high demand, they will usually add a second show and these tickets usually go on sale late afternoon/early evening.
I hope this information helps some of you out there.
One more example of how Ticketmaster operates. Years ago Elton John was coming to my city (in FL) and that Friday in the paper was an announcement that his tickets were going on sale the next day. I called Ticketmaster to ask them and they said they had no idea. That's a sack of S**T!!! They are the ones that build the show and then call the paper to have it put in. Guess what, Elton went on sale the very next day and I got my tickets. They are just a bunch of LIARS!
Vickie
Bruce
Phoenix,Arizona,
U.S.A.
TicketMaster has NOT finished with you!
#4Consumer Suggestion
Tue, April 08, 2008
Dear Long tall sally,
Early December 2007 I purchased Phoenix Suns' basketball tickets online via TicketMaster. MAJOR MISTAKE!!!!!!!
For FOUR months I was inundated with Spam from TicketMaster, the NBA and "DowntownLive".
"EntertainmentRewards" dunned my credit $9.00 every month for FOUR months.
After many hours and much effort I was able to get all the above stopped.
(NBA does NOT return phone calls!)
However, US Airways Arena here in Phoenix, AZ is STILL harassing me with telemarketing phone calls.
If someone files a class-action lawsuit against this foul organization I would love to be included.
My suggestion is to NEVER purchase anything from TicketMaster, but if you already have, prepare for battle & continuously check your Credit/Debit Card accounts!!!!
Robert
Irvine,California,
U.S.A.
Service Fees
#4Consumer Comment
Thu, March 27, 2008
First on the 7.65 "Convenience Charge". This is a TicketMaster charge. They are a business and this is how they make their money. So it is not really a RipOff as they do provide the service they are charging for. However, as you I don't feel that this convenience is worth the price they are charging. Especially when you add in the "shipping" cost to print a ticket at home. As a result I have not used them for years. I go to the Venue to purchase the tickets directly.
The other $4.50 "Facility Charge", is actually charged by the Venue and you can not get out of this no matter where you purchase the tickets. Sometimes this is a tax that is applied by the local government, just as the Tourist Occupancy tax is placed on hotel rooms. Other times it does actually pay for things such as the toillet paper, and water. So even though you said that "tongue and cheek", you were not that far off.