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Ticketmaster

Nancy of Whitehouse Station, NJ February 5, 2009

Nancy of Whitehouse Station NJ (02/05/09)
Like the others I was ready to go on my computer at 9AM. I also got to the site fast, even with the correct concert date because it was already on my computer's history. First it said 3 minute wait, then 15, then 9, then 2, then 1 minute and then back to 15. I couldn't believe it when at roughly 9:15 AM 2 available seats came up for me (95 each.) I knew the section number, row number and seats numbers. I did everything by the book...as fast as possible...even got to the point where it asked if I wanted to reserve a parking space. I went past that screen to insure I didn't waist any time. Before 2 minutes were even up, the message came up that my time was up and my tickets were being given away. (I quickly wrote down the Section, Row and Seats) because I knew something was wrong.

I was then directed to Tickets Now where I was directed to seats in the same section and row. Two tickets were 650 including fees. When I saw Tickets Now was owned by Ticket Master I knew in my heart that soon after tickets were on sale, Ticket Master moved a good portion of the tickets over to their subsidiary. There is no way that Brokers could have bought this many tickets in less than 15 minutes and had the time to put them on a re-sale site.

I never left the house Monday. The customer service number and sales number were busy all day. I was on a mission. I kept checking the Tickets Now web page and found a page with fine print that spoke of Ticket Masters right to resell tickets to Tickets Now to mitigate any losses or some such language but there was also a lot of legal language at the bottom leading me to believe that there have been many complaints about this. I finally got through to Customer Service about 5PM. When I heard the concert sold out in 5 minutes (for NJ) I knew they were wrong, because my two tickets came up at 9:15AM. I then spoke to a Supervisor. I went through the entire scenario and read the wording from Tickets Now and also went through my browser history. I then went to the next level up and got someone who did not bypass my comments but seemed to get it. He asked me to restate exactly what happened. I think the fact that I saved my Section, Row and Seat numbers made a big difference.

In any case, I am calling my Congressman this morning who has already filed a complaint with the FTC because I feel that being given the tickets (and I feel with no intention of being allowed to really purchase them) is a major scam. I also told the Manager that Bruce Springsteen himself, would be appauled at this and sure enough The Boss is mad and there was a big story about this on the New York News last night. In addtion to this being totally illegal and unfair, in the worst economy we have ever seen- with people having less money than ever, this is one of the worst business practices I've seen.

I lost an entire day in the house. I was assigned two tickets at 95 each and then re-directed to a Ticketmaster reseller at 9:15AM which already seemed to have plenty of tickets....my tickets were now 649.00. I spent hours on the phone complaining because I wasn't going to give up because I feel too many people just give up. This is a scam and needs to be rectified. I believe there are plenty of tickets to be had and they should be released as face value for those of us who played by the rules.

Tina of Millersvile, MD February 5, 2009

Tina of Millersvile MD (02/05/09)
I tried to buy Bruce Springsteen tickets from ticketmaster. Interestingly though, when you Google Ticketmaster the first site that comes up is ticketmaster- ticketsnow. At the time I didn't realize that I was not on ticketmasters website. When I looked at the prices I was shocked I knew how much the tickets were supposed to be. After going back to google I figured it out. I had no idea they were owned by Ticketmaster. How convenient that there were tickets to sell to their own company but not to a fan of 30 years. I wonder how many tickets are really available for your average consumer.

Indranie of Little Neck, NY February 5, 2009

Indranie of Little Neck NY (02/05/09)
At 9:00 AM I was on the Ticketmaster site trying to buy 2 tickets to the Nassau Col Bruce Springsteen show. it was wait time is 15 mins; then eventually, I got errors; after several re-try; No more tickets then it started routing me to Ticket Now for the marked up tickets.

THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME. I was locked out of getting tickets to the Killers at Hammerstein Ballroom in 2008. I was locked out from getting tickets to Miley Cyrus and several other concerts.

When I contacted Ticketmaster and asked how can the tickets be gone in under 1 minutes and then be available on Ticket Now (which they own) they respond I got was that; several thousand people buy tickets in a min that's why it's gone. No explanation on how it gets on Ticket Now so quickly.

Just in December a few of my friends and I were ordering tickets to the same even at the same time; I manage to get 2 tickets and she was routed to ticket now and paid triple. Ticket NOW needs to be shut down. it's frustrating. Ticketmaster is ripping the consumer off.

Brian of Manassas, VA February 5, 2009

Brian of Manassas VA (02/05/09)
On 02/02/09 I was on line to buy Bruce Springsteen tickets for the May 18th show in Washington DC.As 10:00 approached which is the time the tickets are for sell I selected find tickets on the ticketmaster web site.At that time my computer went to the searching for ticket mode.After a minute I got a system error message.I tried again at 10:02 and when I got through i was directed to the tickets now web page where there were plenty of tickets for the show but at a much higher price.

The consequence is that ticketmaster is suppose to be a fair way for consumers to purchase tickets.It looks to me like legal scalping.How can so many tickets be available on tickets now two minutes after they go on sale.

Shantel of Knoxville, TN February 5, 2009

Shantel of Knoxville TN (02/05/09)
This is regarding Ticket Master and their scalping company Tickets Now.

Well I had a similar experience as the Bruce Springsteen fans, however it has been ongoing for a couple of months for Phish shows. I feel it is important to note that when I called Ticketmaster they said to keep trying back because more tickets may be released before the day of the show. This, I presume, is because if they are not sold for inflated prices, they will be run back through the main ticket outlets again. Hampton tickets were being scalped for over 1000 2 minutes after the show went on sale! Now that the whole tour is on sale we found that the shows that Ticketmaster was selling were sold out immediately and could only be bought through the scalping site. There were other Phish shows that were being sold through Tickets Unlimited and Live Nation that were still on sale 24 hours after their release at face value. How is this possible? I've got a pretty good idea and hope this is investigated!

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