Consumers often express frustration in trying to obtain the “hot ticket” to an event. Leeann, of San Diego, Calif., thinks the deck is stacked against individual consumers trying to book seats through Ticketmaster.
“Adele was scheduled to play in San Diego at Humphrey's By the Bay, which I was unable to get tickets to because they were sold out in 10 minutes, and not by actual humans wanting to attend the concert, but by places like Ticketsnow.com and Stubhub,” Leeann told ConsumerAffairs.com.
But Adele canceled the concert and when it was rescheduled to a different venue in San Diego with more space Leeann said she was certain she was going to be able to get tickets.
“I was sitting on the computer on the Ticketmaster website at 9:45am because the tickets went on sale at 10am,” Leeann said. “At 10am on the dot, I submitted my order to Ticketmaster and they were sold out immediately. As soon as they went on sale at 10am, instantly were sold out to these other third party companies that are selling these tickets for anywhere from two to 10 times the face value. I think it is so unfair to people that actually are fans of these people and want to go see their concerts!”
Leeann has no proof, of course, that all the tickets went to third party sites, but it does seem a little fishy that they would sell out in 10 seconds. And we will point out that, earlier this year, the State of Maryland settled charges that Ticketmaster was referring consumers wanting tickets to sold-out events to TicketsNow, without disclosing that it TicketsNow's ticket prices were above the face value.
Here's your modification, no wait, your foreclosure
We have received hundreds of reports from distressed homeowners recounting the frustrations of trying to work out a mortgage modification. This story, from Kim, of Petal Miss., about her Bank of America mortgage may trump them all.
“Went into a trial loan modification in May 2009,” Kim said. “Finally got permanent paperwork in Feb 2011 for loan modification. Payments increased $290.00 per month from the trail period. They sent a notary to my home to fill out the paperwork on March 7.I started sending the increased payment in March 2011. On May 11, Fed Ex drops off a letter saying they are sorry I decided to opt out of the program and I was going in to foreclosure.”
Kim said she has been calling Bank of America ever since and still can't find out why her home is going to foreclosure. She says she certainly did not opt out of the modification program after obtaining a new, modified payment.
“Now they want $10,000 to reinstate my loan,” she said. “They sent my June payment back and I'm waiting on the July to come back any day.”
Meanwhile, Kim says she has had to hire an attorney to try to sort out the mess. But the homeowner being told one thing by personnel at the loan servicer, and something completely different by someone else, appears to be a pattern.
Careful with debt settlement
If you are ever tempted to fire a third party firm to help you “settle” your debt – even those that swear they aren't scams – read what Michael, of Buxton, Me., has to say on the subject.
“I paid Cambridge Credit Counseling Corporation over $500.00 a month for over a year and none of that money went to any of the accounts they were supposed to be paying,” Michael told ConsumerAffairs.com. “I had to go to court and got a judgment filed against me for not paying one of the accounts.”
To ad insult to injury, Michael says his share of a class action settlement with Cambridge Credit Counseling amounted to $35.
