On Saturday morning, I got up at ten minutes to 10am for the specific purpose of buying tickets for myself and five other people for the John Mayer show in July. I'd looked at tickets the night before and was ready. I had my credit card, I had the sections we wanted to sit in, I was set. I was on the site by 9:59am, and as soon as I was able, I started the process.
The "best" tickets I could find? In the third section, instead of the first, as we'd all planned. I was fully ready to purchase the more expensive tickets, but where were they? The pre-sale couldn't possibly have gotten them all, right? They don't even let that happen. And why was everything sold out before the clock even turned to 10:01am???
Then I thought - it has to be the size group that we have. So I tried searching for three people. I tried searching for two people. I even tried searching for just one! And the closest I could get was two pit tickets on AUCTION for $130.
We ended up sucking it up and getting the cheaper seats on the third level, because everyone still wanted to go. And then the freaking fees started.
We bought $55 tickets, and each of them ended up costing $75. That's almost 37% in FEES! I should have called the venue directly, or spent the two hours it would have taken me to drive down and buy them. But who knows if the tickets would still be available?
It's this outrageous catch-22, and Ticketmaster is very aware and exploits it. And that makes me so mad! I always knew that Ticketmaster was a sell out. But this is ridiculous.
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2 comments:
Ticketmaster blows. If you had ordered them over the phone or got them in person, there still would have been some measure of fees.
I was actually reading up on Fugazi on Wikipedia, and they have a very minimalist, DIY approach. They keep ticket prices very low because of that.
The minute a band starts playing bigger venues, they have to hire more people to work the stage, set up the sound, etc., which means more peoples' salaries to pay.
Regardless, I understand your frustrations but perhaps take some small comfort in the fact that even Ticketmaster employees have to pay service fees (my cousin told me this a few years ago).
Really popular shows like that DO sell out in 1 minute or less - it is crazy!
And I bet it is the number of tix you wanted - very hard to get that many together like that before time runs out and then it is too late to go back and try for a smaller number.
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