Live Nation - ticket service charges just keep getting worse

[Samantha]

for the upcoming eagles tour, and i believe more (selected) after that, ticketmaster will have no fees.  none. just the face charge and the shipping.  this is their first move against livenation.  it does not matter, though.

gas could be ten dollars a gallon. you'd buy it.
cigarettes could be ten dollars a pack.  smokers will buy them.
downloadable songs can finally be taxed, leading to even larger taxes later.  you will still listen and pay.
and so on and so forth.

I wish this could be true.  I've missed out on so much because ticket prices were just too high.  With the exception of a few bands whom I'd see at any price, the monetary cost is what decides whether or not I go to a show these days.  There's got to be a ceiling eventually, not all of us have bottomless coffers to see any show that may or may not be decent.

[walkonby]

i do like the fact that ticketmaster now offers insurance on your tickets, in case you can't make the show, and will get your money back.  livenation laughs at such a move.  i have a funny feeling the eagles move was because . . . no offense to the fans, but who in the hell is still seeing the eagles?  next thing you know, they'll give out free frisbees on all feelies tickets sold.    to bearman.

[Bombay Chutney]

i do like the fact that ticketmaster now offers insurance on your tickets, in case you can't make the show, and will get your money back. 

Has anyone ever used this?  There's a ton of legalese in the description of what it does/doesn't cover.  "Change of personal plans" doesn't cut it.   They reserve the right to request documentation to prove your claims - including the right to ask for an autopsy, if your claim is "death".    Is it really that hard to get a refund?

[walkonby]

i do like the fact that ticketmaster now offers insurance on your tickets, in case you can't make the show, and will get your money back. 

Has anyone ever used this?  There's a ton of legalese in the description of what it does/doesn't cover.  "Change of personal plans" doesn't cut it.   They reserve the right to request documentation to prove your claims - including the right to ask for an autopsy, if your claim is "death".    Is it really that hard to get a refund?

wha, wha, wha, whatttt???  now that is the last straw.



that's to tm, not you bc.

[walkonby]

somebody explain this one to me.

the dead at verizon goes on sale tom. at 10 . . . both through ticketmaster and livenation?  does one company get better seats than another?  how is that possible?  interesting.

[walkonby]

just got off the phone with a ticketmaster customer person.  they are so nice (no matter what anybody says) and after i told him that livenation is attempting to sell tickets to the same show that ticketmaster is, he told me he had to speak with his sup. and put me on hold.  he came back flabbergasted and could not believe they were doing this, and had no information about whether their tickets would be any different than theirs.  shitty.

[dave24]

I think most of this sort of overlay is just to drive traffic to Live Nation's site.  If you poke around at other events they list that aren't at their venues, they just link you back to Ticketmaster.com eventually.

[walkonby]

oh yeah, i have seen that before.  you are probably right.

[sweetcell]

on the other hand, they may have separate inventory ("you sell half, i'll sell half" - like the radiohead tour this summer), or they might have some complex agreement that allows them to pull from the same inventory. 

to add more fuel to the fire: i looked in to buying tickets for Tricky in NYC.  face: $32.50.  "Ticket Fee": $12.25.  yup, that's a 38% mark-up.  $45... not sure its worth it to me.

[Venerable Bede]

livenation:

Andrew Bird
Thursday 02/19/09
Show: 8:00 p.m.
The Fillmore - S.F.
SAN FRANCISCO
 
Gen Admission Open Dance Flr
Section GA, Row G04, Seat # 96
Adult $32.50
Ticket Fee  $13.50

if you go to the fillmore on a sunday between 10 and 4 to buy your tickets you don't pay a service charge. . .otherwise it's $2. 

[walkonby]

just talked to a person at livenation, who was even nicer than the person at ticketmaster.  they said that it will be a common practice now that both companies will be selling tickets for same shows.  each will have their own seperate allotment of tickets.  for the dead at verizon, ticketmaster has the higher price, better seat tickets, and live nation is getting the cheaper seats.  but that is not how it will be for every act.   very interesting indeed.

[sweetcell]

oh, great, one more thing to worry about when buying tickets for an in-demand show: which retailer will have the better seats?  on high-demand shows, you get one pull... no time to hit up both TM and LN, so now it'll involve calling them up and hoping you can shake down this info.

if/when people do come across this info, feel free to share with the board.

[Driveway]

eh, I'm still hung up on the $4 'will call' fee thru tickets.com.

[sweetcell]

eh, I'm still hung up on the $4 'will call' fee thru tickets.com.

i think that the fee is high given the level of service that one gets, but there has to be SOME charge for will-call.  the ticket window at the club needs to be hooked in to the tickets.com network, needs a special printer, staff needs to be trained, etc. 

but again, why will-call costs as much as it does to have them mailed is beyond me.

and since we're bitching about tickets.com - what a f*ck-up of a website.  looks like it was designed in 1997.  front page continuously asks me what country i'm in - ever heard of cookies? - and the asks me if i'm interested in buying tickets or finding a ticketing solution.  when 98% of your traffic is choosing one option, you don't add an extra step by making them choose - you make it the default, and let the 2% click the "for ticketing solutions info" link.

[sweetcell]

i do like the fact that ticketmaster now offers insurance on your tickets, in case you can't make the show, and will get your money back. 

Has anyone ever used this?  There's a ton of legalese in the description of what it does/doesn't cover.  "Change of personal plans" doesn't cut it.   They reserve the right to request documentation to prove your claims - including the right to ask for an autopsy, if your claim is "death".    Is it really that hard to get a refund?

i've just noticed that tickets.com also offers ticket insurance.  the tickets.come plan isn't very restrictive (i.e. acceptable reasons for refunds include illness, car break-down and flight delay)...  not that i can be bothered to investigate TM's conditions.

i strongly suspect that ticket insurance is the concert industry equivalent of extended warranties: rarely worth the money and just another way for the retailer to squeeze extra cash out of the consumer.