any problems with Tickets.Com?

[SteppinRazor]

ok, here's my deal.  I purchased tickets for White Stripes from Tickets.com 2 weeks in advance.  Didn't get a confirmation #, but they charged my credit card so i figured it worked.  No tickets showed up.  So today I call em up at the 800 # and here's what they're claiming:<P>the tickets were "lost in the mail", and there's a policy of no refunds, so they're keeping the money and there's nothing i can do about it because it says in the user agreement that tickets.com isn't liable for screwing up.  Somebody "lost" my tickets, but it sure wasn't the US postal service.<P>I was gonna go to spiritualized on the 25th, but I'm not going because of this bs.  I can't believe that they can get away with taking my money and not delivering tickets.  <P>I even emailed them the DAY BEFORE THE SHOW, to ask why I hadn't received my tickets and their response was a form email saying, and I quote: "Tickets are to be received within 48 hours prior to the event if not sooner.", even though I had emailed them about 29 hours before the show.  I want everybody who looks at this to know that Tickets.com scammed me, and I sure as hell won't be going to 9:30 club ever again.<BR><p>[This message has been edited by SteppinRazor (edited 04-02-2002).]

[paige]

that really sucks. eh i didnt want to take a chance lke that and just went and got them at an olssons...and damn! 4.50 service charge?! what is that about? i was mad when i had to pay almost 40 bucks instead of near 30 for newfound glory tickets. so here's my question..why did they switch from ticketmaster? now that wasn't the best thing either maybe but still, tickets.com seems more screwed up than ticketmaster. hm

[Jessbo22]

That sux you guys got shafted. I ordered twice from tickets.com for the same concert and got my tix w/in days of ordering.

[Tixx]

I'll repeat this again.  Tickets.com does not charge people who don't have tickets!  The first step in the transaction is to add tickets to an order, thus putting something with a dollar value on the order for payment.  If there are no tickets, there is no charge, it's that simple!  Once a credit card is submitted for authorization, a "hold" for the amount is put on the credit card by the issuing bank (not Tickets.com) pending final disposition of the transaction (deposit, decline, etc).  A credit card "hold" is not the same as a credit card charge, and if the card did not get processed completely, due to any number of reasons, the hold is released after 72 hours. Do not confuse a credit card "hold" with a credit card "charge" and do not insinuate that Tickets.com charges people without delivering the product - it's simply not true.<P>As for your other claim, if the transaction was completed and you did receive a confirmation number and a confirmation e-mail, then you own the tickets, period.  If the tickets did not arrive in the mail, then you call Tickets.com to report that. We then alert the 9:30 Club and they handle it from there.  If you did not receive a confirmation number after submitting your address and payment information, nor did you receive a confirmation e-mail, then the transaction did not go through.  <P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Arial, Veranda">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by SteppinRazor:<BR><B>ok, here's my deal.  I purchased tickets for White Stripes from Tickets.com 2 weeks in advance.  Didn't get a confirmation #, but they charged my credit card so i figured it worked.  No tickets showed up.  So today I call em up at the 800 # and here's what they're claiming:<P>the tickets were "lost in the mail", and there's a policy of no refunds, so they're keeping the money and there's nothing i can do about it because it says in the user agreement that tickets.com isn't liable for screwing up.  Somebody "lost" my tickets, but it sure wasn't the US postal service.<P>I was gonna go to spiritualized on the 25th, but I'm not going because of this bs.  I can't believe that they can get away with taking my money and not delivering tickets.  <P>I even emailed them the DAY BEFORE THE SHOW, to ask why I hadn't received my tickets and their response was a form email saying, and I quote: "Tickets are to be received within 48 hours prior to the event if not sooner.", even though I had emailed them about 29 hours before the show.  I want everybody who looks at this to know that Tickets.com scammed me, and I sure as hell won't be going to 9:30 club ever again.<P><BR>[This message has been edited by SteppinRazor (edited 04-02-2002).]</B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>

[MikeN]

WILL CALL SURCHARGE? Give me a break!<P>Does TicketMaster slap a Will Call charge on its tickets? Because Tickets.Com sure does.<P>I just tried to get tickets for the show this Saturday and because there isn't time to mail me the tickets, Tickets.Com wants to charge me an additional $3.25 to HOLD THE TICKET AT THE DAMN BOX OFFICE. That's above and beyond the $4.50 charge they already assess.<P>What, are you renting a damn limo to transport every set of will call tickets directly to 9:30?<P>I've been buying tickets for a long time and I have no problem paying a shipping fee when tickets are sent to me. But a frickin SHIPPING FEE FOR TICKETS THAT DON'T EVEN HAVE TO BE MAILED??!!<P>So my total for one ticket would be $15 (face value) + $4.50 (initial Tickets.Com charge) + $3.25 (will call charge) = $22.75. The damn surcharges are more than 50% of the face value of the ticket. Ridiculous.<P>I'll be buying my tickets directly from the 9:30 box office for now on.

[Got Haggis?]

i think you guys need a better DB server or something. It crapped out on me 3 times before finally going through (this was around 2pm yesterday).  <P>The other suggestion i would have is to make it so you don't have to re-enter all your details if the DB craps out....<BR>

[kosmo vinyl]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Arial, Veranda">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by MikeN:<BR><B>WILL CALL SURCHARGE? Give me a break!<P>Does TicketMaster slap a Will Call charge on its tickets? Because Tickets.Com sure does.<P></B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>actually tm does for online orders... its just called a order processing fee instead.  all shows at the black cat are done via will call.  if you order online there is a processing fee on top of the "convenience" fee.  i'm guessing the processing fee is only added for online and phone orders.  going to an outlet where you have to pay cash this extra fee is not added.

[sarcastro]

I don't know how much it would cost (probably more than I would think), but why didn't the 930 Club simply stop using a ticket service.  Why couldn't they have done something like MissionTix.com as the Ottobar did a few months back.  It would seem fairly cost effective to keep the ticket operation in house and online.  Think about it, 930 could charge a flat fee of something like $2 or $3 per ticket and keep all the money.  Like I said, I don't know how much it would cost to run such a system, but I doubt 930 gets more than $2 per ticket off of Tickets.com various fees.

[ggw]

Dont worry, judging by Tickets.com latest financial results the company will eventually be taken over by Ticketmaster.<P>Tickets.com has never made a profit and is still relying on new rounds of financing to stay in business.  They have been signing up a lot of new clients, most likely by incentivizing those clients to leave Ticketmaster.  So they have to make money through service charges, but that hasn't worked for them yet either, as they lost $57 million last year and $100 million in 2000. They won't be in business long if they keep losing money like that.

[sarcastro]

So Tickets.Compost charges a ton of extra fees and they STILL don't make a profit???  What a bunch of dolts. <BR><p>[This message has been edited by sarcastro (edited 04-04-2002).]

[blackkatj]

i support the whole 'anti-ticketmaster' thing... but tickets.com needs MORE MORE MORE outlets! i life in the frederick which is about an hour from the 930. there are NO outlets here. we have 4 or 5 ticketmaster outlets however, which MADE getting a ticket for a show simple. now i have to pay out a $3.25 fee ontop of the service charge? i think that if your going to switch to a new ticketing system, you should make sure that they are capable of working with the people, not making the people work for them. 930 books a LOT of big acts, and with very limited outlets, this just makes things more complicated in my eyes.

[Seth Hurwitz]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Arial, Veranda">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by blackkatj:<BR><B>tickets.com needs MORE MORE MORE outlets!</B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>you know, that was in fact one of the downsides when we looked at this thing. the fact is, however, that we were selling a very small percentage of our tickets at outlets when we made the switch, and the other factors outweighed it.<P>and what were those other factors? well, you know the part here where everybody has pointed out that the fees are basically the same so why did we need to switch? that's just the point. if we didn't support an alternative ticket system the fees wouldn't be just the same. they'd keep rising with no opposition. that's what competition does. it's good.<P>I don't want to get into all the private details but trust me, we needed to do this in order to keep things sane. if we hadn't the service fees would have gone up.<P>I am very sorry if your particular situation with outlets was the casualty.

[malimal]

Good morning Seth and yes, I've got a problem with Tickets.com.  First, let me say that you own the greatest venue in the country, with the Fox Theater in Boulder running a close second.  Concerning Tickets.com, I went to their site last Friday to purchase tickets to this Friday's Big Head Todd show.  At the end of the process, there was some sort of web glitch, so I was not sure that the order went through.  I went to the customer service part of Tickets.com's website and sent them an email about what happenned and asked for confirmation one way or the other about my order.  We both know that if I had started over and ordered 10 more tickets, and the original order went through, they never would have refunded my money.  In any case, the autoreply said that someone would get back to me within 48 hours.  After three days of not hearing from them, I called the Virginia number (didn't see that on Friday) and found out that not only didn't my order go through, but the show is now sold out . . . sorry.  Needless to say, me and the other 9 people I was buying tickets for are beyond upset.  If Tickets.com is not going to put a customer service phone number on their contact screen, then perhaps they should actually get back to people who email them with issues such as this.  We've been listening to Todd, Rob and Brian since they played our group house in Boulder in 1987 and now we get to wonder how great Friday's show is going to be.  To make a long story short, Tickets.com sucks.  Rock on.

[Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer]

Sounds like you've seen them numerous times and so you won't have to wonder too hard about how the show will be you old hippie. Didn't Bighead Todd once sleep with one of the Real World cast members? Maybe that helps explain the name BIGHEAD.

[fairfaxfinn]

I have not used Tickets.com yet, so I cannot speak for the quality of their service and delivery.  Having used Ticketmaster for years, including their website, I had not experienced any technical difficulties.  That is what I expect from Tickets.com as well, but the previous posts in this forum are not particularly encouraging.  I am not too adverse to paying a high ticket price or the associated fees (if it is too high, following Seth's advice, I simply do not go)... as long as the ticket provider delivers on its promise.  At some point, however, I would like someone to explain why it is more expensive to process a ticket through an automated system (which does not involve a ticket agent who needs to paid a salary or wages).  One would think that the ticket provider would try to create incentives for people to use their automated system--and hence lower their overall costs by having a smaller staff.