Petition re Tickmaster Rip Off

Cozpyro

Log onto www.ticeidi.com to sign the petition if you've had enough of TM!!

"Ticeidi.com is the brainchild of one very annoyed citizen of Ireland who is fed up paying exorbitant prices for ‘handling charges’ on concert tickets, sports events tickets, etc. "

Kali

Its really just MCD and Aitken who set the prices, although ticketmasters "handling" charges really are obscene.

honru

I pay a guy €2.50 to print out a ticket and hand it to me. Its ludicrous, and its even more online...

But does anything think that MCD and Aiken's prices for concerts are also pretty high?

Nevyn

there are a hell of a lot of people that are needed to run a gig even those that are in established venues and not out door builds. and that is just irish based staff not those that travel with the tour or artist.

BKtje

I hadn't even thought about this until you brought it up tbh.

I ain't too worried about ticket prices as i realise it really does cost a lot of money to put on these shows.

However €6 as a booking fee or €2.50 to get it printed out is fecking ridiculous. I realise CC companies and wages/system gotta be payed for but this is a huge markup that doesnt go in anyway to the venue organisers/artist.

Sauron

I haven't been aware of any way to get tickets other than from TM. Is there another way?

honru

Maybe if you purchase your tickets at the venue's box office (the Olympia's is the only one that stays open). Some tickets from independant sellers (Soundceller, Road etc.) aswell as the Ticketmaster desk in St. Stephens Green shopping centre do not include booking fee, but this is rare.

gucci

there is an online petetion to try and end the constant ripping off of ticket master,reckon its worth signing.....

http://www.petitiononline.com/tmaster/

Kali

a) Ticket prices here are comparable to any other european city.. if not cheaper in some cases... either way its not Ticketmaster who set ticket prices.

b) Due to the above the only real complaint ppl can have is the rather large booking and handling fees as well as credit card charges for both internet and ticket-office purchases.

c) This is the fourth time this has been posted... so I'm just stickying this thread (and hey presto merged with an older one).

flogen

I wouldnt mind so much but the staff at the kiosks are a disgrace, short, rude and ignorant, and ive heard their phone lines are just as bad.
If im paying a service charge i demand some decent service for my troubles.

Flogen

therecklessone

Originally posted by f®eak_s©enery
Maybe if you purchase your tickets at the venue's box office (the Olympia's is the only one that stays open). Some tickets from independant sellers (Soundceller, Road etc.) aswell as the Ticketmaster desk in St. Stephens Green shopping centre do not include booking fee, but this is rare.

TBMC used to let you buy tickets at their ticketmaster booth just inside the door, with no service charge for their own gigs. Last time I tried, I was told it no longer applies.

Soundcellar charge a fixed booking fee of €1, which is better than the €1.90 most other agents charge (or used to, the last time I checked). Some independant sellers will allow you to reserve tickets pre-issue date, and usually when ticketmaster say a gig is sold out, there will still be tickets left at the indie sellers.

So, where you gonna buy your tickets from now on?

On a side note, I bought a ticket for Grandaddy in London through ticketmaster UK...the ticket cost £14, the fees amounted to £7.65 on top of that...

:eek:

jasonfallonpure

no matter what, there is way a 41 cent stamp can make us pay over 7 euro for p&p for 2 tickets to see lizzy. funking hell it suc a bollocks. i suppose tho ppl always say "tickets are £20 in england thats pprobably more than they are here and most of that is tax anyway them irish governmen charge the most in the world for tax on gigs thats why there is **** all chance for any bands to make it big here

notty dread

I can underwstand about the large booking fees that TM (and others) charge, so what we have done at ENIGMA for the COLOURSFEST is to put the tickets on sale in the club and hotel with no booking fee!

www.enigma-superclub.com

pyramid man

i quote from a post on the pathos forum.

"This country is a JOKE"

Spud_Gun

You really feel the sting with cheap tickets. I bought 3 tickets online to see Tommy Tiernan this evening (Thursday), and the tickets are reasonable enough. But once you add the printing and handling to the tickets it works out more expensive than a 4th ticket! It would put you off seeing something, especially if the tickets are not that expensive. Its like buying a Ryanair flight, the ticket is 20 baps but then you have to add printing, handling, etc and suddenly you are looking at an additional 50% to the cost of the ticket.

Trip Hazard

Personally i dont have a problem with ticket master but if people are complaining i just might have to sign that pertition, there is a place on nassau st beside trinity college, called the sound celler, they sell tickets to gigs. so if you dont like ticket master go there. as for sporting events... i cant help anyone there.

Bluefoam

I think Sound Cellar are an agent of Ticket Master. But I would buy my tickets there as they are a great store, I've been going there for the past 15 years. Great to have shops like that, in the big bad world of HMV.

flogen

Originally posted by Bluefoam
I think Sound Cellar are an agent of Ticket Master. But I would buy my tickets there as they are a great store, I've been going there for the past 15 years. Great to have shops like that, in the big bad world of HMV.

what I find to be an invaluable aspect of soundceller is the way you can book tickets in advance.
For slane last year, I booked mine weeks before, and strolled in a week after the tickets sold out and picked mine up... for the tiny booking fee, thats a brilliant service to have.

flogen

james1234

SoundCellar are tops, they have a minimal fee, usually €1, no matter what the price of the ticket.

I refuse to buy tickets at Ticketmaster, been ripped off by there charges too much!
The best way to beat them, is to either buy directly from the venue, most venues can do this over the phone, or at an Independent agent...


My 2 cts!

DrColossus

I hate ticketbastard! Especially teh one in st stephens green centre. The people who work there get a kick out of arguing with old ladies and people in general. They are really condescending. Dont get me started on their extortionate prices! Sound cellar all the way james1234!

Ps didnt know about their booking in advance- thanks flogen!

lukin

Did anyone read the interview with Tommy Higgins (MD of Ticketmaster UK & Ireland) in last Sundays Tribune?
It was unbelievable:he actually made it sound like he was doing people a favour by charging such extortionate prices!
Gobsmacking arrogance.I'll post it if I can find the time.

Rockiemalt

they should include whatever surcharges they ahev in the cost of the price so when you see 'tickets 27.50' tickets actually will be 27.50. problem solved! probably some legal thing why this can't be done though.

honru

Remember ticeidi.com? I completely forgot about it. Checked it out and I'm happy to see that it did not turn out to be another bullshít petition; last month all 8017 names and comments were fowarded to members of the government.

Excellent work, hopefully something will be done.

windowgazer

flogen wrote:

I wouldnt mind so much but the staff at the kiosks are a disgrace, short, rude and ignorant, and ive heard their phone lines are just as bad.
If im paying a service charge i demand some decent service for my troubles.

Flogen

I worked at one of the kiosks for over a year in the city centre. The public were rude and at times agressive. The manager's hr skills left alot to be desired and the size of the kiosk can get to you. They are completely understaffed and sometimes ticketmaster or corporations used to buy up all the tickets within a few minutes leaving us with a que of over 100 people who'd been waiting since 7am. I had to call security once and I was brought to tears three times. So i can understand if staff still there might have an attitude. They don't care about that crappy job.

el tel

What annoys me most about Aiken promotions is that they often recieve huge subsidies (tax payers money) to the tune £100,000's from the government in the North to stage shows e.g. Elton John at and Rod Stewart at Stormont Castle. The millionaire Aiken puts on the poor mouth and says that subsidies are the only way to stage these gigs:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/1922965.stm

As far as I'm concerned the gigs are his own ventures which his business should fund and the amount received in subsidies should be paid back from profits. I don't think that adding to his wealth or even Elton John gigs are in the interests of the general public.

qotsaman

if you go into any of the colleges which have ticketmaster, they tend to reduce the service charge or skip it entirely cause run by students and only ticketmaster by name-of course depends on the gig

Jolene

well, being an employee of the Ticket Master can i just say the people who work there ARE NOT PERSONALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR TICKET PRICES!!!!

I think its an extortionate rip off too, but people have to realise that we only work there.

We dont get any freebies and have to pay the service charge too by the way

Best way to avoid the add-ons is to go up to stephens green, theres no service charge up there, pay cash or laser, not creditcard, and dont book on the internet or over the phone, the credit card charges can go up to 8 or 9 quid

Or for whelans and the village go to the WAV ticket office on wexfoerd street

Hope that helps

open_book

was just about to book some tickets online and noticed a 4.40 surcharge! NO WAY am I forking that out,knowing some corporate fatso is laughing at me. How can they justify it? I'm into the sound cellar this saturday!
I was actually bout to make a new post and saw this sticky! Sign the petition folks!!

meanieman

Burns to Smithers: " and you laughed when i bought ticketmaster - No one's going to pay a 100% service charge you said"

senordingdong

So has anything come of this?

mo_thoin

Whats the point??? Even if ticketmaster did have a cheaper service charge, ppl would still have to pay mad prices!!!
Someone earlier in this thread said about how theres so many ppl involved, thats a really good point cause there is an it depends on how much the artist or band are lookin for!!!
If you jus go to places that are cheaper then you are better off like sound cellar!! If more ppl do this then ticketmaster will be forced to eventually bring down there charges!!

breakology

As much as i don't like big corporations, ticketmaster not only abandoned all booking fees etc. when i was putting on a fundraiser, they also printed tickets for free.

billstraighten

they have to make profit some way !!!!

senordingdong

I agree they have to make a profit some way, but I paid forty euro to see Slipknot a few weeks ago.
In America, their concerts (incl. two popular support acts) only cost twenty two dollars.
I don't know the current exchange rate but it can't be double.

drdre

ticketmaster do rippeople off.i bought slane tikets and i was charged something like 5.50 handling fee for each ticket.

they must be making a bomb

magpie

The arguments over the cost of staging events might hold some water were it not for the fact that it is considerably cheaper to see the same acts in the UK.

BrianD

I don't get your point. It is more expensive to stage an event here on the lines as everything seems to be more expensive here plus we don't have the population as they do in other European countries.

The issue with Ticketmaster is not the cost of the tickets per se but the additional charges levied. In fairness to Ticketmaster they are extremely efficient and good at what to do and thats why promoters go with them. However, Joe Public is peeved that he doesn't have any other option but to pay the asking price from TM. There are other ticket operations coming into the market - Ticketlord, Ticeidi even the WAV Ticketbox. It would be great if promoters made their tickets available to a number of ticket agencies and this would put competition into area of booking fees and charges.

magpie

we don't have the population as they do in other European countries

What's that got to do with the price of eggs?

Basically its down to the punter - if you're willing to pay inflated prices and surcharges promoters will continue laughing all the way to the bank.

BrianD

It has a lot do with it! A touring band can do a number of 'Dublin sized' gigs easily in the U.K. without incurring the cost of bring themselves and their equipment to Ireland for probably one gig. This is why Ireland is usually the first or last gig on a tour.

Secondly, its not just down the punter. Don't think for one moment that the band playing does not know the ticket price and how its broken down. There is no competitive pressure on concert ticket prices you either want to see artist A or not, there won't be anybody else promoting him down the road. In reality the entire industry is based on exclusivity and charging accordingly and that applies the world over. While concert tickets are generally more expensive here then elsewhere so is everything else. What we do need to see is more competition on the areas of booking fees, credit card charges etc. the make a dear ticket become very expensive.

dwightshowman

yeah, it seems the only way to beat them is to join someone else. soundcellar are sound sellers. ticket master are wicked bastards. i have to admit ,though, that sometimes i don't even think about the handling charge etc.. when im paying over a 50euro for a ticket because the price of the ticket is so overshadowing.

HelterSkelter

It really písses me off that you pay a handling/booking fee on EACH ticket even if you buy them all in one go. The fee should be per transaction, not per ticket.

Zebra3

HelterSkelter wrote:

It really písses me off that you pay a handling/booking fee on EACH ticket even if you buy them all in one go. The fee should be per transaction, not per ticket.

Tell me about it. :mad:

Just bought three tickets on ticketmaster.ie for Ian Brown and I've been charged €5.50 for EACH ticket!!!! That's €16.50 to print off three tickets and post them to me gaff. :mad:

senordingdong

What about when we buy them in Soundcellar?

Since they keep the tickets behind the desk, the 'handling' involves three seconds to get the tickets from behind the ocujnter, and then stamp them.

Is that really worht five euro?

gracehopper

went to book austrailian pink floyd tickets on the web earlier and the tickets were €40, for a covers band, granted they are a very good covers band and so this price was not the problem, the problem was the F**king 4:95 booking fee per ticket, ask my hole, ticketmaster yis shower of robbing B**tards

fellowdjs

we had an event. we wanted 27 e a ticket back and to sell in ticketmaster the total price is 33.75

MADNESS

ian21

A mate of mine works for a company. Theyre launching a website thats aimed at small events that you couldnt afford to advertise or sell your tickets on Ticketmaster. Its free til June i think and then its a €100 one-off fee. The customer buys using paypal & a credit card and its paid directly to your paypal account. so all you have to pay is the 100 and whatever paypal charges..Might be worth a look if you have any gigs coming up..
www.noripoffticket.com/homepage

Salmon

Ok I'm gonna go on a bit of a rant now!!!,

I was buying two tickets off a guy there yesterday for the robbie williams gig. I had heard that there were a number of 'fakes' doing the rounds so when I met up to buy the tickets off him I inspected the ticket. It was a pink/salmon coloured ticket and i thought this was a little suspect as every1 else had blue tickets! So I rang ticket master and was put through to some1 in the uk. I explained my situation and she asked me what concert it was for, i told her it was robbie williams, then she asked me where was the venue, i told her corke park dublin, then she told me to hold and came back saying the concert was sold out!!!! I told her I knew this but wanted to talk to someone who might verify if the ticket was genuine! It was for the premium level so might be a little different to the rest of the tickets!! In the end the call cost me a fortune and ticketmaster didnt seem to be able to give me any idea what color the ticket should be.
Its crasy that someone can charge 90,000 people a booking fee of €2.50 and not have an irish call centre where these people can call if they need information! I mean thats €225,000 they made from the booking fees alone!
I know I didnt buy the tickets from ticket master myself, but somewhere along the line some1 did!

In the end the guy told me to try the tickets and if they were genuine ring him after the gig to pay him what I owed, which I thought was fairly sound, but I was seriously pis*ed off at ticketmaster!

Rant over!

BTW the concert was class!!

RainyDay

Ticketmaster can't tell you anything useful about how a genuine ticket should look over the phone. They are far better off saying nothing (as they did) rather than risk you taking a forget ticket based on whatever information they could give over the phone. There have been cases of tickets purchased from touts which were confirmed as genuine at the venue door, but when the purchaser got to their seat, someone else (the original ticketholder) was sitting in the seat.

It wasn't me!

Sound Cellar don't charge a fiver handling fee. I think the most I've ever been charged is two euro. Generally one.

PiE

Salmon wrote:

Its crasy that someone can charge 90,000 people a booking fee of €2.50 and not have an irish call centre where these people can call if they need information

There is.

I know I didnt buy the tickets from ticket master myself, but somewhere along the line some1 did!

Exactly, you weren't the customer. You're lucky they took your call at all.

Salmon

I called the ticketmaster ph# and was transferred to england where they hadnt a clue what was going on! Maybe I'm wrong here but I feel like they only want to take yer money and forget about you!