Petition re Tickmaster Rip Off

breakology · 14-06-2005 01:43AM

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 · 17-06-2005 11:15AM

they have to make profit some way !!!!

senordingdong · 25-06-2005 06:46PM

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 · 05-07-2005 12:14AM

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 · 11-07-2005 11:31AM

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 · 29-07-2005 12:22PM

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 · 29-07-2005 01:01PM

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 · 29-07-2005 02:55PM

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 · 18-08-2005 02:40PM

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 · 16-09-2005 02:05PM

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 · 25-09-2005 06:29AM

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 · 25-09-2005 01:44PM

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 · 22-12-2005 03:14PM

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 · 13-01-2006 06:35PM

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

MADNESS

ian21 · 07-02-2006 11:21AM

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 · 10-06-2006 11:28AM

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 · 12-06-2006 02:51AM

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! · 12-06-2006 10:05AM

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

PiE · 12-06-2006 12:26PM

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 · 12-06-2006 05:10PM

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!

RainyDay · 14-06-2006 03:53AM

Salmon wrote:

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!

What has the location of the call centre got to do with it? It doesn't really matter if the call centre is in Ireland, UK or India, once the staff are well trained and can do their job.

Of course they want your money. They are in business. What else do you expect?

Doctor J · 14-06-2006 08:18AM

There's a very simple solution to this. You stop buying tickets. You all stop buying tickets. When you make the decision not to go to a MCD/Ticketmaster ripoff you write a letter to MCD, Ticketmaster and the band explaining why. You'll soon see a change. As long as people keep bending over and getting the butter, you are as resposible as ticketmaster or MCD or anyone else for the high ticket prices. People need to develop a spine and have the balls to say "No! Enough!"

Ticketmaster and MCD only charge what they know people are stupid enough to pay.

Of course, it'll never work, nobody in this country seems to care enough to actually do something about it, we just seem to like to complain and hand over the €€€ anyway.

Doctor J · 14-06-2006 08:36AM

That's your perogative. There are other promoters and ticket agencies bands can use, but as long as people don't mind paying over the odds we'll soon have the Ticketmaster ticket auctions to contend with, see if you mind then. Ticketmaster's business policy is to get what the ticket is worth. What the ticket is worth is based on how much people are prepared to pay to see a band for about 90 minutes. You'll soon be asked to fork out more than most other people are prepared to pay to see the bands you want to see. Legalised touting. They're only doing this because they know people already don't mind paying.

PiE · 14-06-2006 10:22AM

Doctor J wrote:

Ticketmaster's business policy is to get what the ticket is worth

But Ticketmaster don't set the ticket prices. It really is the MCD/Aiken's of the world everyone should be complaining to.

Doctor J · 14-06-2006 12:01PM

Have a read of this.

"The tickets are worth what they're worth," said John Pleasants, Ticketmaster's president and chief executive. "If somebody wants to charge $50 for a ticket, but it's actually worth $1,000 on eBay, the ticket's worth $1,000. I think more and more, our clients — the promoters, the clients in the buildings and the bands themselves — are saying to themselves, `Maybe that money should be coming to me instead of Bob the Broker.' "

gizmo · 14-06-2006 01:04PM

Yea I saw that a few weeks ago alright and I meant to post it, I guess I just don't like thinking about it.

That said, Ticketfast has been released over here now which at least makes life easier for buying last minute tickets!

Toast · 14-06-2006 02:59PM

Ticketfast looks interesting.. I havent seen it as an option yet... is it cheaper?

gizmo · 14-06-2006 03:01PM

Just noticed it when I was ordering my tickets for Lacuna Coil. I prefer to have the proper ticket so I can keep it afterwards but tbh, it was in the shipping options which are free anyway so I'm thinking it has no effects on price...

Oh and regarding the surcharge that TM slap onto the price of tickets if they're ordered with a credit card, I always thought it was illegal. I read somewhere awhile back that the credit card companies charge a small fee for the use but its in some kind of agreement that these fees can't be directly passed onto the customers. That said, the term "directly" could be rather subjective...:o

honru · 14-06-2006 03:18PM

I wouldn't be surprised if an alternative to Ticketmaster (like Ticketweb) opens up shop here in a year or two.

In fairness to MCD/Aiken, their ticket prices here are more or less in line with the UK. I'm not saying I agree with how much they price their concerts at, but it's not like they're completely fucking us over.

As for Ticketmaster, it could be alot worse. On the US site they would sell a ticket for, say, $18 yet pile on extra "convinience" charges which hike the price up to $30+. Absolute madness.

The main gripe I have with Ticketmaster here is the booking fee per ticket, but this can be circumvented significantly by purchasing from Soundcellar. Problem solved.

PiE · 14-06-2006 03:49PM

Doctor J wrote:

Have a read of this.

Well he's a businessman, obviously he's always gonna be thinking about where he's losing money. But to seriously believe that tickets could be sold in an auction-type way? I know Ticketmaster are a right shower, but that's just never gonna happen.

Petition re Tickmaster Rip Off

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