Ticketmaster.su.cks

[GreenTeaFrapp]

Originally Posted by Snakeeye

The problem with ticketmaster is that in being a monopoly, they can combine ridiculously high fees with ridiculously poor service, and get away with it. Their internet site sucks, and it is a crap shoot whether it will actually work,

If you think ticketmaster.ca sucks you should try Capital Tickets in Ottawa. For any event that there's enough demand to sell, you have almost no chance of being able buy anything when sales start. The website went into a death spiral when tickets for U2 and Pearl Jam went on sale.

Capital Tickets has the same fees as Ticketbasterd but much worse service.

[Clarkey]

Originally Posted by Snakeeye

My personal favorite ticketmaster rape charge is the $2.50 fee for buying a ticket outside of the city the event is being held in.

Apparently it costs more money to use the computer in Calgary to print a ticket for an event in Red Deer than it does to use the computer in Red Deer.

The problem with ticketmaster is that in being a monopoly, they can combine ridiculously high fees with ridiculously poor service, and get away with it. Their internet site sucks, and it is a crap shoot whether it will actually work, but calling is no better, as they closed all of their local call centres rerouting you to some of the worlds dumbest human beings at their call centre in Orlando.

The problem will never change until a large number of companies that use ticketmaster abandon them.

I was trying to think of why they aren't a monopoly earlier. I couldn't come up with any reason's. Maybe Troutman could shed some insight.

If they do in fact have market power why haven't they been challenged on it?

[RougeUnderoos]

***Update*** Because I know everyone is very interested but I thought this was funny...

I broke down and called Ticketmaster again willing to pay these damn fees so I can go to the concert.

Of course I get the phone system rigmarole and it sends me right to Claire, the automated assistant.

The options were

Press 1 for Calgary Flames
Press 2 for Calgary Hitmen
Press 3 for Cult at the Stampede Corral
Press 4 for Puppetry of the Penis at Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
Press 5 for Jeff Martin at Macewan Hall Ballroom
Press 6 for Led Zepplica at Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
Press 9 for all other events

To paraphrase interim Spinal Tap manager Jeanine Pettibone, "I’ve told them a hundred times: put ‘The Strokes’ first and ‘Puppet Show’ last."

[troutman]

http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/cyberla...FourInProgress

In practice, many have argued that Ticketmaster has gained monopoly power. In 1994, Pearl Jam went before Congress (http://www.fivehorizons.com/archive/...testimon.shtml) and asked the Department of Justice to bring an antitrust suit. Although the DOJ did not bring a suit against Ticketmaster in the 1990s, there is a pending antitrust suit against Ticketmaster brought by the band “String Cheese Incident” (SCI). A Rolling Stone article (http://www.rollingstone.com/news/sto...on=6.0.11.847) on the suit observes: “Antitrust expert John Solow, a University of Iowa economics professor, calls SCI Ticketing's suit ‘more than a plausible claim’”
Ticketmaster has capitalized on consumers’ desire for fast, easy, no-waiting-in line ticketing, and a look at the numbers suggests that they are often the only game in town. According to the analysis in the SCI lawsuit, Ticketmaster “prints up and distributes tickets exclusively for eighty-nine percent of the top fifty U.S. arenas, eighty-eight percent of the top amphitheaters and seventy percent of the top theaters.” "Ticketmaster Under Attack" by Steve Knopper (http://www.rollingstone.com/news/sto...on=6.0.11.847)
In building their monopoly, Ticketmaster defeated most of its competition. In Fall 1998, “there were three small players nipping at the heels of Ticketmaster Online: Advantix, ProTix and Tickets.com.” By 1999, the three competitors had merged into one: tickets.com. And by 2000, Ticketmaster had a lawsuit against tickets.com. (See Ticketmaster Corp. v. Tickets.Com, Inc. 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6483).

[Incinerator]

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

To paraphrase interim Spinal Tap manager Jeanine Pettibone, "I’ve told them a hundred times: put ‘The Strokes’ first and ‘Puppet Show’ last."

Why not buy online? All it takes is a couple clicks

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by Incinerator

Why not buy online? All it takes is a couple clicks

http://www.entertainmentrewardscam.c...wtopic.php?t=4

I'm scared to even give them my credit card number.

[calf]

Originally Posted by troutman

The penalty for scalping:

General penalty
26 Except as otherwise provided in this Act, a person who contravenes this Act or the regulations is guilty of an offence and liable to a fine of not more than $200 and in default of payment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months.
RSA 1980 cA-41 s22

The Crown is probably reluctant to prosecute, because the penalty is so small.

and when the playoffs (& other big events) roll around, that would just be a small cost of business...does that line at the end mean that clause was written in 1980? Might need a bit of an update imo.