Ticketbastardmaster
So, finally the Barenaked Ladies officially announce the UK leg of their tour. Excellent, and to makes things even better, the London gig is a friday night.
Ticketmaster appear to be the sole agent for the tickets. First off, there are 9 of us going. Ticketmaster only allow you to buy 8 tickets per credit card and per address. In the end we give up trying to get a block together and settle for a block of 4 and a block of 5. A bit of faffing and we managed to get a couple of blocks reasonably close.
Tickets are 25 quid a piece which is fair enough. Ticketmaster then add a £4 *per ticket* handling fee on this. I mean, I know they have to make a profit but…
Finally, the bastards really go for the kill when they ask how I want the tickets delivered. I can either go for expensive postage or take the recommended (I wonder why) method of “Ticketfast(tm)”. This stunning piece of technological magic means that for “only” £2.75 I can have my tickets emailed to me where I can then print them at my own expense convenience! Stunning service!
Utter utter bastards.
Then, just to rub it in when the pdf arrives in my inbox each ticket is printed on it’s own page and is plastered with adverts! Bastards. They also brand them with “Thank you for choosing TicketFast(tm)” - like I had a choice.
Just to top it off they have some wonderful clauses in the small print:
Please check your tickets, as mistakes cannot always be rectified
so the point of checking them is?…
The ticket holder voluntarily assumes all risks and danger incidental to the event for which the ticket is issued, whether occurring prior to, during, or after the event. The ticket holder voluntarily agrees that the management, venue, event participants, Ticketmaster and all of their respective agents, officers, directors, owners and employees are expressly released by the ticket holder from any claims arising from such causes.
Yep, I voluntarily agree that they can shaft me totally indeed.
Bastards
Still, I got the tickets (well, an email anyway) \o/
Edit: seems quite a few people are peeved at ticketmasters monopoly
October 27th, 2006 at 11:50 am
Did TicketBastard not also charge you for using your credit/debit card to pay?
I rang to book tickets to see Eric Clapton a couple of years ago at the Liverpool summer pops. Ticketmaster were the sole agents, the only way to pay was on credit/debit card. The face value of the Tickets was a whopping £48, and the show was “Eric Clapton & Friends”, so he was only doing a small part of the show. They wanted to add a “Handling Fee” of something like £5 a ticket, then the credit/debit card “Administration Fee”, and I think they wanted a “Postage and Packing fee” of a couple of quid to send the tickets. I wanted 4, so it would have been comfortably over £200 for a couple of hours concert and not even the person we wanted to see! And it was open air, standing!!!
I told them exactly where they could place their “fees and charges” and we did not go.
I now have a policy to not ever but tickets from TicketBastards.
October 27th, 2006 at 8:22 pm
No extra charge for using a card - it was the only option.
The 4 quid charge was annoying - the £2.75 charge to print the bloody things using my own paper and ink was the killer
Still, you know me, can’t turn down the chance of a BNL gig (They aren’t coming to Liverpool this time it seems so you’re out of luck :))