Had to go with Ticketbastard on this one. Comcast employees might not do their job, but Ticketbastard's convenience fees suck ass worse than anything Comcast has ever done.

It's hard to choose between these two. However, I have to go with Ticketmaster because at least I can choose not to have Comcast for cable or internet. You have very little if any choice to not use Ticketmaster unless you don't go to shows.

@melking1972: That was the basis of my decision. If you don't like Comcast, there's an alternative (Dish, etc.). But most venues have exclusive agreements with Ticketmaster, essentially creating a monopoly. And "don't go to shows" is complete BS.

At least cable from Comcast isn't sold out in 90 seconds.

Consumerist, your polls are broken. I accidentally voted twice and voted a few more times to test whether I could vote multiple times - I can. What's to prevent someone with basic hacking skills from rigging your ingenious bracket (if it hasn't already happened)?

@cmcd14:

of course, because when you charge close to the price of a small car loan for tv/internet/phone services, you can afford all the extra cable in the world.

Per a recent Consumerist article, Ticketmaster is selling tickets to their own reseller service. If that isn't doucebaggery, I don't know what is.

I had to pick Ticketmaster. Their fees were bad enough, but to see that they are in favor of, and even referring others to online ticket scalpers pisses me off to no end.

Nowadays, there's no way to get a good ticket to a game that's worth a shit unless you're prepared to pay at least 150% of the ticket's face value. You're either gonna get raped by assholes on StubHub, or assholes reselling tickets on a team's official website. (A page run by TicketMaster no less)

I'm obviously more angry at people who choose to buy up all the tickets to make a profit, and have no intention of going to the game/concert. But to see the #1 ticket company in America support these jerks is awful.

I was a Comcast customer for a year... So there had to be somebody REALLY awful to take my vote away from Comcast. And this is that company.

Ticketmaster 'won' this one for me. I know Comcast has fucked people, but so far I have been pretty happy with their service.

I have to go with TicketMAster beacuse They are no better than Scalpers only difference is that theyre legal and more expensive! Also I'm a Comcast coustomer and have had no problems with them or with their support so far so... Ticketmaster is the clear choice for me

Ticketmaster it is. I can live without cable but when TM is the only option for a show... bah! Dilemma occurs.

Thank you Ticketmaster for shrinking my profit for scalping tickets to sold out shows from 87% to 79% with your ridiculous fees.

Ticketmaster is definitely a bunch of douchebags but the kittens... and home invasions!!! That has to be Final Four material there.

Ticketmaster for the win here, as comcast is only affecting those in certain geographical areas. In most areas, there is at least an option to switch to another internet and cable provider.

Ticketmaster screws everyone equally.

Gotta be Ticketmaster. Some folks seem to actually have a positive experience and like the services Comcast provides. Yeah, I was surprised too.

But nobody is served by Ticketmaster, king of the convenience fee.

How is Ticketmaster not winning?!? No way! Vote Ticketmaster! D:

I have never used Ticketmaster before and I probably won't be dealing with them anytime soon. HOWEVER, I need comcast services and they have never been on time for me and they always leave something undone. Ugrrr...

@ARP: The same reasoning applies to Comcast for many people. Not everyone can get Dish or whatever (sometimes there are trees or terrain blocking the sky), and even more people don't have any other choice for broadband Internet. In big cities people may have a lot of choice, but not in more outlying areas.

Like most others, both companies suck - but if you don't like Comcast, most likely you can switch to something else.

Want to see a concert or show - most likely you have no other choice then to go through Ticketmaster....

So Ticketmaster gets the vote from me - since customers have no other choice.

its very simple, ticketmaster screws the entire nation, some of us are lucky enough to be out of the comcast screw zone. Vote TM!!

@iMe2: I'm stupidly wrong [kicks self in head]. For what it's worth I voted Comcast because they won't allow me to watch the EuroCup live on ESPN 360.

Screwing art over screwing crappy TV. If Comcast were like Ticketmaster, then anyone wanting to watch any TV would have to shell over their wallet to them. And over-the-air broadcasts would be illegal.
But boy, is Comcast evil. E-V-I-L.

Unlike Ticketmaster, there are alternatives to Comcast in the form of Dish Network, DirecTV and various DSL providers. Ticketmaster FTW!

Comcast is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad company. I cannot dispute this having been forced by the franchise agreements of the localities in which I have lived to "choose" them for cable TV service, and having had to deal with their generally scummy practices.

But what it comes down to is this one fact: events at Ticketmaster venues (which is almost every medium-to-large venue) "sell out", and then the tickets are "available" on their "partner" "reseller" *coughcoughscalpingcoughcough* site which is simply a division of Ticketmaster itself.

Can any one of the final 16 companies, with the exception of the banks, say that they've done something scummier?

Ticketbastard monopolistic s.o.b's....easily the worst company in America.

I go with comcast because I don't have a reasonable alternative to them where I live for internet. No DSL or Fios means I have to go with comcast. Since I have to go with comcast for internet, I have to get their TV service as well (or else I'm paying out the ass for both).

Was happy with comcast for a few months. Then they decided to start scrambling most of the channels that I could normally get on cable-ready TV. Then they scrambled ALL the digital channels (including local HD channels) that I had been able to get without having to hook up the box. Now in order to get any HDTV, I either have to pay extra $$ a month to comcast, or buy an HD antenna and get it over the air.

I find this "worst company in America" stuff rather stupid. What business are you in? I don't care what it is; I can rip it for some silly reason. If you don't like a company, don't use their product or service. Boom. Done.

Ticketmaster does suck, but I still feel Comcast is worse.

I had to cast my vote for Comcast. It's one thing to simply overcharge people like Ticketmaster, but making us pay three times for the same thing is ludicrous and should be outlawed. Not to mention hobbling your service to your customers to lure them in to accepting new pricing plans is shameful.

Why is Comcast winning?! At least I can choose to live without Comcast and get something else.

Comcast gets my vote. They have an agreement with San Francisco to be the only cable internet provider allowed to operate in the city. I "could" get DSL, but that requires a phone line making it more expensive. Comcast has cheated me on a number of occasions. They call offering you a very good deal but will not put it in writing. Then after a month, they start charging far more than they had promised. When you complain they say "we didn't offer that, do you have it in writing?" They did this to me three times, and each time refused to send me any confirmation in writing. They also cap upload/download speeds unless you spend a fortune and they lie to you about that too when you call to ask.

@theblackdog: You can choose not to go to a concert or other event and do something else too.

Ticketmaster, no contest.

Ticketmaster is the only company I can think of that deserves to top Comcast. Ticketmaster scalps their own tickets, not even Comcast can attest to anything quite that scummy. Basically backing up what tape said.

TicketBastard's whole business is built around f***ing you over with overblown fees or insider scalping.

Comcast's business isn't, however poorly they're executing on it. Their problems are fixable. Ticketbastard's isn't.

@theblackdog: Do you have Comcast?

Hardest. Decision. Yet.

I don't know, I think it's a tough one but Comcast is WORSE. You have NO CHOICE (=monopoly) if you want Cable and Internet; satellite and DSL are not viable options. And it's a utility you HAVE TO PAY FOR every month. I use ticketmaster maybe a handful of times a year, not $140 worth every month.

bought a 20 dollar ticket to a show this summer, when i get to the billing page it says i owe $32.

how's a 60% markup for "convenience" sound?

You guys are borked thinking Ticketmaster is worse than Comcast.

Comcast deserves not just worst company but most evil. Adding more "high def" just by compressing the channels to a signal that my non-technical sister can see is pixelated? "Shaping" bandwidth without notifying customers of that? Their "unlimited" plan that has limits; their faster plan that just lets you hit the limits sooner? None of that enough for you?

Then let me continue: Comcast in my area is the ONLY choice for internet other than dial-up. So I'm screwed. More, they are the only TV provider other than dish services, but when we had the storms recently in the midwest and the Emergency Broadcast System went off...want to know what Comcast gave us? TV GUIDE CHANNEL! That's right, tornadoes are ravaging the city but instead of giving us those messages, they tell me what Lindsey Lohan wore to rehab.

So now Comcast is taking my money, limiting my service, and endangering my life.

Ticketmaster just charges too much...

Comcast, since I have no choice but to do business with Comcast if I want cable, but I can avoid Ticketmaster with a 10-minute trip downtown. Or by making my husband walk over to the arena on his lunch hour.

Not that I have cable OR go to concerts, but you get the point.

This is a tough one for me. I understand how Comcast is totally evil, but Ticketmaster has done much, much more to eff me over personally. And hello, people, Ticketmaster is a monopoly, too! It is physically impossible for me to get to the box office for every show I go to before it sells out.

Ticketmaster. DSL and Dish are as bad and Comcast, but nobody is as actively and intentionally evil as Ticketmaster.

You do have options aside from Ticketmaster.

Go to the venue the day of the show and find a scalper 30 minutes before showtime. Offer him face value and remind him that in half an hour the slips of paper in his hand are worth absolutely nothing.

Hey, it's not an elegant workaround, but neither is resorting to satellite internet to get away from Comcast because DSL isn't available in your area.

A close one so far!

I had to go with Ticketmaster, because they create false scarcity by selling bulk tickets to scalpers, then accepting what amounts to a kickback for doing so. If it's not technically illegal, it's definitely against the spirit of anti-monopoly laws.

Considering Comcast actually rigged a public hearing with paid schmo's to prevent their opposition from being heard... COMCAST. Hands down.

Fuck you Ticketmaster.

Comcast.

The first competition of the Sweet 16 is pretty tough. Comcast FTW.