Why not chargeback? Especially if he's got the documentation to back up his claim. A month? He's been patient enough, time to get your money back.

Say it with me: chargeback.

It's a shame that bands and other venues use Ticketmaster to handle their ticket sales. I guess you can add crappy customer service on top of their crappy "convenience" fees.

Bad service from Ticketmaster? What a shock!

@tc4b: The tickets were purchased November 11, 2008. In order to secure the tickets we got them when they announced, and they were out of the 90 day window. I tried to do a charge back.

That's the problem with Ticketmaster. In order to get the tickets you need to pre-order them, and by the time the show comes around you're out of the window to do a chargeback. You're at the mercy of the ticket company.

@LatherRinseRepeat: A shame for the consumer, and probably the bands; if the Live Nation merger goes through, it'll be wonderful for the venues. The bands, by the way, rarely seem to have a choice in the matter.

If only we listened to that nice young man Eddie Vedder in the 90's when he testified about Ticketmaster...

If you can't get a chargeback you need a new bank or card. I have had to charge back something nearly 6 months old with my bank, a custom build item for my house that was never delivered.

small claims? if you have followed the steps they told you to for a refund then i'm sure a reasonable judge would agree with you. it will surely cost them more than your refund to send a representative and resolve the issue.

who's overseeing the merger in congress?
Send certified mail and include complaint letters to the responsible congresscritters.

"I've been a long time customer of TicketMaster and thier services, and never had a problem in the past."

My sarcasm detector just blew up. Can anyone loan me theirs?

"long time customer of TicketMaster" = "ticketmaster is the only place to buy tickets"

Small Claims court.

Artists don't really have a choice as to who they are going to work with regarding tickets. Ticketmaster makes deals with venues to be their sole ticket provider, and they have made these deals pretty much every music venue with a capacity larger than 1,000 people in the country. If you want to play a show for a decent amount of people, you have to deal with Ticketmaster.

That is why Eddie Vedder tried to get them brought up on antitrust charges, but we all know how that went.

@AndyMan1: Here ya go. Fortunately I keep a spare around, just as a preventative measure, because I knew this would happen some day.

@Preyfar
Did you confirm a 90 day chargeback window with your credit card company? I used to think I was out of luck but was able to chargeback a warranty from Sony after 10 months. They said they had no limit on the time to file a chargeback but I'm sure that faries by issuer.

@myself above

No "faries" involved, I meant varies.

@Preyfar: Did you ask your CC company though? They may have a different policy due to the purchase being, effectively, a pre-order that was charged at the time of placing the order instead of on delivery. Also, you are engaged in a vendor-acknowledged return. If you have good customer service at your issuer... who's to say they can't call up a corporate rep on your behalf? It's 300 bucks... I'd make the call and ask.

I believe this is one of those things you should mention to the Attorney General too.

Don't know if this helps but here is executive / HQ contact info: (courtesy of Hoovers.com)

President / CEO: Sean Moriarty
CEO: Irving Azoff

Location Type: Headquarters
8800 Sunset Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90069
United States (Map)
Phone: 213-639-6100
Fax: 213-386-1244

@Mister-e Tarot:
Perhaps you can ask for Mr. Moriarty's & Azoffs offices and see if their personal assistants hang up at the word refund?

@AlexTNOA: Can anyone provide links to articles regarding the Eddie Vedder deal? All I can seem to find are articles that barely mention his boycott of Ticketmaster, and nothing about antitrust charges.

@EM: Yes. Unfortunately, I used my Wachovia debit card to do the process as I'm trying to reduce credit card debt and have taken a "pay by cash" mentality. In retrospect, I should have used my credit card and just paid it off, but... then again, it never occured to me getting a refund would involve so much tooth gnashing.

I still find it ridiculous that TicketsNow refuses to even refund your tickets unless you send them back. Pretty much all TicketsNow tickets are *from* Ticketmaster. They're paper, can be reprinted. I understand some ticket stubs /can/ be worth something even in reprinting value, but still. The event was cancelled.

Spellcheck!

"I've been a long time customer of TicketMaster and thier services"

If I'm in their corporate office, I disregard this email after the first sentence.

@Preyfar:

Even though the purchase date is beyond the 90 day window, you still have chargeback rights because the date of expected service is not past 90 days yet. Whenever you preorder merchandise or services your chargeback rights are based on receipt of service, not date of purchase.

Instead of "refund", just say "where's my money bitch? Am I going to have to choke a ho?"

Then just sit back, because your refund (or the police) is on it's way!

I see, buying tickets to a concert is the new health club membership scam. You pay and pay, but never get a benefit or a refund.

Why is it that people just love to kill the Golden Goose?

Wait a sec is this the same Tickets Now division that was recently caught scalping? The one where the main Ticketmaster was saying "we are out of tickets, go here" and it was a SUBSIDIARY that was charging 200%+ for the SAME D*MNED ticket?

*shakes his head* Ticketmaster needs to be shut down

@almigi:

Some of us did. The problem is, our government didn't. Noether did the stupid fans who kept buying tickets from them and going to concerts.

All it would have taken was a massive boycott, but sadly the sheep of America are too caught up in their own lives to care about such things. Now we all pay the price.

'Did he say refund?' ticketmaster CSR thinks to himself 'what to do...I'll check my training manual...here it is

How To Handle A Refund Request

1)stick fingers in ears
2)say "la,la,la,la,la"
3)press disconnect button on phone with elbow
4)help next customer

@Mister-e Tarot: I don't have full contact info, but I'll give you what I have and maybe someone else can fill in the blanks.

Charles Montgomery Burns,
[Street address unknown]
Springfield, [State unknown, but I think it's Kentucky], [Zip Unknown]

I know it's not much, but its a start.

@Preyfar: He may still be able to do a chargeback. Although 90 days may be the stated policy, the credit card company might make exceptions if you talk to them about it. I know American Express does.

I ordered tickets from Tickets Now for the NCAA game tonight in Philly. They never arrived. No one from their ever called me. I made numerous phone calls all day long, taking time out of my work day. They have no explanation and now they are saying to go to the game and get the tickets at will call. Has this happened to anyone else. Show I go? It is not an easy trip to Phila. for tickets that I wonder if they even exist.