Awesome. I like this a lot.

Wow, that's pretty messed up.

I hope she wins.

Interesting...so, if the PIC has ceased to exist in essence, where did all the money go? Was it all spent on the Inauguration? Anybody know?

I'm amazed people are retarded enough to pay $10.000 in the first place to watch some idiot make a speech wasting your entire day.

@toddy33: Went to the people that eats our tax money.

@Wilkin Wong: I thought it was the giant purple dinosaur under the whitehouse?

@Wilkin Wong: Do you live under a bridge?

This is really amazing.

Now we will get to see who has more power, the "government" or credit card companies.

@Blueskylaw: Admittedly, I'm no expert...but wasn't the PIC funded by "donations" such as this, rather than through tax dollars? Not sure it falls under the heading of "government" as such.

@Wilkin Wong: You're right, the most I would ever spend is $9.999.

Well, as I see it, if she wins, ALL Amex holders pay for her windfall. The PIC has colsed up shop, and presumably all the bank accounts. Amex can't go after the monies from them, so... then what? We pay?? I hope not.

@Wilkin Wong: Giving Facebook a bad name.

You, sir, are an asshat. If I had $10,000, I'd gladly spend it to watch history being made.

You, sir, need to stay the fuck off the internet.

@toddy33:

That is why I put government in parentheses.

Either way, it benefited the most "powerful" man in the world, and as such it has the essence of government attached to it.

@noone1569: If those knuckleheads in Washington have their way, pretty soon, we'll *all* be living under bridges.

@noone1569: Barney?

@Blueskylaw: The battle is on.

@Wilkin Wong:

You Facebookers are really classing up the joint.

@Wilkin Wong:

Now imagine if the people that saw MLK or other momentus occations felt the same way. Of course, those people probably didn't pay 10k.

The thing that might cause her problems is that she did not buy two tickets to the inauguration for $10,000. She donated $10,000 to the PIC, and as a "thank you" she received a package of things that included tickets to the inauguration.

If you donated $200 to PBS and they gave you a free tote bag, would you say you bought the tote bag for $200? No, you'd say it was a gift that you received for donating money. The donation far outweighs the value of the gift, as is always the case when you receive a gift in exchange for donating to a non-profit. To expect her entire donation back because one part of the "thank you" didn't work out makes me thing she doesn't really understand donations.

@Wilkin Wong: Actually I am going to have to agree with you but in a much nicer way. I understand people wanting to be there to be a part of history. But I think I was just as much a part of history watching the whole thing on the TV not being surrounded by thousands of other people.

I guess if money is no object then paying the 10k wouldn't be a big deal she must have plenty laying around.

Of course I also get a bit claustrophobic in big groups.

@CityGuySailing: Actually you're wrong. If Amex gives her a credit, the amount is debited from merchant, in this case the PIC.

The PIC has not closed up shop. Perhaps you'd like to visit their website, and buy some collectibles, (and charge to your Amex, of course). Perhaps a commemorative item for Wilkin Wong to decorate his lovely abode, under a bridge.

[pic2009.inauguralcollectibles.com]

Obama: Chargebacks you can believe in.

@noone1569: I don't understand your use of that question… what does not knowing about something have to do with paying a frakload of money to, as stated, watch some idiot give a speech and waste your entire day? Doesn't matter that it's Obama; could be the King of Siam. Same thing. Crowds, noise, hotels, just to watch some dude speak that will be on TV or YouTube anyway. No, you can't even say the same thing about cinema or theatre; you're actually close enough to see something. For $10,000, she might have gotten to a small, black dot out in the distance and heard an electronically-reproduced rendition of the speaker's voice. That's why it's not worth $10,000. Now go there free so that you have some bragging rights (for whatever reason your self-esteem requires), and it could be worth it.

Still, I hope she gets her money back. Good or bad purchasing choices aside, she got screwed over.

@I_am_Awesome: Well put.

@toddy33: That is an outstanding question. Unfortunately, if you pry into that too deeply, somone is bound to call you a racist.

@Wilkin Wong:

If I wasn't saving up for a house, I would love to have seen history made. That and Pope John Paul II funeral are the two things I regret not having been able to witness.

I tried to feel bad for her, but couldn't summon the energy. I have a problem with money getting you vaulted to the front of the ticket line for an event that is supposed to be free. We don't like it when ticketmaster does it, why should we like it when some entitled shrink in Chicago pulls it off?

I hope she loses the refund too- she made a donation, not a purchase. Hopefully the PIC has it in writing that the donation is no-strings and made no promises about the tickets.

@Blueskylaw: Oh, absolutely. :) Just wondering if he or anyone in the government would look upon this as anything more than a gnat problem. It would be truly interesting if EVERYONE who had donated via credit card and was denied entry would try this. Might get noticed faster!

How dare the government charge us to see it in action. The whole damned thing was paid for by US!

If the PIC is found at fault and does not have sufficient funds it ends up being the windfall of the credit card processing company.

However, if the money is considered a donation it is EXTREMELY unlikely that the PIC - or the processing company - will have to fork anything over.

It sounds like the money is considered a donation so I wish the Chicagoan the best of luck.

@balthisar: Perhaps you are missing the whole point of being at an event like this. Being part of a historical event. Actually being there!

Now the question "do you live under a bridge" was meant to infer that Wilkin Wong is a TROLL. Perhaps you missed that as well . . .

Oh *surely* there was some fine print saying "we're not responsible for pretty much anything" (esp. crap outside our control).

@ViperBorg - SpaceBat hates Facebook: @I_am_Awesome:

That reminds me...I never got my free CD collection of Lake Wobegon when I donated to my local NPR affiliate. Good thing I paid with my AMEX. I guess I'll give them a call.

@SkokieGuy: That's good then... Let them pay the 10k. I have no problem with that. The arguments from the PIC will be "we don't control security" and Ms. Blessman will then counter with "You shouldn't have promised what you couldn't deliver." The only trick I can see to this is that the PIC did deliver her the tickets. She just couldn't get close enough to actually use them.

@Wilkin Wong: P.T. Barnum would be proud.

@SRSco: She made the 'donation' with the understanding that she would get the tickets.

Under those circumstances, you'd be entitled to raise hell with NPR too.

I would suspect that as she was turned away not due to the ticket being invalid, but due to crowd control and security issues, her argument for the chargeback is weaker. I didn't donate $10,000 myself, so I have no idea what the wording was, but I would suspect there was some sort of warning like "All ticketholders are subject to a security screening. As large crowds are expected, please arrive early to allow for this process."

@SRSco: You can get them free as a podcast. I love that show :)

@I_am_Awesome: Exactly. I've read through the fine print on the "Ticket Protection Plan" and that's probably going to be American Express's answer. It's shitty for her, but honestly I don't see how she couldn't have seen the madness coming. I had friends who arrived at DC at 2AM the day of and still couldn't get to their area until halfway through the ceremony because of the security and mobs. I would've loved to see all the events and the inauguration proper, but, for my time and tolerance for crowds like that, I'm glad I have cable television instead.

@toddy33: You are correct. It was all donations and not tax money. All of the inauguration was paid for by Obama's supporters.

@GuinevereRucker: Oh, and I wouldn't have gone to see Obama live if they paid ME.

@I_am_Awesome: Yeah, this is odd. I don't think purple tickets were sold. They were free, weren't they? She made a donation to a non-profit and got a few perks, but it wasn't a quid-pro-quo. Lots of purple ticket holders paid no money. I think in the end she's going to be disappointed.

And while I am sympathetic to the ticket holders who didn't get to see the ceremony (it was a crazy, chaotic day that definitely could have been better planned), the PIC and Obama don't really *owe* them anything, as far as I can tell. Getting tickets in any section and even being able to get to the Mall in time to see the ceremony were always the luck of the draw. Better planning usually led to a better experience, but there was no guarantee that any of us would be able to see anything. People who donated weren't guaranteed a ticket, either. If they knew the right person or their request arrived ahead of someone else's then they'd have a *better* chance, but still only a chance.

@toddy33: Look around Washington for guys driving Bentleys waving fistfulls of hundreds.

In all seriousness, though, all that money went into some goddamn politician's goddamn pocket.

@I_am_Awesome: Awesome point, I think you just decided how this is going to turn out. I didnt know this was the case, so thank you for clearing it up.

@HIV 2 Elway Resurrected: In my opinion, if the value of the "gift" given in exchange for a "donation" equals or exceeds the amount of the "donation", the "donation" is actually a purchase. That ticket could be resold for more than $10,000 so I say it's a purchase, regardless of what type of facade it was wrapped in.

@HiPwr: Good heavens, I hope not! Hey, I voted for the guy. I was really interested, if only because I know so little of such things behind the scenes. Seeing that it's a going concern (thanks, skokieguy!) and still selling souvenirs, someone there is still handling money. Ostensibly, the purpose in the first place was to pay for the inauguration festivities themselves. Are they still paying for them? Or is someone actually making money on this proposition?

@hellinmyeyes: would've loved to see all the events and the inauguration proper, but, for my time and tolerance for crowds like that, I'm glad I have cable television instead.

You probably enjoyed it just as much or more. Everyone on the mall was freezing to death.

@GuinevereRucker: To see His Holiness live I would, however, pay a picture of a spider.

@Liam Kinkaid:
I'm sorry that you're uncultured, but in many other parts of the world the decimal point is used as the digit grouping operator and the comma as the decimal separator.

[en.wikipedia.org]