Consumerist
Reader Brent was furious to find three lawn tickets bought through Ticketmaster, priced at $13 each, came to the ridiculous total of $106.20. First there's the facility fee, then there's the mandatory parking, a processing fee, and the "convenience" charge for purchasing the tickets online. After all the fees were piled on, the $13 tickets now cost $35.40 each. Brent's letter, and a breakdown of the charges, inside:
My nephew asked me to order May Day tickets for him since all the surrounding TM outlets are no longer TM agents so I agreed to do so. He wanted 3 lawn tickets priced at $13 each and he knew there would be fees so he collected $25 from each of his friends to cover them. I told him that I doubted that he had collected enough but we pressed on and placed the order. As you can see from the attached image, we paid 172% i fees which brought our $39 tickets to $106.20. What a sickening feeling to know that TM engages is such thievery and there's only one thing you can do about it. Don't go. A tip of the hat for Pearl Jam for spending years boycotting TM for the excessive fees they were charging even if it resulted in hurting Pearl Jam more than TM. Sincerely, BrentActually, Brent, you want to subtract the amount of the tax before dividing, so they're taking 4% less than you thought, which probably doesn't make you feel any better. These fees may be "standard," but that doesn't make them any less bogus. We'd suggest you try to dump them on some other sucker, but who's going to pay more than 168% markup to see 3 Doors Down?
Comments
ticketmaster's main hq is located 1 block on the left, passed the gates of hell.
ouch
what ever happened to going to the gate and buying 1 ticket for a fair price ?
*past, sorry been a long day.
@chartrule: most box offices nowadays have contracts with TM that includes the fees anyway. I've still managed to avoid the fees by buying at the venue, but not always. It just ain't right.
Ticketbastard needs to be burned to the ground.
Exactly the reason why I stopped going to Ticketmaster run events. Concerts and most other events have gotten outrageous!
I work at a venue and we're not gone to live ticketing online because of how expensive it is. But of course Ticketmaster is waaaay more expensive.
The facility charge is just that, a facility charge. Some buildings are being rented by the concert organizers and they tack on that charge to pay for it, it's not a Ticketmaster fee. The processing charge is s'posed to handle the actual equipment that prints the tickets - stock, printer, labor. Of course, Ticketmaster lets you print out your own ticket online now, so that doesn't apply most of the time.
Doesn't the venue have a ticket office you can walk up to? Most of 'em do, you can avoid the TM fees that way.
You should have skipped the concert, if it pisses you off that much. The only way anything will happen to stop this bullshit is if suckers like you stop letting it happen. (Or if a law is passed.)
Next time, say "fuck it, I'm not going." And be sure to email the artist about why you're not going. Every time you DON'T do that, you are part of the problem.
Oh, and I like how they have the option to charge you a "facility charge" and "convenience charge" for the parking, too, but they have kindly decided to give you a discount. How nice of them?
A $6 "facility charge" for each $13 ticket? What the hell is that? Shouldn't the cost of the "facilities" be FACTORTED IN to the ticket price?
@chartrule: then you get charged a day of show fee. 13 becomes 15.
This story, while interesting, is no surprise to fans of live music. We've known for years that TM is the spawn of Satan.
This is beyond ridiculous. On par with extortion. I will never, EVER buy tickets through ticketmaster online.
However, it's another reason NOT to see Three Doors Down.
@chartrule: Companies buying all the ticketmaster tickets to resell them at a higher price, that's what happened.
I've always hated Ticketmaster. I really wish I had nominated them for the worst company in America contest going on.
Besides the fees, they require a valid e-mail address to purchase tickets and then immediately start spamming you with no opt-out.
On top of that, they make little effort to prevent scalpers from buying up all the tickets first, leaving everyone else to have to buy from the scalpers.
We only do business with them because we are forced to, because we love the performers and shows they represent, and those people have no choice either unless they want to set up their own ticket sales companies.
"This Code of Business Conduct and Ethics ("Code of Ethics" or "Code") reflects the commitment of InterActiveCorp ("IAC" and, together with its businesses, the "Company") to conduct its business affairs in accordance with not only the requirements of law but also standards of ethical conduct that will maintain and foster the Company's reputation for honest and straightforward business dealings."
This is from the "Code Of Ethics" page of the parent company of TM, IAC. What a joke.
I really wish Pearl Jam would have gotten some support back in the day when they tried to take on Ticketmaster. Artists have to hate this, as it has to discourage people from going to as many shows as they otherwise might. I know it does for me.
I will NEVER buy my tickets at ticketmaster online.
@rmz: Right, it's not like you can choose to go to a different facility with a lower facility charge. They should just give a flat rate per ticket that is all inclusive. But wait, then you might actually double think your decision, $13 worth it, $35 no way.
I will go hours out of the way and use vacation time to avoid TM fees.
Well really, the kid collected almost enough from his friends for the tickets, he's $4.70. He didn't factor in the parking, which ISN'T A TICKETMASTER FEE.
Yes, yes righteous indignation from the OP, but really, would he have felt better if TM's fees weren't transparent and he had paid $26.56 for a 3 Doors Down ticket?
I have a friend who works at TM. We get into arguments about the business sometimes.
But anyway, the facility charge can be $0 up to however much the facility owners wishes to charge per ticket. I believe that TM keeps a few cents for each dollar of the facility charge.
Comment on Ticketmaster Charges 168?0Of 3 Doors Down Ticket Price In Fees You do realize the $25 for parking is completely optional. You picked Premier Parking which costs extra. If you didn't pick that you could have saved $25 and just park in the normal lot like regular people.
TicketBastard
@LiC:
... and then they charge you for using your own printer, ink, and paper.
i stopped going to concerts long ago because i got so feed up with TM. i've missed some of my favorite bands because i refuse to submit myself to all the fees of TM. NIN is coming to seattle in july and if it is a TM gig then i will miss them. :(
i'd rather save the money on fees, which is too bad because i really enjoy concerts.
Arent most of these fees not related to ticketmaster?
Kudos to Garth Brooks for keeping ticket charges under control. Ticketmaster charged me "only" $32.50 for a $25 ticket last October.
Can't really fault them for the parking though, thats the Verizon music center.
Why is parking mandatory? Can't you park somewhere else and take the bus or walk? What about bicycles? Or people getting dropped off? I think the parking fee is the worst part of the whole thing. Terrible gouging.
@lowlight69:
Best typo ever.
Wow, that is fucking insane. Fuck TM and fuck mainstream music and the musicians that play that bullshit. The only way to get TM to stop is to either boycott TM artists' shows or get a campaign together to get the artist to boycott TM themselves.
On another note, get into electronic music: I usually only pay $10-25 or so, even for the headliners like Andy C and DJ Hype (trance and house artists are similarly priced, if not cheaper due to those genres being slightly more acceptable to the average person). The biggest events cost about $75 total and have 15-20 of those $10-25 headliners.
@LiC: Most of the venues here in Chicago will only let you buy tickets from their box office on the day of the show. If the band is really popular, chances are that the show will be sold out before the day of the show. So essentially you're forced to use TM or take the chance that the show will sell out before you are able to buy one. It seems that most people are willing to pay the TM fees, but it's not as if there's a real choice in the matter, except, of course, not going to the show.
if i had the computer savvy to whip up a competing site, i'd do it in a heartbeat. make it print-your-ticket-only to save on capital costs, charge a smaller fee or arrange for kickbacks from the facility/organizer. build the system as light as possible and watch the people flee ticketmaster for the salvation of TicketSensei. just have to figure out what to do about those damned brokers who pay cheap overseas labor to type in verification letters/numbers and suck up all the tickets...
@LiC: That's a nice way of saying the facility charge is a kickback to the venue for using Ticketmaster. Other sites, like Brown Bag Tickets, have run into resistance from venues because they don't play that game, and expect the venue to build their profit into the ticket price.
If they just charged $36 per ticket straight up, and they showed no fee's, would you still pay that much to see 3 Doors Down?
I like 3DD, I'm just saying if we couldn't see the fee's, and it was the same price...would you still go?
First off, I agree that TicketMaster is the Devil. In the internet age I can get practically everything cheaper EXCEPT concert tickets due simply to the greed of TicketMaster. If Fandango can sell me "print your own" movie tickets for $1 (+cost of movie ticket, of course) then there's no reason for TicketMaster to charge me $10 per ticket for the same "convenience".
That said, the convenience charge is only part of the gouging. Facility fees and the like I blame on the artists. It's dishonest to to advertise your show as costing $20 and then tack on "facility fees" to cover the cost of renting the facility. Those costs should be included in the price of the ticket. You don't go to a grocery store, buy a gallon of milk for $1.50, and then get nailed for a $1 "milking charge" and a $1 "bottling charge". Why do concert organizers, cell phone companies, and so many other industries think this sort of pricing tactic is an acceptable business practice?
The sad part is, it's killing music. Traditionally, most musicians don't make most of their income from record sales (due to the asshattery of the RIAA, but that's another rant). They get paid for performing. But between overpriced tickets and scalpers, going to live shows is just becoming a less and less worthwhile thing to do. Why blow $50 to see a band for a couple hours (which is about the average price of a standing room only ticket here in Las Vegas) when you could spend that same $50 on a video game that will entertain you for 10 to 15 hours, or even go to a theater and see five movies?
duh? i stopped using ticketmaster years ago.
lmao @ someone admitting to buying Three Doors Down tickets.
Only bands I see are in bars and other venues that have nothing to do with Ticketmaster and everything to do with entertaining their patrons.
ticketmaster needs to take those fees three doors down... and by three doors down i mean "go out of business permanently".
The convenience charge is the best! We'll make you do all the work, we'll fire some people at the call center, and then we'll make you pay extra. How clever are we!?!
@cde: Still cheaper then what they are charging.
I went to an event where you could buy a ticket in advance for a show for 7 bucks and at the door for 12. I bought it in advance... for 18 bucks after all their charges. Went with a friend who bought theirs for 12. Never will use ticketmaster again.
At the house of blues in Las Vegas they exclusivly use TM embedded in their own site and the greatest part is you get hit with the facility fees and convienence fees online or at the door.
These shows are all hosted in house so the facility charge is horseshit.
But when I got hit with the Convienence charge for walking up to the window I asked straight up "What's convienent about me having to drive down to Mandalay Bay on the strip in the middle of the day to buy a ticker?"
As you can imagine that brought back blank stares...
I was gonna get tickets to see Rush this summer.. but after a $75 ticket became a $100 ticket I think I'm gonna have to pass. Shitty venue in downtown KC anyway, last time I was there I thought I was gonna get mugged.
As far as going straight to the facility to skip TM, a lot of places are contracted through TM and either DON'T sell tickets at the door, or the tickets at the door are still through TM, and you get hit with the fees anyway.
When I hear music industry execs complain about p2p stealing of their music, I just laugh and laugh. Turn about is fair play.
I just bought Pearl Jam tickets through TM. I am so upset that Pearl Jam sold themselves out and is selling tickets with TM. I paid $42.00 for 2 lawn seats yet my total price was 119.95. Almost a full ticket price in fees. Over nine dollars each ticket for "convenience charge" plus $5.15 processing fee. WTF is that.
I went with a group of 8 women to Chicago to see Jersey Boys on Wednesday. I live 2.5 hours south of Chicago and between us, we saved almost $800 on our tickets by sending one of us up to Chicago to buy them from the box office. Seriously, online the tickets were $137.50 and at the box office they were $40.
@TechnoDestructo: The tickets weren't for him. Did you read the article?
Three Doors Down? Yikes...