STEWART COPELAND

by **IndyGirl** on 20 Mar 2009 15:31

Another article in The Wall Street Journal today:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123749863820488939.html

Here's a quote from the article: [quote]On Thursday, a spokesman for Sen. Schumer, Brian Fallon, said "concertgoers would be better off if Mr. Diller provided cheap seats instead of cheap shots."[/quote]

Here's another quote: [quote]Mr. Diller also addressed the company's attempts to capitalize on the so-called secondary market in tickets, which has been controversial, because it has appeared to serve as a way for artists to charge more than face value for their concert tickets while pretending they are actually being resold by fans. Mr. Diller apologized for the flap. "We are in the early stage of our efforts and we're learning all the time," Mr. Diller said. "While we've certainly made our mistakes, they've been of omission, not commission."[/quote]

by **GinaSuperCat** on 20 Mar 2009 15:32

It is always amazing to me that 'oversight' and 'mistakes' just happen, by coincidence, to *always* be in their favor...strange, unimaginable odds!

by **Divemistress of the Dark** on 20 Mar 2009 18:15

[quote]When the error was recognized by Ticketmaster, Phans began receiving e-mails saying their orders had been canceled. (Some of them may not have gotten the message yet: eBay is awash with sellers offering the four-night pass at roughly $2800-$4000 per ticket.) [/quote]

Oh, THAT's gonna be fun.

From Indy's article...Looks like Ticketmaster is claiming they can merge with LiveNation because they're losing money. Nevermind most of the loss is a decline in their stock value, along with virtually every other freakin' company on Planet Earth right now.

On the TicketsNow screwup: "Ticketmaster President Eric Korman called the episode "a setback for us," which Mr. Azoff said generated "disappointing headlines."

HAAAAAAHAHAHA! You know, I'm actually surprised the mainstream media is covering this as well as they are. Since most of them are also owned by corporate conglomerates, and all.

by **luddite lady** on 25 Mar 2009 04:55

Ha! Ontarians just wanna rock (and watch pro atheletes beat each other up at hockey games)! So don't tangle with us TicketBastard!

The Attorney General of Ontario is introducing legislation to make Tickets Now type pillaging illegal. The whole scoop is below.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/ ... ntley.html

The bit that leaves me still shaking my head is where the TicketMaster exec. claims that his poor little company is being unfairly singled out while street scalpers are left untouched. Perhaps you're being singled out 'cause you're the only guys who can completely deny fans access to tickets in order to resell them at outrageous prices.

by **Divemistress of the Dark** on 27 Mar 2009 23:32

HA! Just had to post this. Was just poking around over at Consumerist.com, one of my more favorite websites. They're running a poll: Which company is worse, Time Warner Cable or Ticketmaster?

As of the time I voted (just now), Ticketmaster was winning, at 82% of the vote. Go vote yourself here:

http://consumerist.com/5186810/worst-co ... rner-cable

by **animal** on 28 Mar 2009 01:08

Following on from Dive..

Worst Buy Vs. T-Mobile

http://consumerist.com/5185367/worst-co ... s-t-mobile

No guessing what the nutters will go for here :wink:

by **Susan** on 28 Mar 2009 02:02

[quote="Divemistress of the Dark"]HA! Just had to post this. Was just poking around over at Consumerist.com, one of my more favorite websites. They're running a poll: Which company is worse, Time Warner Cable or Ticketmaster?

As of the time I voted (just now), Ticketmaster was winning, at 82% of the vote. Go vote yourself here:

http://consumerist.com/5186810/worst-co ... rner-cable[/quote]

Heh. As much as I do dislike Time Warner Cable, with them being my overpriced monopolistic cable company, I must say that when the cable rarely goes out, they don't suggest that I buy other cable service at three times the price.

Do you see the other one for United Health Care vs. Apple? United all the way.

by **Throb** on 01 Apr 2009 18:48

From the front page below the fold in today's NY Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/01/arts/ ... odayspaper

The new buzzword seems to be "instantaneous sellout"

by **Susan** on 06 Apr 2009 01:16

I'm not sure how much this is going to help. I guess it would prevent Ticketbastard from immediately redirecting you to Tickets Now, but it doesn't prevent the actual diversion of tickets to that site and to other brokers in the first place. It just imposes a waiting period. Bah.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/06/arts/ ... E_BRF.html

Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York said on Sunday he would introduce legislation meant to crack down on ticket resellers. The bill would impose a two-day waiting period after tickets go on sale before resellers can buy them for sale in secondary outlets, increasing a fan’s chances of buying good seats at face value. According to Mr. Schumer’s office he has the support of Ticketmaster and plans to meet with executives from Ticketmaster and other distributors to discuss creating a national code of conduct for ticket reselling. Mr. Schumer’s announcement won’t help fans trying to buy tickets for U2 concerts in Chicago, Boston and New York, which go on sale Monday on Ticketmaster.

by **IndyGirl** on 06 Apr 2009 16:52

Here's an article about Ticketmaster being subpoenaed over Bruce Springsteen tickets. http://money.cnn.com/2009/04/03/news/co ... 2009040319

by **Divemistress of the Dark** on 06 Apr 2009 18:54

Hmmmm. So maybe there IS help for the erstwhile music fan waiting in the wings.

It's about damned time.

by **Kim** on 06 Apr 2009 19:11

I just read in Rolling Stone that most good seats are redirected to Stub Hub or TicketRacket's own secondary market site by THE ARTIST. Now, I had heard this before, but, it sucks. This is to keep scalpers from selling them on ebay so that the artist gets the ridiculous price mark up instead of the scalpers. Either way the fans lose. I've hated the fact that Ticketmaster is a monopoly for years. The merger is a REALLY bad idea. I was hoping Live Nation would be good competition. Then I bought tickets for Coldplay in Hartford through them. The tickets were $97, and all the fees added up to $40. There is a $6 PER TICKET charge for parking, but no fee at the parking lot. I mean, what kind of crap is that?! If it wasn't Coldplay I would have said forget it. Granted, I went for the second best tickets, not cheap seats, but still. Hello, this is a recession people. How can they have the b*lls to do this? I think I will be boycotting this mess going forward. I will be more careful to only see bands I REALLY want to see. I sort of would like to see U2 but not bad enough to be taken advantage of by either of these companies. U2 fans should unite and go on strike and not go see this tour. Of course a year or 2 ago I was willing to look the other way for The Police so I guess there will always be fans who will do what they have to do to see their band. There must be another way. As for cable, don't get me started. My husband actually got in a fight with a cable rep who came to the door to sell services. We won't use their ISP out of priciple. I cannot stand that monopoly either.

by **Susan** on 18 Apr 2009 04:17

If you tried to get Springsteen tickets but couldn't because you were immediately diverted to Tickets Now with offers to pay 3x face value, and you sent a message to the relevant state's attorney general, you might be able to get your hands on some good tickets now.

That's what happened when I tried for tickets for one of his shows at the Izod Center in NJ. I quickly gave up, and then later that night got a ticket for his Hershey show (not managed by Ticketb@stard). yay for a weekend in PA and visiting Laurie!

But it did bother me that fans were treated that way, and then after seeing that Bruce was outraged and asked fans to submit a letter to the NJ Consumer Affairs department, I sent an e-mail.

Yesterday I received a letter notifying me that I had two tickets reserved for me in the 100-level, at face value, no TB fees. What's funny (now) is the letter said I had to respond by April 16, which was yesterday. Duh. I got in touch with them and this evening they called me back and said the wrong version of the letter was sent, the offer was still good and I could take until next Thursday to respond.

So, yay! DonnaNJ and I will see BRUUUUUUUUUUCE in New Jersey. And I will see him again with Laurie and her daughter. All because I took a minute to send an email. And the Attorney General of NJ made them.

by **GinaSuperCat** on 18 Apr 2009 16:05

Just a heads-up about TWC while it is a topic...PCat got notice that whatever package we had prior was to expire and called to see what was newly available, as we've always done.

In the past they've always offered something slightly different but as good if not better. Not this time...he had to fight for something barely comparable to ATT Uverse's offer and then they surreptitiously tried to get him to lock into a two year contract (calling back after the ATT 'get $250 offer had expired').

He calls back and they negotiate the same deal he was supposed to get again with another rep without the contract.

They send a postcard indicating that our prices are gonna go up again and to call. This time they say they can't honor the offer previously promised and that our bill will go up by another 20 bucks.

I never had problems before and a prior bad experience with ATT lead up to err on TWC side this time but if your current deal expires some timw soon, be on the lookout for billing and other shenanigans (yes I called shenanigans) even when you have had no problems before--looks like they are trying underhanded measures and ATT may be beating them out, at least in the south.

Keep an eye on your bill!

Oh ya and F*** TM, giggle

by **Susan** on 28 Apr 2009 02:54

My mom's Time Warner cable bill went up but her cable service hasn't worked right since April 10. I'm about ready to cancel MY cable service in protest. They keep saying it's going to be fixed and then not showing up.

I don't understand these companies. They provide shitty service and then cry to the wall Street Journal about how their sales and stock prices are down.

I already got a converter box and a nice flat type antenna for a little old TV that I keep in my spare room. It works GREAT. Crystal clear picture even on an "old" model. I'd be one season behind on "Rescue Me" but that just might be ok.

At this point I'd say Ticketbastard and Time warner are tied for worst.

STEWART COPELAND

OT: Ticketbastard Fiascos Continue

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