First TPT Contest Up

[Divemistress of the Dark]

Aw man. Back to the drawing board on the ticket thing. Someone else had tix cancelled without notice under similar circumstances.

The thing that's got me all aggro is that there's some trouble involved in buying a plane ticket and going to an actual other city to see a concert...it's not like you can just get in a car and go home if you're screwed on the entry issue. I dunno. Maybe I'll just give up on the whole thing, go to Bonnaroo, and be happy.

[GinaSuperCat]

I had posted at the same as your last post time thinking things were looking good for the tickets for you...dang it...looks like things are still up in the air (Sending good luck vibes your way!)

[Divemistress of the Dark]

Well, I really don't want anyone to take this the wrong way...I love The Police, I always have, and always will...but I'm remembering quite clearly why I developed an allergy to large-venue concerts a few years back. I dunno, I keep editing this and rewording it because it's so hard to express complicated emotions in a medium like this...I love The Police, but I really don't love the apparatus that's required to put on a tour of this scale.

Maybe it'd be better for me personally just to start being enthusiastic about any new Police recordings or DVDs that might be coming out. There's always something, right?

[blueseattle]

[quote="Divemistress of the Dark"]Well, I really don't want anyone to take this the wrong way...I love The Police, I always have, and always will...but I'm remembering quite clearly why I developed an allergy to large-venue concerts a few years back. I dunno, I keep editing this and rewording it because it's so hard to express complicated emotions in a medium like this...I love The Police, but I really don't love the apparatus that's required to put on a tour of this scale.

Maybe it'd be better for me personally just to start being enthusiastic about any new Police recordings or DVDs that might be coming out. There's always something, right? [/quote]

I'm just gonna buy two tickets tomorrow for Miami and then I'll worry about Tampa later.

[Divemistress of the Dark]

I'm gonna be happy I got to go to L.A. And that I've had a bunch of good months on here talking to other fans I've been really grateful to meet.

And with that, I'm gonna go to bed. Night all!

[Hannaha]

Awwww Dive... really hope this works out and you get your tickets.
That also goes for anyone else who's having this problem...

The 'big machine' is a bit rubbish at making allowances for over-zealous fans who just didn't read every single tiny piece of 5 point type... I admire your self-restraint in not ranting like a banshee!

hx

[animal]

Dive,

I hope all works out for you. Maybe Gio & Stewart could put in a good word.

I mean it's not like your trying to scalp the tickets, you just want to support the band, and see them in different venues.

Good luck and keep us posted.

[Divemistress of the Dark]

Thanks guys. I suspect the folks putting this on are just completely overwhelmed...unfortunately for we fans that means a few things important to us are going to fall through the cracks.

Obviously, it's disappointing to feel like there are obstacles to getting tickets for something you'd really like to see, but life goes on. I really will be happy to find out about any new DVD releases...or heaven help us, maybe another CD eventually?

Thank heaven Gio is still running *this* place, and I would imagine that isn't going to change anytime soon.

[sockii]

Well, don't forget that there will always be a secondary market for tickets (and at least some honest folks not overcharging for them), so even if your tickets get cancelled you can always try to get tickets from someone else...

But it's a sucky situation, I agree I really don't see WHY there should be a difference between buying 4 individual tickets vs. 4 as a group, when all you're trying to do is get your money's worth from the Fan Club deal and get decent tickets while you're at it.

[Divemistress of the Dark]

Well, and you can try to get tickets in the general sale. A few people have reported getting seats that way. Although it's a crapshoot, since more people relay tales of not being able to gain access to Ticketmaster.com at all during that period.

Since I'm talking about it anyway I'll go on and report more details...People on TPT.com are saying U2 tix went this way: folks who bought in more than one transaction were cancelled...Others are recounting other TM-sold tours where tix were cancelled at the last minute and without notice...so who's to say you won't buy one in the secondary market that doesn't work when you get to the venue?

I'm trying not to vent like crazy about this. So, maybe it's time to step away from the keyboard for a while and get my little self back to the swimming pool so I'll be in good shape for the dive-instruction season that's going to start this month. Yaaay!

[reggattagirl]

I have a friend who tried to buy 2 tickets for the Dallas show at the Best Buy presale. After 2 minutes of trying he was shut out, tickets were unavailable.

[Mrs. Gradenko]

Dive so now your email offer... won't work?

I'm not 100% if I got the right answer on the contest (I never bothered to try and remember these facts), I'll email Dive and see.

[sockii]

>Well, and you can try to get tickets in the general sale. A few people
>have reported getting seats that way. Although it's a crapshoot, since
>more people relay tales of not being able to gain access to
>Ticketmaster.com at all during that period.

It's not impossible, but it can be advisable to have a buddy also trying to get tickets at the same time...one hand on the computer, one hand on your cell phone to see who gets through first. That's how vespapod and I did MSG, and we both managed to get tickets in the general sale. (Plus I also got those Fenway tickets I'm selling off, all $95 ones but they were very good seats, and they didn't sell out instantly or anything like that.)

>Since I'm talking about it anyway I'll go on and report more
>details...People on TPT.com are saying U2 tix went this way: folks who
> bought in more than one transaction were cancelled...Others are
>recounting other TM-sold tours where tix were cancelled at the last
>minute and without notice...so who's to say you won't buy one in the
>secondary market that doesn't work when you get to the venue?

Well, just to calm the nerves a bit, in that second case I believe it was mentioned that was a Ticketmaster error, that they'd double-cancelled tickets, yes? Plus it was also a Springsteen gig and they confirmed that Springsteen is super-anal about these kinds of things. If the person in question had checked their cc a few days before the show, they would have seen the refunded purchase and been able to call ticketmaster at the time to correct the error.

So I'm not saying there's NO reason to worry, just that there are ways you can protect yourself and be vigilant. Check your credit card activity leading up to the show to make sure there are no unexpected charge cancellations. And also stick with hard-copy tickets instead of ticketfast bar-code tickets...because how are they going to stop you at the door once you've already got a hard copy ticket in hand, unless there's someway they have every usher having a master list of "people's whose tickets shouldn't be honored", or something like that?

And with protecting yourself with secondary market tickets, well...that's one thing Stubhub has in its favor. You're supposed to be protected as a buyer in case, for whatever reason, you buy a ticket through them that isn't honored at the door.

I'd just try not to stress out about things TOO much, you know?

[GinaSuperCat]

That's true, Sockii--you're right on all accounts and it's a comforting point of view!

I do think StubHub is the way to go, if one is at that point--I was actually looking at some of the tickets available for the Hershey show (since I have to go to Penn State every so often because I'm finishing my dissertation from a distance) and there were some really good seats available for reasonable prices...although they can scale up to silly.

StubHub is now owned by ebay (do I understand this right?) and so I'm hoping they operate the same but I'm sure that they have some way of validating the tickets with TM since they guarantee they'll work (guaranteee still looks the same). It's too bad there isn't some way you can validate the ticket numbers on your own like with an online system through TM, that would really save a lot of the anxiety here but that would be a customer service It does appear that the brokers do have a way of ensuring the tickets are valid, though...

[sockii]

>I do think StubHub is the way to go, if one is at that point--I was
>actually looking at some of the tickets available for the Hershey show
>(since I have to go to Penn State every so often because I'm finishing
>my dissertation from a distance) and there were some really good seats
>available for reasonable prices...although they can scale up to silly.

Keep this in mind with Stubhub too - they give you the option when you list tickets to have a "gradually decreasing" ticket price up until the end date of the listing. So tickets that list high at the start may go down to face value (or at least close to face, or sometimes even less) as a show date approaches.

>StubHub is now owned by ebay (do I understand this right?) and so I'm
>hoping they operate the same but I'm sure that they have some way of
> validating the tickets with TM since they guarantee they'll work
>(guaranteee still looks the same).

Well, I'll tell you this as someone who's bought and sold tickets on Stubhub before--the guarantee is basically enforced by them requiring the seller to give them a valid credit card number at the time of listing.
It's not necessarily that they validate the tickets themselves, but they tell you as a seller that if you sell a ticket that turns out not to work, they will charge back your asking price provided the buyer reports it within a certain time window. (And also possibly ban you from listing with them in the future.) So there is still a chance that someone may list a ticket that they themselves don't know isn't valid, but you'd be pretty stupid to list a known fake or cancelled ticket there, since they will catch up with you on it (even if, unfortunately for the buyer, that may be after the fact. I don't think there's anything they'll guarantee to do for you at the door if you show up with a fraudulent ticket...)