FAQ
Nearly one
million served!
| This remnant will be replaced soon. The FAQ is back, with a new design! What's the deal with TicketMaster, their service, and their charges? What is Ticketmaster? Ticketmaster is a national agency that directly distributes tickets for events and, in exchange, charges handling and other service fees. Orders can be placed with Ticketmaster either by phone (via numbers designated for the show), in person (at licensed Ticketmaster outlets within a defined geographical area), and online (for most shows, typically with a delay after the on-sale time). What's wrong with Ticketmaster? During your encounters on the phish.net and at Phish shows, you will likely encounter some hostility expressed toward Ticketmaster. Some who object to Ticketmaster's virtual monopoly on ticket sales -- that is, being the sole distributor for virtually all tickets at a significant number of major venues nationwide, and with service charges on tickets and orders that in some cases consistute a 25% or higher surcharge -- refer to the agency, derogatorily, as Ticketbastards. Circa 1993, a suit was filed against Ticketmaster by Pearl Jam, challenging the agency's monopolistic position in an effort to express their desire to have less expensive tickets. A few years later (late 1995), Green Day managed to tour with inexpensive Ticketmaster-distributed tickets, and (in an MTV interview aired Dec. 1995) credited Pearl Jam's efforts for the low price of their tickets. Where to send gripes: To lodge a complaint about a specific order, send snail mail to: Ms. Donna Butler TicketMaster P. O. Box 62429 Virginia Beach, VA 23466 Petition: <pjgarden@rhf.bradley.edu> (Nemesis-Divine Goddess of Retribution) once organized a petition against Ticketmaster, if you'd like to email her for information. Not so bad? To be fair, some posts to the phish.net have lauded Ticketmaster for assistance in unusual circumstances, for fairly consistent (albeit expensive) service, and for swell online resources such as seat locators. Bypass TM: As an alternative, Phish offers mail-order tickets. Many hope that, in the long run, mail order will both offer an alternative to dealing with Ticketmaster and bring the level of competition necessary to encourage further needed improvements in the agency's service. When possible, Phish tickets are also available without a service charge, usually front event venue box offices. Check the official tourdates for updated information. AVOID TICKET BROKERS: Please be aware that there are various "ticket brokers", particularly in the New York area, that resell tickets to concert events for insanely inflated prices. Some of these are merely legitimate businesses staking outrageous price hikes on desired commodities. Others, however, are pure shams. A "service" called Ticket World sold tickets to 12/2/95 New Haven and told over-the-phone purchasers that tickets would be available at the box office; this is never the case for ticket broker tickets, and many people got screwed, out of both money and a Phish experience. As Shelly Culbertson asked on the net: "DON'T BE STUPID! Don't give away your credit card number over the phone to be charged outrageous amounts for tickets that someone claims they will deliver to you at the show! .... You are only safe buying tickets from the authorized service for each show, usually TicketMaster, or through mail order. If there is too much demand and you cannot secure a ticket through one of these two systems, please face the reality of the situation and do not throw your money away on fake or non-existant tickets! Please pass this information along to your friends. If you did not get a ticket to a sold out show, save your money and make plans to do something else that you enjoy; go skiing, or at least go bowling. Don't make a bad situation worse, and don't turn a disappointment into a tragedy." Thanks also to Jack R. Lebowitz <jackl@lemreid.com>.
This page last updated January 24, 2007. All contents © 1992-2007 Ellis Godard. All rights reserved. |