This is not the first time this has happened so I know it is not a fluke but it is the first time since having my blog so I can finally vent my anger.
All this week the press have been full of how the Stone Roses have reformed (I have dubbed it the Pension Fund tour) and that tickets would be on sale from 9.30am today. Now I am not a fan, couldnt name one song, but Mr B is. Christmas is coming up so I thought I would try and get some tickets for him to go, and to take a music loving mate with him. Mr B’s parents live in Cheshire so going up to Manchester for the gig and staying over would be a doddle.
I am online from 9am. Make sure I am logged in to Ticketmaster so all I need do is click buy.
09.28 and I hit refresh once more. This appears:
You can see the “loading” dial of death still spinning.
It keeps spinning….
So I log on to Getmein. This is a “fan site” for reselling tickets. It is owned by Ticketmaster. Look what they have available at 9.40am
Tickets. From £100. When the face value of said tickets is only £60. Well actually the face value of the tickets is £55 but Ticketmaster want £4.95 PER TICKET booking fee.
And yet, look:
09.51 and the Ticketmaster page is still loading.
It is scam. I have never been able to buy tickets on Ticketmaster. EVER. Yet monitoring Getmein shows that you can get them from there within minutes of them being available. I try and avoid Ticketmaster whenever there is an alternative such as See Tickets.
With an extra 50% of the ticket price going to them. In some instances on that screen shot the £55 tickets are £126.
It is bloody outrage and something should be done to stop this.
Fans want to be able to see live music. Not ripped off.
10.00:
and still loading.
I have now given up. Sorry Mr B. I did try.
Image at top of fan with a ticket, courtesy of Shutterstock
GetMeIn is a fan to fan exchange not Ticketmaster reselling themselves
Who owns Getmein? Ticketmaster
Who profits from every “transaction fee” charged on Getmein, both from the seller and the purchaser? Ticketmaster
You are not telling me that all those tickets on Getmein this morning had been bought by people on Ticketmaster and then listed on Getmein in six minutes? No, they have been listed by Ticketmaster, I am certain of it.
Yes some of those tickets may well be sold by geninue fans who can no longer attend. But not those listed before 9.45 this morning and who profits from every transaction? Ticketmaster.
It also says in the small print of tickets “not to be resold” so they shouldn’t be on the site in the first place.
Ticketmaster are profiting from ripping off genuine music fans.
Ticketmaster provides a fan to fan exchange and charges a fee for providing that forum. If anything blame the touts.
With a fast enough Ping time then you can get hold of tickets and there were vendors selling the tickets so Ticketmaster wasn’t the only avenue to buy for touts.
Don’t get me wrong, it just wrong to accuse Ticketmaster of running a scam outright when really the facts point otherwise.
I disagree. But thanks for commenting
Lolz, I don’t think the “really the facts point otherwise”, to be honest.
You note that other sites did have the tickets for sale. That is true. Many of these sites were, in fact, offering a ticketmaster plug-in – they were acting basically as a portal through to Ticketmaster.
However, the fact that other sites were selling them doesn’t mean that all the tickets on getmein came from the one or two sites that weren’t Ticketmaster sites.
Let’s be honest, the chance of them *all* coming from non-Ticketmaster sites is negligible.
If Ticketmaster have 75% of the tickets for sale, say, then the likelihood is that 75% of the ones on Getmein have come from them.
So, drawing the conclusion that it’s NOT dodgy does not take account of the facts.
“Blame the touts” is a cheap line, but what you miss is that Ticketmaster is the tout. If you don’t believe that, then you’re being naive, or maybe just an apologist for them.
A fee that in most cases is more than the cost of the ticket. That is wrong. My point is that they were not available to buy on Ticketmaster. I am not disputing them being available elsewhere. The fact is Ticketmaster was failing to load, yet their re-sale site was selling them and making a profit. That is wrong.
I really feel for you. It is so frustrating trying to buy tickets for concerts at the so called face value. I tried to get Killers Royal Albert Hall tickets and I could only find them for 100s of pounds on re sale sites – I didn’t go ! 🙁
Also hate all the add on costs. Grrrr
Ticketmaster should rename itself Tickettouts
P.S. I know a few people who got tickets – obviously not EVERYONE is going to get some when there’s such high demand..