I Think This Is Dumb...

[ditzyscrap]

Alright, so...DH and I bought tickets to Monster Jam last weekend, and we've bought tickets for Nickelback. The Nickelback tickets we bought online and had to pay a "convenience fee"...alright, I get that...it's online so it's convenient. For the Monster Jam tickets, DH went INTO the city to buy tickets so that we wouldn't have to pay the convenience fee. Um, yeah...you still have to pay it! WTH!?

HOW can you call it a convenience fee? The only way to get into the event is to buy a ticket...the only place you can buy tickets is Ticketmaster, and they charge an extra $5-7/ticket for "convenience"?!?!

I think that's SO stupid!

(LOL, sorry...I was just looking up hockey tickets and was not impressed to see that sitting in the nosebleeds is $50/person plus the convenience fee plus tax...grrrr).

[ColleenSwerb]

I.
Hate.
Ticketmaster.

My friends and I refer to them as "ticket-bastard".

[Teresa]

We buy most of our hockey tickets on eBay and StubHub....Ticketmaster is ridiculous, I agree. :)

[LeeAndra]

I hate that, too. I like to think of it as the TGTP (tampon/gas/toilet paper) tax: fee for something that is absolutely necessary to life that you can't make yourself.

It sucks. :thumbdown:

Jeff and I have the same type of joke abt his child support. When his ex is being especially spiteful, we call it his 'idiot tax:' fee for being the idiot who decided it'd be a good idea to have a child with her.

[Mandy]

Convenience Charge
This fee covers costs that allow Ticketmaster to provide the widest range of available tickets while giving you multiple ways to purchase. Tickets are available in many neighborhoods via local ticket outlet locations, our telephone reservation system and Ticketmaster.com. Tickets can be purchased through at least one distribution channel virtually 24 hours a day. The convenience charge varies by event and is determined by negotiations with arena operators, promoters and others, based on costs for each event.

(from the ticketmaster website) :thumbdown:

[lovely1m]

You're telling me! I bought PlayHouse Disney Live tickets and spent $18 on those fees. Some places don't charge that fee if you buy directly from the venue hosting the event.

[Yvette]

And they also charge you a fee if you print the tickets at home! I was stunned the last time we bought hockey tickets through ticketmaster, they charged me to print them on my own printer!

[Leila]

It is ridiculous!! Our $12 tickets to Monster Nationals wound up costing us $72 for the four of us once TM was done with things!

I heard last night that Ticketmaster is being purchased by Live Nation, Inc. The DJ on the radio station made me chuckle when he said that the $2.5 million price tag didn't include convenience fees, venue fees and taxes.

[donnelsl]

Ugh - ticketmaster!! Dave was so ticked when he bought a ticket to a college basketball game last year and the "convience" fees were more than the ticket!!

[Nettio]

I'm not sure if Ticketmaster does this but I know we've run into some places that will actually charge you extra to allow you to print the ticket at home. So let me get this straight: I use my own ink and paper yet it costs me MORE than if I just allowed you to print it? :thumbdown:

[Leila]

I'm not sure if Ticketmaster does this but I know we've run into some places that will actually charge you extra to allow you to print the ticket at home. So let me get this straight: I use my own ink and paper yet it costs me MORE than if I just allowed you to print it? :thumbdown:

Ticketmaster does do this. It's part of why our Monster Nationals tickets cost so much. $1.75 per ticket for me to print it at home.

[ditzyscrap]

Yup, the Nickelback tickets we chose to print them at home, we had to pay $2 extra per ticket (we have 4 tickets). SO stupid! But it was the best option because we don't live near a Ticketmaster that we could pick them up (the credit card holder has to pick them), so it was the cheapest delivery option. :thumbdown:

[Joan]

^ They will mail them to you for free, Bryn. Go figure!?! That's the option I always choose when I'm purchasing tickets far enough in advance. Never had a problem with it.

There's still all the other fees added on to each ticket though, of course. Welcome to the monopoly of TicketBastard. Pearl Jam tried to fight them years ago. Tried to have their shows not use them, etc. Unfortunately, a monopoly is what it is, and it's really hard to run a band tour without TicketMaster. :(

[tuneskids]

just watching the early news tonight out of Calgary ... and there was a piece about a class-action lawsuit against Ticketmaster regarding all these additional charges you are paying ... convenience fees and what not.

[ditzyscrap]

Oh good, Sonja...I hope they (people, not Ticketmaster) win because it's seriously RIDICULOUS!!