Ultimate chain yanker!!!!

[KJ]

I went online today to buy a pair of concert tickets (Spiritualized for those who may wish to know) on a site that I will refer to as Thief-master.

The tickets cost ?19.50 each - fair enough for an awesome live act in a great venue. Then they decided to charge me ?3.75 per ticket for "Service Charge".

And then, the b*stards insisted I pay another ?4.95 for guaranteed delivery!! Surely paying the above cash is enough to warrant a guarantee of the product you purchased. The minimum I could have spent for delivery was ?3.00 to collect the tickets at the box office but gig-goers will agree that this is a burden, especially if you need to pass the tickets to a friend etc.

So a gig that could have cost ?39.00 is actually costing me ?51.45

Yanks my chain so it does!

[KalamityKel]

Welcome to the world of performing arts my dear!

[Keef]

How is a thieving ticket agency the world of performing arts?

[SeanMacGabhann]

Head hits nail

or in other words

exactly right!

[KJ]

I go to alot of gigs every year so it's nothing new to me (hurts to think how much I've paid in additional fees though). I don't think I have experienced that level of hidden costs though and especially no cheaper option for delivery. They are basically saying, you've paid the fee plus the service charge, but you're not getting the tickets unless you fork out a fiver more!

[SeanMacGabhann]

It is a major rip-off. I'm not a fan of the band but Pearl Jam had a policy for a while of playing in venues where TicketMaster didn't have a hold

Articles appear in the press almost daily about the exhorbatant charges

A recent one...

[KalamityKel]

goes with the whole pay shit loads for travelling to a venue, shit loads for a drink (even a bottle of water can b in excess of ?3), shit loads for a programme/souvenir programme/t-shirt (not meaning the ones spread out on the pavement outside) and other bits... need I go on? come one where there's money to be made...

No seriously, whilst I'm not in favour of ticket agents - I've had many an argument in the past with concert goers at various venues I've provided a box office for that wasn't part of the original ticket issuer over extortionate extra fees - a business is a business. promoters go to these "thieves" as they are large companies, have extensive coverage with large marketing budgets which in turn have a greater outreach to more ppl (yes I'm rambling now) and don't charge huge fees to the promoter as the money is made in the additional charges to the concert goer.

When you think from a promoters view point being charged, on average, 15-25% commission with a venues Box Office for each ticket sold when they can go to the likes of TicketMaster and others and not have to incure this fee... it makes sense no?

Yes it's crap for the poor person buying the tickets but that's the way of the world.

[Keef]

It is a disgrace, it's like a bank charges, but that's a whole other thread!

[Sam]

That does make sense Kel. I was going to some friends' gig at The Jazz Cafe and decided to pay on the door on the night rather than pay the crazy booking fees online. Given that I was getting some other people along I decided the prudent thing was to call the venue and make sure that they were selling tickets on the night. They were but at greater cost than was available online! Now I understand why.

On a related point, I always thought that this was quite cool:

"sigur r?s and the toothfaeries, the creators of their merchandise, are fed up with the extortionate fees they are required to pay to concert venues for selling their t-shirts to fans at the american shows. half of the profit of all merchandise sold at tonight?s show at ?the joint? in the hard rock hotel, las vegas, goes to the venue and new taxes. sigur r?s have decided to protest against these ridiculous fees by selling their t-shirts for $1 each at tonight?s show in las vegas, leaving the venue with about 50 cents per tshirt. here is a message from the band?s manager regarding the decision." (from here clickety click)

Apparently it cost the band and toothfaeries some money but they wanted to register their protest nonetheless.

[giggirl]

Booking fees are a total rip-off but, in this case, there was no need at all for you to pay the amount you paid. You could have purchased these tickets directly from the venue - www.roundhouse.org.uk - and your total would have been ?43 - almost a ?9 saving on what you actually spent.

[KJ]

Damn it!! A schoolboy error on my part. I tried a few other ticket sites but they weren't selling for this gig so I assumed Ticketmaster had exclusive rights.

Anyhoo, lesson learned

[woodie]

When prince Nazeem (that right?) did a foit! at docklands , I had 2 Americans staying with me. It was actually their honeymoon to come to London, not being hugely loaded, it made it doable for them if they stayed at mine. They bought their tickets on line. It was the only time they used their credit card. They had 2000 dollars gift money in the bank from family. It was all stolen.

They did get compensation in the end, from their insurance.

[ratty]

Thief Master did exacyly the same for Pompey FA Cup final tickets! Total, disgusting rip off!