ticketmaster ACDC scammmm?

[RichieTheHammer]

I wanted to go to ACDC in Vancouver.

I went home from work...9:30ish
I setup the laptop and desktop computers to ticketmaster.ca
Got my GF on the laptop and me on the desktop right at the stoke of 9:59 or so.
Tried for over 1 hour with no luck, phone too.
Of course people started selling them on ticket exchange (linked on ticketmaster) almost right away, and eBay has lots of tickets for triple, quaduple or more of the purchase price.

Did I just have bad luck or what?
I'm not really interested in paying $300++ a ticket to go see this concert.

What did I do wrong.. ?
What's the secret to getting ticket for an event next time?
Resellers always seem to get them with no issue.
Any proven advice?

The Hammer

[sillysimms]

I don't know if this would be the case in this situation, but I believe there is a lawsuit in the U.S. over this. There are "bots" that are now able to read that code you have to enter. Apparently for the Miley Cyrus concerts in a few U.S. cities, the "bots" bought up the tickets before many "real" people could since they are computerized and faster than real typists.

That could have something to do with it, or it was just an incredibly popular concert. There can be huge amounts of people trying to buy tickets on the phone, online and at retail locations the second they go on sale. Sometimes even if a concert is sold out, you can have great luck close to the show date. There are a certain number of good seats reserved for the band, crew, etc. and often there are more reserved than what is actually needed. Extras are released through ticketmaster close to the actual date. I've gotten really good seats to a sold out show before, the day before the concert. You have to keep checking.

Also - I've searched for tickets and mistyped the code. For some reason if you're off by a letter or two it still goes through for me. Try it randomly (just as a test - not for one that's going to sell out in seconds).

[RichieTheHammer]

That's kind of what I'm saying.
These ticket vendors always seem to get tickets to sell.
There must be a "sure fire" system, or at least a safe bet way of doing it.

[zod]

Ticketmaster never blatantly states it, but I do believe they sell tickets directly to brokers, tickets that never go to the public. Hell they started their own ticket broker company now (ticketsnow i think its called).

So basically you've got:

1) TM selling tickets directly to brokers
2) Promo tickets from radio stations, friends/family, ticketmaster employees.
3) Fan Clubs that get access to tickets before on sale
4) Radio and other presales.
5) Bots that can decipher the verifying words, faster than a person can.

Mix this in with an area with several million people slamming ticketbastard at once, and poof the tickets are gone in minutes.

Don't forget too alot of concerts hold some tickets back for later sale. Not as many with high demand shows (usually beside/behind stage tickets). But TM is really crooked with low demand shows, they sell off the crappier tickets first, then closer to the show, good tickets on the floor begin to pop up.

Ticketmaster is crooked, is no secret, they just keep getting worse.

[STREET JUSTICE]

http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/ticket_takers/

Just read/watch that.

F*!# TicketMaster.

[NLI10D]

a number of the tickets is auctioned by a broker of ticket master. profit is split between ticket master and promoter.

[LonesomeDove]

The ACDC concert was sold out in four minutes after sales begin:

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=68a13dcb-29ce-4719-9204-3230d6476e11

I often wonder how tickets sell out so fast or how come all the best seats are sold soon after opening.

[miss_swan]

Ticketmaster is appalling business ... there should be some regulation for those guys. I choose to not go to concerts anymore, partially because of the bad taste TM leaves in my mouth ... but it's not just concerts but anything that requires a ticketing system. It's hard to avoid ...

[rockthecasbah]

Ticketmaster is appalling business ... there should be some regulation for those guys. I choose to not go to concerts anymore, partially because of the bad taste TM leaves in my mouth ... but it's not just concerts but anything that requires a ticketing system. It's hard to avoid ...

Well you don't have to go as far as to avoid concerts altogether due to TM. There are some places that sell tickets without the crazy fees i.e. Rotate This in Toronto.

[pluto]

I got 3 pairs of tickets to the Toronto show the morning they went on sale without much trouble (1 of them using the fan club code).

They did screw up however and didn't have the fan club code box on the site for the first 20 minutes or so, but you could use it by going through the link on the fan club site. Probably the only reason I still got good seats using it after buying 2 pairs through regular sales.

BTW dont PM me asking if I am selling them, they are all spoken for, sorry.

[ggs]

I think you just gotta log in right when it opens and be quick about it. I scored 8 center aisle seats for their Jan 9th show in Toronto.

[sillysimms]

It is also sometimes possible to pick up really good tickets close to a show date. I have done this a couple times. The concerts are sold out but check back to TicketMaster often, especially close to the date of the show.

A certain number of tickets (good tickets) are held back for the band, crew and others. Near to the show date, they often don't need as many tickets as were reserved for them and these are released to the public. I got 9th row centre (which was actually 3rd row, since there was a walkout in the centre, that went out 6 rows) tickets 2 days before a concert at the Air Canada Centre, when it had been sold out for 3 months. I often check close to the concert date and very often, if you check at the right time and have some luck, you can pick up really good seats even if the show is sold out.

[BlazinTrini]

They even hold back tickets at the box office the day of the shows as well as I was able to get $50 GA Floors for U2 the day of the show, meanwhile scalpers were selling them for around $400

[nutttbar]

I've found that for many of the better concerts, especially for groups doing multiple shows in the same cities, you get cheaper tickets buying them off scalpers than you would off TM.

I'm going to start boycotting TM as of now. Last week I went to by 8 Sprite Zone ($12.50) tickets to see the Toronto Raptors. By the time TM added their cut, the tickets came to over $20.00 per ticket!!! OUCH!!!!!! Obviously this didn't happen. Fortunately my son works near the Air Canada Centre so he walked over at lunch and bought the 8 tickets for the original $12.50. Can you say RIPOFF??????

[grantg24]

I find the best way to get tickets is to go to a Ticketmaster outlet. There our Ticketmaster outlets in places you wouldn't think of. I gotten good seats by being first in line. They usualyy start searcing before the show goe son sale.

[onexeyed]

I hate those bots. I agree Ticketmaster outlets are pretty good places to get tickets. You might have to do some searching as they're not advertised very well or else people be lining up around the block. A Sunrise Records near my house used to sell concert tickets and they were always good seats, like in the 100 section and never worse than that.

[hotkabob]

I think if you log on earlier (like around half hour ealier), you can usually get tickets. I tried this when I was looking to get ac dc tickets for Toronto, and managed to get a pair, but after seeing how much ticketmaster was going to charge in fees, I just decided not to buy any. The thing I find most ridiculous about the fees is that they charge you $2.50 to print the tickets off yourself. What the hell is that about?

But logging on half hour ealier or so, I have always managed to get a pair of tickets to things I am looking at.

[sillysimms]

I think if you log on earlier (like around half hour ealier), you can usually get tickets. I tried this when I was looking to get ac dc tickets for Toronto, and managed to get a pair, but after seeing how much ticketmaster was going to charge in fees, I just decided not to buy any. The thing I find most ridiculous about the fees is that they charge you $2.50 to print the tickets off yourself. What the hell is that about?

But logging on half hour ealier or so, I have always managed to get a pair of tickets to things I am looking at.

I've never been able to do that. Whenever there is a concert I want tickets for, they don't become available for sale until the time that the sale begins. I usually log on 5 minutes early and keep hitting the "refresh" button until the "look for tickets" button becomes available.

I agree regarding the $2.50 fee to print your tickets. I either use will call or retail pickup. I'm not paying to print the tickets myself.

[cOmAtOaSt]

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