Jeff_I's Blog

Today I awoke at the crack of 9:45 am (hey, it's early for me!) in an effort to get some Radiohead tickets.  They're playing at The Tweeter Center Great Woods in August and, being that they have Most Favored Band Status, I need to be there.

Tickets were reasonable ($30, $55), considering the prices some acts are charging, and surprisingly I was able to snag a pair with little resistance.

By 10:01 (I'm very adept at the intricacies of Ticketmaster) I was confirming my order and proceeding to check out when I glanced at the final price and nearly had a heart attack.

Final Price: $152.85

Now, I'm no math whiz, but I'm pretty sure two $55 seats should round out to somewhere in the neighborhood of $110.  Factor in some taxes, the inevitable "fees" and I was figuring I'd be lighter around $125 or so.

Further investigation showed:

Convenience Charges: $10.00 x 2
Service Charges: $7.25 x 2
(plus taxes)

I understand Ticketmaster provides a great service.  Knock on wood, I've never gotten a ticket order screwed up, they make it easy to get tickets to every possible event I could ever want to go to and it is generally a pleasant experience, but this is going too far.

What's convenient about getting charged 10 bucks to get a ticket printed and stuffed in an envelope?  Why do you get charged double if you're ordering two tickets, triple if you get three, etc?

I know some bands have tried to fight Ticketmaster, most famously Pearl Jam, but it never works (You can now buy your $77 Pearl Jam tickets on Ticketmaster).  Others, mostly jam bands, have completely bypassed Ticketmaster by printing and distributing their own tickets.

I'm outing myself as a wannabe hippie here, but Phish had their own service and it worked smoothly and their tickets became pieces of artwork themselves:


So what do you think?
Is Ticketmaster going too far???