October 20, 2004

Smell Tickets, but can’t see them

If you absolutely must order gig tickets from See Tickets, then you should be aware of the following things:
1. They will only deliver to the registered address for the cardholder. For security reasons, apparently.
2. They want a signature on delivery.
3. There is a system in place for people who don’t sit at home all day watching daytime TV, but getting through to them is a pain. Email is a complete waste of time. The published telephone numbers get you to a message that says “All of our lines are busy. Please call back later.” If you find the secret number, then you have a 15 minute wait in a queue, which is marginally better.
4. However, they are very prompt at debiting your account the relevant amount.
In summary, don’t deal with them unless there is no other way of getting the tickets you want. And be aware of the points above.
Now, does anyone know how I go about reporting companies to the Department of Trade and Industry for their appalling customer service?
I will leave you with an excerpt from their website:

It’s this attitude that makes us different – we’re passionate about events – and getting you to the ones that you want to see. We also care about great service and treating people as individuals.
We want the first name people think of when they want to go to a live event to be See. We are continually working on delivering the best service from enthusiastic, bright people, and extending the breadth of our product so you will be able to get tickets for anything you want from us.

I find this hilarious.

Pete

11 thoughts on “Smell Tickets, but can’t see them

  1. Even though they are evil money-grabbing bastard bureaucrat squirrel-monkeys from the planet Zog, I still find Ticketmaster to be reliable and not too cuntish.
    Except for the booking fee PLUS admin charge PLUS postage. Which, of course, takes the piss.

  2. Doesn’t Uborka! provide a fantastic public service these days.

    Karen on October 20, 2004
  3. Oh sure, Ticketmaster are reliable, and they charge you two amounts on top of face value, which pisses me off.
    IME, the best are those venues that either do the ticketing inhouse, or, at least, contracted-in, rather then contracted-out. And sometimes manage to get the tickets to you the next day, and have clear procedures for when they don’t turn up.

  4. The problem is, quite often you don’t have all that much choice on where you buy the tickets.
    I don’t actually mind paying the 2x fees. I just wish they would put 1 fee on the end titled
    Rip Off Fee –

  5. Actually, I have the same thought about the TV license. If you don’t want to piss off your citizens, you should make all taxes as invisible and unassuming as possible. The TVL is about as subtle as a frickin brick: “We are stealing your money to make a channel you never watch and we’re going to divert a good portion of that money into big scary posters to make you feel like you live in a Police state.”
    You’d think Ticketmaster would have the sense to incorporate the various levies INTO the ticket price and then say: “No hidden fees!”.
    And don’t even get me STARTED on the great South-West Trains ticket scam.

    Destructor on October 21, 2004
  6. Actually most Brits I find are in favour of the TV license.
    Although we had a similar thing in SA …

  7. The Official Uborka Position is that we are not in favour of a TV License around here.

    Karen on October 22, 2004
  8. I suspect the TV license model is not sustainable long term. But the market conditions will resolve that.

  9. If anything is going to shove me into conservatism, it’s the TVL (after that: council tax). I mean, I love that Britain has such a great TV industry and doesn’t import all thier crap from the US like NZ does, but surely if thier producty is good enough, it can generate its own damned revenue without FORCING me to and then inundating me with thier offensive posters.
    By removing market forces altogether, the BBC is removing the need for quality control. “Who cares if gardening show A or DIY show B is actually decent enough to be watched by anyone? We still get paid!”
    NZ has a government-sponsored initiative to get moer NZ content on Air, and it gives away money to often questionable projects, but the money is just a portion of regular taxes so it doesn’t FEEL as though they’re charging you extra. And then there’s also no need to put up black posters everywhere saying: “Pay your bonus tax or you will go to jail! You have no power against the might of the government! We can ruin your live whenever we damned feel like it and don’t you forget it!”
    I know these things are true ANYWAY, I just think it’s a bit poor of the Gubment to keep prodding me in the shoulder to remind me.

    Destructor on October 22, 2004

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