On 10/28 I ordered 6 tickets from Ticketmaster for the 1/12/03 Rolling Stones Boston concert. The tickets were ordered as two separate orders: 1) 4 tickets for $663, Order # 27-47531/NY2, and 2) 2 tickets for $327, Order # 27-47531/NY2. I selected US Mail delivery on the order.
In mid-November I checked online and noticed that the status of the tickets was "printed." I called Ticketmaster to find out when the tickets would be mailed and was told they were mailed on 10/30/02. When I informed them that I had not received them yet, I was told to just "wait." I specifically asked how they knew the tickets were actually mailed. Ticketmaster responded that they had no record of mailing, only printing.
A week later the tickets still had not been received. I called Ticketmaster to inform them that I had not received any tickets and asked for a replacement set. They informed me that they would not issue a replacement set but would issue a lost ticket voucher that I would have to personally pick up the day of the show in Boston.
I informed Ticketmaster that I did not live in Boston (I live in Dallas) and that I would not be in Boston for the show to pick the tickets up. I had ordered the tickets as gifts. I told Ticketmaster that I placed the order to have the tickets delivered to me, not for me to go pick them up. I said that if that was the only alternative, I wanted a credit back to my AMEX and they could resell the tickets. The person on the phone said they could not do that. I asked to talk to a supervisor and was put on hold. Twenty minutes later I hung up, because no supervisor would pick up the phone.
I then sent two different emails to Ticketmaster customer service via their own website requesting replacement tickets. One email was answered with a computer-generated reply that did not even address the topic, and the other was never answered.
By the first week of December I still had not received responses from Ticketmaster, so I disputed the charges with AMEX. On January 8th I received a phone call from "Sharon" at Ticketmaster. Sharon had called me to question AMEX's contact regarding the disputed charge. When I called Sharon back and tried to explain the situation, she was extremely rude and did nothing but repeat the "company line" that I would have to go pick up the "lost ticket voucher in Boston."
I specifically asked for documentation from Ticketmaster that they had even mailed the tickets in the first place. Sharon said that they had no such documentation. I told her that I could maybe understand how 1 set would be lost, but that I had 2 different sets lost, which led me to believe that they were never mailed in the first place.
Now here's the clincher. Sharon's response was "they may not have been mailed. They may have been lost within Ticketmaster." I told her again that I needed documentation that they were mailed. She stated that her documentation was that I placed the order. I said that my placing the order and Ticketmaster actually mailing the tickets were two separate events. Bottom line, I fulfilled my end of the contract by paying $990 and Ticketmaster did not provide the tickets purchased.
I continue to dispute the charges with AMEX. I give up hope of any ethical response from Ticketmaster in terms of a refund for the tickets that I purchased but will go unused. I will write to the BBB and the Attorney General's office in every state that Ticketmaster does business in and report their fraudulent activities. I will also write to every Congressman and ask that the laws be changed to protect consumers from these unethical business practices. I am also investigating legal recourse.
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