On November 6th, I ordered four tickets to the Alamo Bowl two Big 10 and two Big 12 seats. My brother and I have a little football rivalry going, and I thought it would be a wonderful Christmas gift to he and his wife. We planned to meet in Texas (I'm in WV and he's in WA), enjoy a week of fun, see the game, and meet up again afterwards to rub the others nose in their loss.
I was under the impression that the tickets weren't printed until December, when the playing teams were announced. My impression was reinforced by reading some ticket re-sellers sites while I was hunting for tickets all of which said the tickets would be available in December. Although I ordered them directly from the Alamo Bowl website, I still assumed December and thus didn't worry when all of November passed and my tickets didn't arrive.
December rolled around though, and my brother decided not to buy plane tickets until the tickets had arrived, just in case *I* fell through and didn't get them to him. I began to worry about them not arriving in time when mid-december hit (the game is the 29th). But I was in the middle of finals (I'm a full time graduate student who works part time and has five children)—so while I was worrying, my time was pretty much filled with worrying about kids and work and finals. Every time I thought about calling, it was in the early morning on my way to classes (and Texas is hours behind us), or late at night, when my day wound down. I guess in the back of my mind, I assumed they'd get here in time! I told my brother that if he didn't have them by the 22nd, he could assume I wouldn't have them but to have faith in his big sister.:) And then I went back to worrying about the holidays and my kids, school and work.
On the 22nd, my brother called. I called the Alamo bowl ticket office and they were closed, so I fired off an email. Something I admit that I should have done long ago. I got a response telling me to talk to Dick McDowell, the ticket manager. I immediately sent him an email too.
Christmas eve morning (today), Dick McDowell called. He was as hostile as anyone could be when I explained I hadn't received them. He said he sent them—and I asked if he would mind putting a trace on the mail. He said he couldn't, and then he yelled that I should have called sooner. "It took me three seconds to call you, why wouldn't you have taken the time to call me?!" I explained that I didn't start worrying until Mid-December, and that I was busy with finals, work and kids. He said, "I didn't ask to hear your life story."
He them ubruptly started giving me his phone number (which I didn't have before—I had a general number). I asked him to hold on while I grabbed a pen, and he refused, talking over me with his phone number. He told me he could get new tickets out (via the united states post office!). This is five days before the game, and during a holiday week! There's no way the tickets could get here in time for us to make it to Texas! Odds are, they'd arrive on MONDAY, and then I'd be in Texas if I were to make it to game! There was no offer to put them at the will-call booth.
Most outrageous to me is the attitude of the Mr. McDowell on the telephone. It's Christmas Eve for heaven's sake... And he was screaming at me like I had done something wrong. I did ask him to stop yelling, and I do have to say that I was very pleasant on the phone I don't believe I did anything to cause such wrath. I've been accused of being *too* nice when dealing with problems, and I come across like a wimpy pushover, and that's probably true. The only thing even boarderline hostile I said was right before he hung up on me, when I said "goodness, I've never been spoken to so rudely before; would you please stop yelling at me?!" He said he wasn't yelling, just 'speaking' to which I responded "Okay. Merry Christmas and I hope we can get this resolved." He hung up without responding.
I'll file a claim with my credit card company. But despite having attended the Alamo bowl in the past and having a great time, I'll not ever attend again. I guess the bottom line is to beware of purchasing tickets online. As it stands, before contacting my credit card company, I'm out $218, was screamed at on Christmas Eve by a scrooge, and disappointed my little brother and his wife.
Note that now, on the Alamo Bowl website, the tickets are being sold through Ticketmaster. My confirmation email is *not* from Ticketmaster, and I'm not sure if that's who the tickets were supposed to be coming from. I believe so, but I've only dealt with the Alamo Bowl ticketing people directly.
Mari
Westover, West Virginia
U.S.A.
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