One day a few years ago, I had a "revelation" about getting through on the phone to Ticketmaster. It was so simple and so effective... it got me a ticket on the 7th row to a Stones concert in Philly. This idea came to me in one of those "lightning bolt" moments in our lives.

Everything seems to be ready...

On a Saturday morning at around 9:45 am, I was getting ready for the tickets that were about to go on sale thru Ticketmaster for the Rolling Stones 2002 show in Philadelphia. Tickets were available both on the Internet and by phone. I was in a room with four computers, and I had each computer's browser windows ready at Ticketmaster's Rolling Stones purchase page.

At precisely 10:00 am, I began clicking "refresh" on all the windows. server busy... server busy... server busy... server busy... The windows on each computer read out the same message: "Server Busy." Then the windows began to read "server down." It was around 10:06, and I was beginning to panic.

I picked up a telephone and frantically dialed Ticketmaster's 212 number. Busy. The 718 number, the 516 number, the 914 numbers... all busy. Then I had the revelation. It was like I was struck by a bolt of lightning.

I quickly looked up the telephone number for Ticketmaster in South Carolina! This is brilliant, I thought... Surely Ticketmaster's agents in Carolina would be on the same system as New York or Philly, and it's in the same time zone... but I'd be "dialing around" all the congestion!

I quickly dialed the number, and I got through on the first try, scoring a seat on the seventh row! I was so amazed that this simple idea had worked so well, and that I hadn't thought of it in the previous thirty years of going to concerts.

In truth, I wouldn't even be telling you all this, if the ticket-selling system wasn't so different now... with Internet-only sales, presales, whatever. If telephone sales were still the thing, I'd still be keeping this to myself!

You just figured that out - I have been doing it for years and have told anybody trying to get tickets.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-11-09 06:22 by Pedro99.

It had never occured to me before that morning

i assumed they were all on the same system too. i understood the calls went through ticketmaster in west virginia or to a call center in texas, with a completely different name (parr).

i called the chicago ticketmaster number today and connected with customer service - the guy had a southern twang so i assumed it was the west virginia office. i was amazed - they refunded my atlantic city ticket orders over the phone, voiding the bar code numbers of each ticket. i thought i would have to endure big hassles, like with some european ticket agencies after the summer show cancellations. i kept one of the tickets however and it looks like AC, and not Oakland, will be my last show for a while.

Hey here's another groundbreaking tip. Don't call the West Coast offices for tickets that go on sale at 10:00 a.m. EST. How's that for a stroke of genius.

little queenie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> i assumed they were all on the same system too. i
> understood the calls went through ticketmaster in
> west virginia or to a call center in texas, with a
> completely different name (parr).
>
> i called the chicago ticketmaster number today and
> connected with customer service - the guy had a
> southern twang so i assumed it was the west
> virginia office. i was amazed - they refunded my
> atlantic city ticket orders over the phone,
> voiding the bar code numbers of each ticket. i
> thought i would have to endure big hassles, like
> with some european ticket agencies after the
> summer show cancellations. i kept one of the
> tickets however and it looks like AC, and not
> Oakland, will be my last show for a while.



Little QUeenie -

Were you able to cancel ONE ticket out of a pair that you purchased? I might want to do that. I think I have one day to think about it, right?

yes - i was worried they'd give me a hard time but the individual barcodes make it easy for them to void just one. you don't have to send the tickets back, either. i can see how that would cause ticket buyers to become more wary of what they buy elsewhere - from sources other than ticketmaster.

the TM guy said do it by the day before the show. don't wait until the day of the show or afterward to try to get a refund.