If you have experiences in purchasing tickets to shows outside your country, please share your story. Two purposes: so we can learn, and make some kind of handbook to make it easier to buy tickets to abroad shows, second: to share nice and remarkable stories of what went wrong or what worked out in miraculous ways.

For myself, I'd like to know how the ticketsales work in countries like France, Germany, the UK and Belgium. I've heared there are some difficulties for foreigners buying UK-tickets.
I'm planning a trip for my family: my mother as I've said before, but also my brother, sister, girlfriend and maybe my father and other brother will join me. Which will be great. We will visit a show abroad, most probably Paris or Germany, and ad some days around it. I'd really like to prepare myself as good as possible, to make this all work out for my family.

In 2005 I've bought tickets from Ticketnet.fr, for the second Paris-show. I found someone who had an American Express creditcard and wanted to order the tickets presale on the internet. It worked out very well, piece of cake. A little surprise was the demand of cc and adress information that had to be sent to Ticketnet, but it worked!
Then the shows got cancelled, and were merged together. That is where the fun started. The procedure for the ticketswap and the refunding were made public days before the girl who bought the tickets went on holiday, for four weeks! I had to ask her for all her CC-properties, in order to arrange the refunding. And she had to send the tickets back to France if I remember well. She was not too happy with all that.
Then I had to call Ticketnet, who where very helpful, and explain that somebody else paid for the tickets, but was on holiday, that I wanted refunding for those, and order new tickets for the new show, but those new tickets had to be payed from another creditcard (that of my parents) and had to be sent to another adress: mine. That last demand was a step too far, so in the end I ordered new tickets, payed by my parents (I do not have a cc) and sent to the girl with the AmEx cc...

We had a great show, it was worth much more trouble.

Jelle



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2007-02-07 12:27 by sluissie.

France

www.ticketnet.fr.

Works very good. The site is easy to handle, and is also available in English. If you have questions, you can call them, and if you have some luck, they will not only explain, but also arrange the ticketsale for you on the phone. If you do not speak French: they will transfer you to a collegue that speaks English, if they do not themselves.

Procedure: reservation of tickets through the internet, confirmation by sending them your adress, creditcard number + safety code and some proof from the bank that your CC and your adress match; by email, fax or post. After they receive this, they send a confirmation email.

Within a few days they send the tickets to your adress, using registered mail. So you do not have to wait, or collect them at the venue!

Jelle

I used ticketnet.fr last year for the Paris and Nice shows and they were indeed very helpful. When the Paris show was cancelled, they were also very good at processing the refund for me. Probably better than their counterparts here in the UK!

Both eventim.de and ticketpro.cz worked fine for me last year - no problem at all at receiving refunds for cancelled shows in Germany and Brno...

I have positive experiences with eventim.de for concerts in Germany in 03 and 06. The tickets were quickly delivered by DHL.
Ticketmaster Ireland worked very well in 2003.
Ticketmaster UK...not so much.

Erikjjf, does Eventim.de use the same procedure with the creditcard etc. as for example ticketnet.fr, which I described above?

Jelle

Sluissie,

The trials and tribulations you mention are no different to those experienced by customers in any other country, including France. What I mean is that people in France would have to jump through exactly the same hoops with Ticketnet as you did in your situation (i.e. using someone else's credit card).

May I suggest, for simplicity's sake, that getting your own credit card just for Stones tickets could be a more simple way of doing this. Obviously some people can't get a CC. I've got myself an AmEx ready for the 07 leg having left it too late for the 06 tours.

By the way, in the UK, the problem seems to be the refusal of Ticketmaster or whoever is in charge of printing and sending out tickets to post them until about 1 week before the event. This is no good if you will be traveling before this time or if you move house in the intervening period. This can end up with a lengthy queue before the show and the requirement to present your original credit card to pick up tickets - no good if someone bought them as a present from USA or even if you have since got rid of the credit card!

For the refunding you mean?
In the case of the cancelled Frankfurt show (for which I had purchased a FOS ticket), they simply sent me a letter asking me to fill out the event information and return the ticket. Shortly after that they refunded the money.

No Erik, I meant the initial purchase... ;-) Sorry, I should've added that.

Sjs12, I have a negatice saldo, so I doubt that I will be able to get a creditcard. But my parents have one. Maybe if AmEx is sponsoring this leg too, I will try very hard to get one... Thanks for the info.

Jelle



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-02-07 11:52 by sluissie.

I had a friend also paying my tix with her Amex card...Then she was absent and I just went to the FNAC counter with my tickets and they credited MY card. No hassle at all.

This was not thze case with Brussels. It had to be the original buyer who get the refund, I bought my tickets through eBay so had to trust and wait.

But for my Köln ticket I'm so angry with Eventim.de cause they made me pay like 50 euros for DHL (and I wont get into the details of what it means when your not home during the week to receive your certified letter) just to get a ticket that allowed me GET IN LINE to get the same ticket. They should use "print your own ticket" technology. Horrible.

Sorry, I'm not up with all this fancy lingo. By "negative saldo" I take it you mean that you've gone bust through paying to see the Stones!

Seriously though, don't get a credit card if you can't afford the repayments. It is the worst way to "borrow" money.

Imho this is a good idea sluisse as we used a company called divento for our paris tickets in which initiatlly everything was fine with distribution of tickets etc, but when the first concert was cancelled thats when the problems started with e-mails first saying hold onto your tickets then e-mails to send the tickets back but the shock was how much money you actually got back as i worked it out that they must have kept at least another £30 + per ticket and on four tickets thats not a bad mark up.

The other thing the cheque we recieved was not accepted at the bank much to my embarrasement and after a lot of e-mails eventually recieved the monies on my credit card.

Sounds like an attempt to theft in my ears, Odean73. I think I only lost the postal costs, because there wasn't even an administrative fee added to the ticketprice. In the Netherlands you always loose 4/5 euro per ticket. But that is still not 30!!!

Jelle

Definatly a theft sluissie, i expected to lose some money but not that amount thou, we live & learn hopefully.

If you paid via Credit Card for your tickets.

Try your card company.

Someone on here, sorry dont remember who, said they got the booking fee refunded as they complained to their card company about only getting a partial refund.

The best way to get tickets for an out of town show is trough the "all sold out" section here.

Did exchange some with some of you and I did got the tickets for a show or I did got my money back for cancelled shows.

Milan was great because the same tickets were valid, of course not the case here in France were cause the law does not allows it and you have to get a refund that seem to have been a bit messy for some. Heard some bad things from Brno also.

i have a question, what about scalpers in the UK? can you get tixs outside right before shows? for like les than 1/4 of the face value like here in the US? i bought $450 tixs for Philly for $40, 10 minutes before the show in oct '05.. but i also got ripped off at the last MSG show for $100, counterfeit tixs...

just wondering what the situation is in the Europe with scalpers or buying extras outside the shows.. i might be in London around the rumoured show date or possible Paris...

keefkid Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> just wondering what the situation is in the Europe
> with scalpers or buying extras outside the shows..
> i might be in London around the rumoured show date
> or possible Paris...

Someone I know bought 10 front of stage tickets, (she needed two of them) to try to raise some profit for herself. It didn't work out though, nobody bought them for more than face value, and in the end the show was cancelled, she lost around 30-35 euro in de refunding. Not much, but certainly no profit... But that was here in the Netherlands, not in Paris or London.

Jelle

The German company, (it was either getgo or Eventim) delivered my Berlin tickets to the UK within 5 days of my order, even though it was over the New Year's holidays. A brilliant and efficient service

In contrast with the much-discussed incompetence of Ticketmaster in the UK who took seven or eight months to get around to sending out Twickenham tickets and in the ensuing period still managed to cause most fans travelling from outside the country to have strokes for the second Stones UK tour in a row.

No wonder so many Germans are baffled as to how we managed to win the war.

Avoid TM UK if you can. They're about as useful as tits on a bull.

Gazza wrote:


>
> No wonder so many Germans are baffled as to how we
> managed to win the war.

Haha! Don't mention the war! I mentioned it once but I think I got away with it!


> Avoid TM UK if you can. They're about as useful as
> tits on a bull.

LOL !!

I ordered some tickets for a show in the states, and it was at a small theatre. I called them up asking about specific seats. I could see that online, there were two available dead centre, 2nd row. But then they kept disappearing. So I called the box office and spoke to a lady there, and she said to call back in 15mins when the tickets would come out of the online holding system where people select and then reject them. I called back but was on hold (international call) for about 20mins, so i hung up, and then called the switchboard and left a msg on this womans personal voicebox, saying i really want the tickets, and i gave her my UK mobile phone number. It was around 8pm local time, they had a show on and were mega busy. I was still up at around 1am here, and my mobile rang. It was the lady at the venue, she had kept an eye on the system and held the two 2nd row tickets for me, and she took my card details and processed the order. When i asked about ticket collection, just in case something crazy happens and i cant make the show, she said it is will-call but she'll enquire about posting them. The next day, she called me again and said she was mailing them right away. Three business days later, they arrived on my doormat in London.

Now that is service! I couldn't believe it...

_____________________________________________________

What's your favourite flavour?...........Cherry Red!!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-02-08 16:39 by Mr Jimmy.

Gazza Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The German company, (it was either getgo or
> Eventim) delivered my Berlin tickets to the UK
> within 5 days of my order, even though it was over
> the New Year's holidays. A brilliant and efficient
> service
>
> In contrast with the much-discussed incompetence
> of Ticketmaster in the UK who took seven or eight
> months to get around to sending out Twickenham
> tickets and in the ensuing period still managed to
> cause most fans travelling from outside the
> country to have strokes for the second Stones UK
> tour in a row.
>
> No wonder so many Germans are baffled as to how we
> managed to win the war.
>
> Avoid TM UK if you can. They're about as useful as
> tits on a bull.

Yes Gazza, don't mention THE WAR!! Got a secret as to how we managed to win the war: it's called THE RUSSIANS who opened a huge second front which allowed the rest of the Allies to invade France.

Here's my experiences from last summer, and BTW, I think this is a GREAT thread with lots of useful potential for lots of folks. Thanks sluissie for putting this up. I think I will be posting again later.

For Berlin, I got on Eventim's English version website, which was OK but only the German version ALLOWED YOU TO SELECT SPECIFIC SEATS. I had a difficult time, not just because of the language difference (even though I am ancestrally half German!), but there were some things showing up on the website that did not show up in Germany (ask open-g).

Finally, I posted a thread about my troubles and then the greatness and utility and generosity of IORR surfaced in the form of lots of my IORR brothers and sisters who answered my call and helped me through various pieces. I can't recite a list right now, but the person who was of the most help and got me through all the bits and pieces and really STUCK WITH ME TO THE END was open-g from Germany.

He saw me through to the end where I was able to select specific tickets and made the purchase. I am grateful forever and my hat is eternally off to you, open-g. I even got a chance to meet and have a beer with him and Gazza before that show (should post a photo). And, I got those tickets in the mail damn fast, like Gazza said.

Now London was an entirely different thing. At first, Ticketbastard UK said they would not mail tickets overseas, so I had been lookin and looking online and a lot of garbage seats came up anyway. It seems to me they finally relented on the mailing, but by then I had my tickets.

I just decided to call TM UK about 1.5 months before the show and out of nowhere, we got a pair in row 9 and a pair in row 2 for the second show at about the equivalent of $100 per ticket. She told me they could be held at will call/the box office for me. As I recall, I think that was an issue for a while -- when it would open, how long would the lines be, would we miss part of the show.

Then I called back and got 4 together in a section just behind a front section 3 or 4 rows back, pretty decent seats, but full price (which was less than US full price anyway).

And the will call both nights was only a short wait.

Now the whole TM UK tickets for UK shows was a mess and there were 2 or 3 threads with a lot of posts about it, so some of you can probably correct me where I am wrong. Or just go back and check those threads.

Already I just gave Delta a theoretical trip with dates of June 15 and June 30 round trip London to utilize my 2 free internatial tickets and NOTHING. If I cannot get something, right now the prices are around 1,200.

And, I saw a post tonight on another thread that mentioned that someone had heard that there is to be an announcement next week about the tour. IS THIS TRUE? WHAT HAVE YOU HEARD??


I should consult THE PLEXIGLASS on this matter.

plexiglass



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-02-08 07:41 by timbernardis.

Check this :
[www.doctorstones.net]

Might be helpful.

[doctorstonesblog.blogspot.com]

i've bought a lot of tickets in a lot of countries and only had problems in the UK in '99 (my willcall ticket for edinburgh was not there - i found it a few days later attached to the ticket i picked up in sheffield).

many ticket distributors give you a choice of languages on their home page but several don't.

if you need an english translation, this website really helps me [www.freetranslation.com] - i just cut and paste the text into this website as i go through the transaction.

still waiting for two refunds for two german shows..

Life's just a cocktail party on the street

Hi all.

Last year I tried to get tickets for Twickhenham.
In ticketmaster web site, I could not get the way they sent the ticket to my home. (I´m from Bilbao).

Then I tried with Kolhn, but, I´m sorry, the web site was only in german. No way for me. Several days later a friend of mine told me, why didn´t you tell me?

Finally I got a ticket for Oporto in the web site. Very quick. When I reached the box office five hours before the show started the ticket was waiting for me, no problem at all.

> Here's my experiences from last summer, and BTW, I
> think this is a GREAT thread with lots of useful
> potential for lots of folks. Thanks sluissie for
> putting this up. I think I will be posting again
> later.

Your very welcome Plexi, I hope to learn some useful things myself in this thread. I will, for sure.
You are right about the Ticketmaster UK, there were a few threads about them last year, if I worked there, I woulnd't tell anyone...

Jelle

keefkid Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> i have a question, what about scalpers in the UK?
> can you get tixs outside right before shows? for
> like les than 1/4 of the face value like here in
> the US? i bought $450 tixs for Philly for $40, 10
> minutes before the show in oct '05.. but i also
> got ripped off at the last MSG show for $100,
> counterfeit tixs...
>
> just wondering what the situation is in the Europe
> with scalpers or buying extras outside the shows..
> i might be in London around the rumoured show date
> or possible Paris...

craigslist.org has community bulletin boards all around the world now. i sold an extra FOS for paris last summer last minute on craigslist.

I had no problem with TM even thou i strongly disagree with thier percentage of add on's but i am based in the uk and even managed to get near front row tickets for twickers 2nd show for £60 after somebody had alerted us on iorr.

My best advice if you are living outside US- have a credit card with a US billing adress, even if this credit card is not US and even your bank account is not US
- you can buy ticketmaster US
- you escape European VAT with puchasing software on line (for instance antivirus)
- the best used I had with it : buy online a US, tax-free Sony laptop, make it deliver in an hotel in US which was my provisonal billing adress for two days, (I was following a Stones tour), then back to Europe escaping customs : I saved about 800 or 1000 dollars in tax.

But that is cheating, ehh, don't do it...

It seems time to bumb this one again... ;-)

Jelle