TicketMaster 'best available seats' is misleading and deceptive conduct?

Ljimbo jones on 30/09/2013 - 19:50

I recently bought some tickets via Ticketmaster for a theatre.
Their website said 'best available' seats when I booked (couldn't pick seats on the iPhone).
Booked and paid for on my mobile.

When I got home, I found that there were much better seats available.

I called up the next morning and complained that the setas that I were given were not the 'best available'.
They insisted that there were no better seats.

I logged onto the venue's website and saw that more central seats were available, several rows in front.

I wanted to swap the seats (the venue is okay - charges a rebooking charge), but Ticketmaster refused.

What would the common interpretation of 'best available' be?

Is it misleading to use the term 'best available' when it should be 'available seats'? If they said 'available seats' - I guess I wouldn't be so angry with the lousy seats.

I ended up booking two more seats, row C, central for the rest of the family.

My lesson learnt:
Don't use ticketmaster.
Book directly with the venue.
Don't use a mobile - they are often crippled applications.

  • Jimbo Jones
General Discussion

Related Stores

Ticketmaster
Ticketmaster

Comments

  • sraymond on 30/09/2013 - 20:13

    Yep. I have been caught out like that, but in the rush of a concert release and with the web site playing up, sometimes you just have to take what you can get on the iPad/iPhone.

  • p1 ama on 30/09/2013 - 20:29
    +1

    I don't think it's deceptive, their definition of what is best may just be different to yours.

    • jimbo jones on 30/09/2013 - 21:09

      Their excuse was they got a different allocation to the venue (alternative supplier). They told me that there were no seats avaialble in row-C (five from the front), whereas on the venue website, they had 15+ seats available.

      TicketMaster's definition of 'best available' = seats that are further back, right next to the B-Reserve seats.

      I guess 'best available' means different things to different people. A dinner table right outside of the gents may be 'best' for some folks, maybe not so much for others :)

      • one man clan on 01/10/2013 - 08:52

        That's not an excuse, it's the truth.

        It's unfortunate but that's how ticket selling works. After corporate boxes, sponsors, season ticket holders, pre-sale partnerships etc., the remaining tickets go on sale to the plebs. When there's multiple outlets selling them (like the venue and the ticket company) this happens.

  • [Deactivated] on 30/09/2013 - 21:23
    +1

    I'm sure there is a lot which can be said on this topic. I have believed for years that "best available seats" was mostly a lie. This was before the days of being able to choose your own seats.

  • Almost Banned on 01/10/2013 - 00:04

    Surely 'best available' can only mean 'best available to US'???
    If they don't have the tickets allocated to them to sell how can they offer them?
    They couldn't seriously be taken to mean that they were the best available to anyone ever under any circumstances?
    I assume that the venue/promoters probably hold back a few for VIPs too. Should those be considered as well?

    • jimbo jones on 01/10/2013 - 00:58

      Hence my suggestion of not using TicketMaster. If you have choice - use it.

      There are about 100+ better seats on offer, directly through the venue's website. Plus the Venue is pretty reasonable about exchanges, etc.

      If I'm paying a 30-40% premium for 'premium seats', I don't expect to pay the premium for a seat right next to B-Reserve and still pay the same amount. They are a whole bunch of seats, five rows from stage, left or right of centre for the same price.

      I guess none of them are really looking after consumers - go to the venue directly. Ticketek and Ticketmaster get the Choice Shonky Awards (and Ticketek got a slap on the write of $2.5m from the ACCC).

      http://www.choice.com.au/reviews-and-tests/awards/shonky-awa…
      http://www.choice.com.au/reviews-and-tests/money/shopping-an…

      http://competitionandconsumerprotectionlaw.blogspot.com.au/2…

      I booked tickets for London West End plays over the phone and they are reasonable about refunding or exchange (I once booked 9 tickets when i miscounted the number of guests and they were happy to refund).

      ymmv

  • derpdeder on 01/10/2013 - 07:19

    My suggestion is to go to a Ticketmaster (or Ticketek) outlet. Outlets have the ability for you to choose your seat, a feature that is not available on their web portals for a variety of different reasons. You do not necessarily need to go to the venue itself.

  • jimbobaus on 01/10/2013 - 08:55

    Tickets for events are released sporadically
    as a result often tickets that are the best available today might not be as good as the ones tomorrow
    also a lot of tickets to events are sold to corporate customers and then the unsold ones are returned to the pool at a later date, this means often people buying tickets last minute often get better seats than those buying early
    Its the way the industry has worked for years and I don't see it changing anytime soon.

    • jimbo jones on 01/10/2013 - 09:33

      These better seats aren't released sporadically.
      Go to Ticketmaster, seats aren't available.
      Go the venue website, seats are available (and I bought six more).
      Both websites were open at the same time, same computer, same browser, just different tabs.

      • Tal_Shiar on 01/10/2013 - 23:26

        So it's like deciding to shop at woollies or Coles?

  • pinktasha on 04/10/2013 - 23:08

    Happens a lot, I used to work in a ticketmaster call centre, and dealt with calls like yours all the time, and yeah it sucks, even when I worked there they told us to just give the customer the best available that the system gives, but we could also look into the system to find better seats, which I always did for people. I always tell everyone I know to never book through the website and always try call and speak to someone or as suggested above, go to an outlet.

  • Mamajo on 06/10/2013 - 21:52

    Thanks so much for bringing this up. I was never aware of the discrepancy until I read all your comments.

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join