Thursday, February 01, 2007

MTR loses a member

I've had it.

Today was the day tickets for MTR members were to go on sale for the Paley Festival. So, I waited dutifully on the Ticketmaster site for a full 10 minutes before sales would open (at 9 AM). I struggled to order. The letter I got in the mail said to use my member ID, but every time I entered it, I got an error. So, at 9:15 I decided to try calling Ticketmaster. At 9:18 I got a human, and explained my problem.

She told me all the presale tickets were sold out. My jaw dropped.

"It's 18 minutes past 9. How is that possible?"

"I'm sorry," she said. "You can try calling back on the 4th."

No, no I won't. Goodbye Paley Festival. Goodbye MTR. I will no longer WASTE (and yes, it is a waste) 50 bucks a year to become a member for a benefit I DON'T GET TO USE!!

Oh and the festival hotline has been busy all morning. I'm guessing I'm not alone in this.

5 comments:

Shawn said...

Actually, the blame should fall on TM. They've been making tickets impossible to get for decades. What MTR should do is set up an online outlet and sell tickets directly to members without the middleman, which is what a lot of bands have been doing of late.

Sorry you didn't get any tickets. You're not going to try again on the 4th?

Shawna said...

I had the same problem last year when they didn't use ticketmaster.

Turns out you had to drop the leading '0' from your membership number for it to work. Genius.

I may try back on the 4th if I can wash out the bitter taste...

Systemaddict said...

Ticket Master is notorious for selling straight to Scalpers and holding tickets for them

Can I verify this?

Yes. Because my friend is a scalper and I haven't had to sit past the 10th row in over 4 years of concerts...strange- since everyone in front of he and I are told it's sold out ;)

Sucks though Shawna...you need the hookups!

Unknown said...

I had the same issue, and I've been a member for years. What's really aggravating is that I publicized the hell out of the Festival on one of my web sites (HeroSite.net).

When I called the MT&R, the person I spoke to had no sympathy for me at all. I was especially aggravated because I nearly missed a plane trying to get the tix. grr.

Diana Dare said...

I joined just before they went on sale, but then didn't have a member number given to me, and couldn't order the tickets. Couldn't get through to MTR by phone for hours. Have spoken with them several times since, and the response has ranged from unsympathetic to sympathetic but useless. I tried to cancel the membership, but they said they couldn't do that; instead they'd take down my number and try to get me tickets. Tickets to the shows that are already sold out? I don't see how they plan to do that. She also said I could join an auction and try to win some that way.

Very bad planning. Even worse response. I hope they learn from this for next year.