I started to enter information to buy tickets for a show in Washington D.C.I called my wife before buying the tickets when she told we would not be able to go. I exited the web site and got an e-mail invoice a few minutes later from TicketsNow. I called TicketsNow immediately within minutes of getting the e-mail and told them I never hit a proceed button or continue button and that I don’t want these tickets. A woman there (Betty 8009272770) with an Oh-Well attitude said all sales are final. I told her I hit the X at the top of there site to exit the program and that I never bought the tickets, anyway I disputed this with my credit card company we never went to the show and now they are charging me $215 for a show we never went to. This is bad business no matter how you look at it. I called them and my credit card company within minutes of the sale going through and again once my wife told me not to buy the tickets I exited out of the web site and somehow they (TicketsNow) proceeded with the sale.

I purchased four tickets through Tickets Now to the November 29, 2008 production of Phantom of the Opera at the Orpheum Theater in San Francisco. The tickets I purchased were misrepresented with respect to their location within the theater for which I have repeatedly requested an equitable resolution with no response.

Specifically, the seats I purchased were identified in the web site and on my invoice as Orchestra, Row 7, Center Aisle. My complaint is that tickets were, for all intents and purposes, fraudulently represented to be in the center of the theater when in fact they were located in the far left-hand section of the theater with views of the stage blocked.

I submitted a compliant to Tickets Now, which was promptly answered advising me that 1) The tickets I received met the definition of “center aisle” through a convoluted explanation that is simply ridiculous and 2) “All sales are final.” Specifically the Tickets Now representative, Mario Cicena', informed me that tickets were listed as “center aisle” not center orchestra because seat number 1 started at the center aisle of the left section.

In response I resubmitted my complaint on December 5, 2008 advising Mario at Tickets Now that based on the definition they provided, any seat purchased under the Tickets Now label of “Center Aisle” would be considered as meeting the designation of Center Aisle provided one of the seats was located on an aisle. Therefore, all seats in any row may meet their definition of “Center Aisle.” Based on this policy, the labeling of tickets by Tickets Now as “Center Aisle” means nothing and is clearly intended to be deceptive. It is now January 24, 2009 and Tickets Now has not responded to my resubmitted complaint.

Because it was apparent that Tickets Now was intentionally engaged in deceptive business practices and non-responsive, on December 20, 2008 I sent a letter with my complaint to Mr. Mike McGee, EVP North American Business Operations, TicketMaster. Tickets Now is a wholly owned subsidiary of TicketMaster. Like Tickets Now, TicketMaster has simply chosen to not reply to my letter. In each case I had requested a refund of my costs in excess of the face value of the 4 tickets as an equitable resolution. Each of the tickets received had a face value of $93 (I paid $161/ticket, plus a $96.60 service charge and $14.95 shipping) and that remains my request.

Finally, I and I am sure, many others, would be interested in the story of how theaters en-masse have turned over the sales of tickets to what are essentially scalpers who then lock up all desirable seats raising prices that include ludicrous service and shipping charges. It has certainly cheapened the theater experience for me.