Paul McCartney fans have a right to be irate

April 28, 2005 -- Houston Chronicle

Paul McCartney fans have a right to be irate

If you got shut out from buying tickets to the Paul McCartney concert, then hit the ceiling when hundreds of tickets went on sale on eBay (for 10 times their face value), Toyota Center management feels your pain.

And anger. And frustration.

More important, Toyota Center is doing something about it.

"I've got a whole stack of complaints from fans," said Andrea Bouchey, director of event marketing for Toyota Center. "These fans either weren't able to buy tickets or didn't get the tickets they wanted. So we are looking at ways of dealing with the situation for future shows."

The vast majority of concert tickets are purchased via home computers, so Toyota Center will begin limiting the number of browser windows a person can have open at one time.

"The ticket limit for the McCartney concert was eight per order, but if a person had four windows open, he could have purchased 32 tickets. We will fix it so computers can have only one window open on our Web site," Bouchey said.

"The problem is, because of the Internet, everybody can be a ticket broker."

It's true. I know someone who routinely sells concert tickets on eBay. He needs only two tickets but buys four ... or six ... or eight.

He uses what he needs and sells the rest - for a neat profit. "That way, I get to go to the concert for free," he says.

Bouchey said Toyota Center may discuss restricting the number of tickets allowed per order, too, but that limit is usually set by the promoter or artist.

"The McCartney concert was the greatest demand for any event yet at Toyota Center, more than U2, more than anything else. We could have sold out a bunch more McCartney concerts," she said.

Tickets for the McCartney concert went on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. Saturday. Within minutes, the "sold out" sign went up.

However, there was a special "ticket pre-sale" the day before that sold 3,000 tickets. This is what sent many fans over the edge. They didn't know how to be included in the pre-sale.

Members of the Official Paul McCartney Fan Club got first crack at tickets. I received my "secret personalized password" a few days earlier, with instructions on how to buy tickets from 10 a.m. to noon Thursday.

Later that day, members of radio station listener clubs and the Toyota Center Insiders Club were able to buy tickets before the general public.

To become a member of the Toyota Center Insiders Club, click on www.toyotacentertix.com and follow instructions. It's free to join.

"Nearly every concert at Toyota Center has a pre-sale for Insider Club members," Bouchey said.

Neil Diamond is coming to Toyota Center on Oct. 11. No date has been announced for general ticket sales, but the "pre-sale" starts at 9 a.m. today.

Here we go again.

Originally Posted by Cecilia

It's true. I know someone who routinely sells concert tickets on eBay. He needs only two tickets but buys four ... or six ... or eight.

He uses what he needs and sells the rest - for a neat profit. "That way, I get to go to the concert for free," he says.

The only consolation I can think of in this situation is that the person who does this probably is sitting in the back of the stadium because generally, the more tickets you buy together, the further back you are.

But yeah, this situation ticks me off to no end. It's private ticket scalping, plain and simple. I have no problem with people buying tickets, especially when the show is so far in the future, then having to sell them if something comes up between the sale date and the show, but I think people buying tickets ONLY to jack up the price and resell them immediately is unethical.

I bought a scalped ticket once in the past, but I wouldn't do it again now.

Originally Posted by Rellevart

But yeah, this situation ticks me off to no end. It's private ticket scalping, plain and simple.

I think that's the main reason why Illinois has laws now about ticket reselling. On Ebay, for example, if I wanted to go to the October 18th show at the United Center in Chicago, the most I could bid on the tickets by law is face value (and, of course, I'll be outbid by someone from out of state, most likely, or someone pulling a fast one, like having the tickets mailed to a friend in Indiana or Wisconsin, etc.). This is why I ended up seeing Paul at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee the second leg of the last tour--there was absolutely no chance of me winning an Ebay auction on tickets for an Illinois show.

Here's what it says on Ebay re: Illinois ticket sales:
Illinois restricts its residents from bidding higher than face value (plus fees) for tickets to events taking place in lllinois. However, ticket brokers that are licensed by the state of Illinois may accept any price, provided that the broker includes the broker's Illinois registration number.

sells certainly with Ebay further-expensively.

Originally Posted by Cecilia

Neil Diamond is coming to Toyota Center on Oct. 11. No date has been announced for general ticket sales, but the "pre-sale" starts at 9 a.m. toda

Nevermind - they can go and see Neil Diamond instead!!

8 tickets per order is too much.4 would be better.2 would be great!I didn't even bother getting tickets.They went on sale at a terrible time for me.I was at work and not even near a phone.

I was angry about how quickly the tickets went too. We have a group of 8 people going, and I tried (right at 10:00 on the dot) to order 8 tickets for the Detroit concert on Friday. It wouldn't let me do it! I started to panic a little and we ended up having to get 2 tickets for Saturday night instead. And the other 6 tickets are in groups of 2 for Friday. At one point, I couldn't even get 2 seats together on Friday, and we're talkin 15 minutes into the online sale! I definetly agree that you should not be allowed to have more than one browser window open at a time when purchasing tickets. It never even occurred to me before I read this that it's possible to do that. It's all about people wanting to make a buck. Ticks me off.

Situations like this suck. Plain and simple. We got our tix on Monday, and were going for as close as we could get. We ended up with row 18 on the floor, which is great, but my mom told me something the next day that really angered me. She said she saw someone selling their ticket in row 3 for over $2,000. To me, these people don't even deserve the opportunity to have that ticket in the first place. I genuinely wanted to be that close, and would not have sold it, even if I knew that people would pay that much for my seat. There are some experiences that are simply worth far more than money. I have a similar feeling for other things, like certain games. *warning: non-Beatle anaolgy* In November of 2002, the Buckeyes were playing Michigan, which is a big deal in itself, but it just so happened that if OSU won this game, we would be going to the Nat'l Championship. I was a student and there were tons of students who were selling their tix for outlandish prices. I refused to do it, and I am sooooo glad that I did, because it is THE BEST football game I have ever been to in my life! That experience was worth soooo much more than money, let me tell you.
I know there's little way of regulating it, but I'm just saying that if the world were fair, the people who didn't care enough would not be allowed to get the awesome seats that they do.

Y'know, I always think of 1984 (I know, I know, I'm old) when I was going to U of M (don't worry Erin, I hate them violently) when I wanted to see Billy Joel. This was pre-Ticketmaster and there was ONE outlet to get the tickets. They had a "virtual line" where you got a number and you had to check in 3 times a day for 2 days to keep your place in line. I was around 100th in line, so I didn't really think I was going to get great tickets, but I thought I might get pretty decent ones. There was an 8 ticket limit. Scalpers were walking up and down the line saying "If you're not buying all 8 of your seats, buy them anyway and we'll pay you for the others" and I went "Ugh, no...". Monday morning the tickets went on sale and when I got up to the window, they said "8 tickets? 27th row" and I said "No! I only need 2!" and she goes, "Oh, front row? Is that ok?" KARMA man, KARMA.

I personally never thought of another browser window being open either.... I loathe the people that go out and snatch up all those tickets because they are being paid by a broker & have the means, where poor John Doe goes about it honestly and his reward lousy seats, or paying through the nose to get those scalped seats, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for many.... And Toyota's consolation is to assure the public that what happened with the McCartney seats won't happen with Neil Diamond tickets is that supposed to be a form of consolation to those that are missing McCartney? that should make up for not seeing Paul
I say shame on all the money grubbers
I bought scalped tickets for Paul's tour in the 80's, they were ok seats, but definitely not worth what a I paid(seat placement wise), but for the thrill of seeing Paul I had to spend that money .... I saw Paul again in the early 90's in nosebleed seats, but dead center, amazing what a pair of binoculars can bring in I have not even considered paying for tickets the last 2 tours, I love Paul, but the money they want for those seats is ridiculous to me, can't do!

High tech scalping, plain and simple.

I really wanted to try and go to the Columbus one, but apparently the tix were all sold out before they were even officially on sale!!!

Pff... I live in Mexico and that kind of crap happens in every show. Our sales system (Ticket Master) has a preferential sales period for a certain credit card called Banamex, and if you don't have tht card, you miss the first ten days of sales, so by the time you get your tix you'll have to make do with the leftovers. And that's not all... I managed to get my hands on one of them Credit Cards and I called... and by the time my call had gone into the system, all the best seats were gone. Now you'd think that all the best seats had been sold to similar customers who had just been lucky enough to be able to get into the system before me, but noooo... They intentionally block the phone and computer system for the first hour because the preferential areas and front row seats have already been given out to people who work for the aforementioned bank, to politicians and to certain police departments. Just a small sample of the corruption that reigns in Mexico.
However, Paul was a DARLING. He had booked two shows originally, but when he and his crew began to recieve complaint after complaint from furious fans who thought this was HIS move, he called the ticket sales co. and told them to open a third date... and NO PREFERENTIAL CREDIT CARD SALES PERIOD. that way the people who didn't own said card would at least get a shot at going and fiding a decent enough seat. goes without mention, I bought tickets for the third show as well, so I saw him three times in a row on 2002.
But yeah, I understand the feeling. Some systems are terribly corrupt when it comes to ticket sales.

The link i'm responding to says that the toyota center will now limit the amount of tickets people get. But they didnt do that for Paul Mccartney. So whats the use in starting now. They can't take back the tickets from people. It just makes me really mad! sooooooooo... if anyone reads this and has tickets to paul mccartney in houston, i'll buy them. But i dont buy high prices. My e-mail is goodguitarplayr@aol.com email me if you have tickets that you will sell cheap!

It doesn't matter if they are just now going to limit the tickets people buy. Because all of the paul tickets are out.

His tickets sell out the minute they go on sale.

One thing to try is keep checking Ticketmaster's web site as the concert date gets closer, if you don't get tickets before then. Sometimes tickets will open up for whatever reason and you can buy them if you happen to catch them when they become available.