There Must Be Some Way To Blame Bush For This, Too:
In an effort to atone for our embarrassment a couple weeks ago (when we planned to go out for some beats and fell asleep instead), we bought tickets to hear Yerba Buena at the Paramount Wednesday night. I got turned on to the band after hearing an NPR feature, and bought their President Alien album, and it’s been at the top of my listening rotation ever since.
Yesterday, I got an email from Ticketmaster saying that the show was cancelled (no reason given), and that I could request a refund by mail. Bummer, but things happen, I thought. Then I read the next sentence, which said:
The $3.10 per order processing fee and any UPS delivery charges are non refundable
and I started to boil over. I mean, I knew how much I was paying Ticketmaster for the “convenience” of purchasing the tickets online (click by click, two $25 tickets ended up costing $73.10), and traded the fees off against the time it would have taken me to trudge down to the Paramount box office and personally buy them. Still, if they can’t deliver the product, why should they get to keep any money?
I wrote a snippy little email to the band’s manager, and got this back:
Sorry you feel this way, but your anger is misplaced.
The local promoter cancelled the show on us. As a result the group has lost thousands of dollars in airfares which are non refundable. Please do not add to this the loss of a fan.
Regarding Ticketmaster, their contract is with the local promoter and/or venue. The group has no relationship to Ticketmaster whatsoever.
So now I feel a little sheepish about the email, in which I said something to the effect that if they brought out a new cd, I’d find a way to steal it without remorse, or something similarly cool-headed and mature. As soon as my pride squeezes the rest of the way down my esophagus, I’ll send him an apology. Then I’ll try to think of something withering to say to Ticketheisters
In the meantime, we’re free Wednesday night. Anyone for pinochle?
