It's #5 TicketmasterVS #4 Citibank:
This is a post in our Worst Company In America 2009 series. The companies nominated for this honor were chosen by you, the readers, and seeded according to number of nominations. Keep track of all the goings on at consumerist.com/tag/worst-company-in-america. Download the bracket here.
You guys couldn't have picked two better (worse?) examples of companies that know how to anger consumers.
]]>@snowburnt: ...to not buy a ticket
]]>Death to the TicketBastards!
]]>And why is Circuit City even listed in the brackets? They were done at the start of the year!
]]>If I want to buy a ticket to an event and they are through Ticketmaster I have no choice. They have a monopoly for that event and they charge me way to much for it.
]]>Who IS in charge of fees?
Here's an example.
1 ticket to see U2 in Chicago: $250
Actual cost of ticket when all is said and done, $275.55
Here's the breakdown of the difference between the ticket price and what you pay:
Convenience Charge: 14.95
Building Facility Charge: 2.00
Shipping option (print your own): 2.50
Order Processing Charge: 5.35
Taxes: .75
TicketMaster is obviously not in control of the taxes, and I'll give them the benefit of the doubt when it comes to the facility charge. So out of the $25.55 in extra charges, 89% appears to be charges that TicketMaster has direct control over.
Do you know something we don't?
]]>Maybe elite scalpers have access to fee-free tickets somehow, but for the every day guy trying to unload a pair, they suck out loud.
]]>At Vanno, Ticketmaster (#5856) kicks Citigroup's butt (#415).
]]>And there are other companies. Your venue chooses the company they want to use though, so that's what you have to deal with if you go to concerts....
]]>It's not about costing you money, it's about adding $50 to the price of a ticket for 10 different fees.
]]>I think Ticketmaster deserves a special mention/award (e.g. "The Silver Douche") even if they don't win in the end. I say this because how many kids and fans WANT to see a show but end up getting gouged in the end by fees, etc.
]]>It's a joke that you all consider "fees" that are not even placed by this "evil" the biggest issue and have pushed them to the final 4 - when you've got bigger problems at a bank if they screw you over.
Just think for a second.... yeah, it still doesn't make sense to me that TM is even in the top 8 right now. The consumerist is just so skewed against it.
Ticketmaster is a SERVICE. Of course it's gonna cost money. Would you rather them charge you to use their website?
Your opinions just don't make sense when you think about how adolescent-minded they are.
]]>@Skankingmike: My wife works for Brown Paper Tickets, a smaller, non-evil competitor. They had shirts for a while that said "No Ticket Masters, No Ticket Slaves."
]]>Wow dude...wow.
]]>Thank you. I still vote TicketMaster, but I appreciate seeing a real reason why one should vote the other way. I actually thought this vote would be a lot closer than it is.
You're probably right that Citi is the worse company. But TicketMaster is the one I have to do business with. If you don't like Citi's rates, there are other credit card companies. If you don't like TicketMaster's fees, your only choice is to skip the show.
]]>You don't have to buy tickets, but if you want to, you have to use TicketMaster.
You don't have to have a bank, but if you want one, there are plenty to choose from other than CitiBank.
]]>You ask Ms. Ticketmaster out for dinner and a movie. After an expensive dinner, to your surprise, she wants a large buttered popcorn, a large Coke and a box of Junior Mints at the movie. The movie snacks just cost you as much as dinner. You don't have to go out with her again. But if you choose to again sometime, you know what you're in for.
Meanwhile, Ms. Citibank is practically throwing herself at you, so you finally decide to go out with her. She tells you she's on the pill, but later you find out she's pregnant...and a stalker. Eighteen years later, you finally no longer have to make a payment to her every month, so you think she'll stop calling and hanging up on you every hour. She might stop calling, but will continue to try everything she can think of to get you back.
]]>Gee, in my area, I have the option to bank with about 15 different banks of national and regional access and about 10 different credit unions that I am eligible to join.
On the flip side, for about 90% of my concert/show going purposes I have a single choice for buying my tickets: TicketMaster.
Ticketmaster wins this round. Feel free to whine about it later sweetnjoe.
]]>@pal003: I don't really get why it matters if what they sell is a luxury or not.. A bad company is a bad company.. and charging me money for printing on my own paper and ink is just.. evil.
]]>But you don't have to bank with Citi. Often times if I want to go to a concert, Ticketmaster is my only option. Hence the TM hatred.
]]>There are, however, other banks. Which are all bad, but bad choices are better than none?
]]>You don't have to buy tickets.
You have to have a bank (unless you hide your money under the better).
Get over yourselves. Sheesh.
]]>Evil trumps therefore Ticketmaster wins this round.
]]>anyway, our anti-trust department hasn't done a whole lot lately in terms of regulating companies based on monopolistic tendencies. so, in reference to your questions: is TM a monopoly? maybe. does anybody of importance care? not in the slightest.
]]>@bostonhockey: Two reasons:
1) There ARE other local options in many areas. (Here in Seattle, for example, we have TicketsWest).
2) They haven't forced venues and performers to deal only with them. They've just made themselves very attractive to venues and performers.
As long as venues and performers (on paper, at least) can choose which ticketing agent to use, it's not an illegal monopoly. Unfortunately, there simply are not enough LARGE options to make their competitors viable for large venues and popular performers.
A good example of this is the much-mentioned Pearl Jam 1994 tour which was cancelled because of a disagreement with TicketMaster - but by 2000, they were using TicketMaster as their ticket vendor again.
]]>I agree that Ticketmaster is horrible - the monopoly that needs to end - but I rank them as a kind of a luxury.
Meanwhile Citigroup tanked the Economy and caused quite a few job losses in the past year.
]]>StubHub 3rd party? News to me...
]]>@Skankingmike: That ticketmaster has been able to do what they do for so long is a case study in tolerated madness.
I spent a long time going to shows that were under ticketmasters radar but everytime I do need to go to a larger event it's the same ridiculous charges I had to deal with 15 years ago.
Citibank just took balilouts. The used tire company near my house has received bailout money at this point. He rode to his Congressional testimony in the center of a large tire.
]]>Well, besides a 3rd party outlet, of course. StubHub, Craigslist, scumbag scalper
]]>Does that make us slaves?
]]>