It’s another case of “now you see it, now you don’t” – fans who thought they had secured tickets to an event through one of Ticketmaster’s ticketing sites suddenly discover they’ve been left empty-handed.
It happened back in September with the Radiohead show in New York City. Fans were furious when tickets they thought they had snagged on Ticketmaster’s site suddenly disappeared from their shopping carts. Now fans are reporting problems with the official Cotton Bowl ticket site operated by Ticketmaster’s TicketExchange.
Melissa Houston thought she had purchased tickets for the Arkansas-Kansas State game through the site – but later found out the tickets had been given to someone else. By that time, seats comparable to the ones Houston thought she had purchased were selling for about double what she had agreed to pay.
Unfortunately, experiences like these are not one-time events. They’re becoming more and more common, and – as we’ve said before – they scream for greater transparency in the marketplace. Fans need to know what’s available to them in real-time so that they can make purchase decisions accordingly. These bait-and-switch tactics only create confusion and frustration for fans trying to buy event tickets and deter them from bothering to try to purchase tickets at all.
If the Cotton Bowl gets enough complaints, they say they may not partner with TicketExchange again next year. Maybe that would get the message through to Ticketmaster, loud and clear, that fans have had enough.
So speak up if you’ve had a bad experience. Future fans will thank you when Ticketmaster and other ticketing companies start disclosing more – and hiding less.