News story on the ticket mess

[apterz]

People, people, people, we should not be spending our energy faxing Principle or Ticketmaster.

The only we are going to get any traction on this issue is if we can expose this embarrasment to a larger audience. We should be calling, emailing, faxing folks like Rolling Stone, MSN, and CNN. When we get some real media exposure, U2 will be forced to mitigate what is certain to be a great deal of negative p.r.

Ticketmaster, Principle, et al are big corporate organizations with their own interests and profit at stake. We get screwed as a result. We have to beat them at their own game. Think big.

 

[medmo]

shit sandwich.

 

[U2utah2U]

Mmmm...I've had a few of those this morning. Yum yum

 

[misiek]

We should give U2 a chance to make good. But if they don't, they've lost a fan in me, and I'm sure I'm not alone in saying this.

Agree 110%. U2=wankers

 

[celia]

U2 are my favourite band and have given me so much enjoyment through the years and I never thought I'd feel so cheated and screwed over by U2.

Something seriously needs to be done and Soon, because there are a lot of upset and angry fans out there who deserve to have tickets!

Seriously why did I bother with this Subscription?

From a very unhappy U2 Fan

 

[barrett]

I have no problem with getting shut out of the presale. I paid $40 for the CHANCE to get seats before the general public. My problem is that I was offered the LAST row of the UPPER level in the FURTHEST section from the stage at the United Center for $95 plus surcharges. These are the seats that were offered to the fans. I basically paid $40 for the opportunity to snag the worst seats in the house. Prince, DMB, Pearl Jam, REM...we all know the kind of seats they provide (same as PROP used to give out).

 

[BigMacPhisto]

There's enough demand amongst fan club members to sell out all of the quality seat and floor tickets, yet U2 decided not to offer enough of those to their most loyal fanbase.Instead, scalpers have taken a hold of the best tickets for every venue. - Rowdy

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

For the first time I have felt nothing but disappointment for my favorite band. I like many have been U2 fan since I was a young kid but never did I expect something like an official website membership and presale to turn me off to U2. I do not like that my love for U2 has been tainted because of poor service to loyal fans.

I did not join U2.com because my original Propaganda membership was "expired” and for the fact that the customer support from Fanfire was to say the least poor.

After the lack of service and attention received from those handling the Propaganda memberships, I decided to not join U2.com. After reading several U2 fansites and posts by upset fans, I am glad I did not pay the $20 to join (Fanfire kindly offered me a $20 discount after I provided them proof of my membership date). I have read countless reports of double charges for memberships and after seeing today’s presale fiasco, it proved that my gut feeling was correct. I have participated in presales in the past for other artists and bands and never was I asked to pay money ahead of time to take advantage of a presale for tour tickets and I was always able to get very good seats. However if I were to pay a fee to take advantage of the pre-sale, I would hope that my fee would at least guarantee me seats near the stage.

I am sorry that my favorite band has outsourced their pre-ticket sales to outlets that were less than capable of meeting the demand for the loyal and die hard fans. And I am equally sorry that I will not be spending any of my money to see my favorite band for this tour.

-Iris S.

 

[spirish]

I called Ticketmaster and they told me that U2.com was at fault for all of the "internal service error" messages. Basically, U2.com was the one handling the presale through Ticketmaster. Also, note that the Zootopia board is conveniently offline today!!! What nerve on behalf of u2.com.

We should continue to call Principle Management until they do something about this mess.

 

[U2atUSC]

Both parties really botched it up. U2.com is a disaster and Ticketmaster, in cahoots with scalper agencies, screws over the fans as usual.

 

[u2girlcj]

It's a sad day that a group like U2, with such a good reputation for taking care of their fans and a huge fanbase, has given up control to FanFire and Ticketmaster.

After the mess with transferring Propaganda memberships to U2.com, a lot of us fans knew this presale would be a joke.

It's too bad that U2's management doesn't seem to care anymore. What's a devoted fan to do? The alternative is to turn our backs on the band, but it's not entirely their fault.

Candice Caldwell

 

[mkjc]

U2.com was selling the membership as a replacement for Propaganda. I think that those who have never been members of Propaganda probably are not dissappointed today. I think that nowadays fans don't expect much from companies like Ticketmaster/Fanfire/Clear Channel so if that is all they know they are not dissappointed. But former Propaganda subscribers know how fans should be treated and therefore are dissappointed. The crux of the matter is that there are many people who payed $40 thinking they were getting an online replacement for Propaganda but instead they got the usual Fanfire/TM/Clear Channel experience.

Let me give you an example of what former Propaganda subscribers were expecting. Before Elevation, I received a paper form in the mail from Prop and filled it in with my first venue choice and my second venue choice and sent it in with a check for the price of two tickets to each show (4 total). A few weeks later in plenty of time for the show, I received an envelope with two GA tickets to MSG (NY) and 2 Golden Circle tickets (first few rows,midcourt) to Continental Airlines Arena (NJ) in the Spring. Then when more shows were added in the fall I received another form from Prop, this time I was limited to only one show. I filled it in and received two more Golden Circle (again first few rows, midcourt) tickets to MSG. So to recap, with Prop, I purchased the chance to get a total of six truly premium tickets to three different shows, in two arenas in the NY metro area, on two legs of one of the highest grossing tours in history for a grand total of $20.

With my discounted U2.com membership, this morning I purchased two tickets for the top tier (aka, nosebleed) of MSG. I will not be able to purchase anymore tickets using this "exclusive" membership for the rest of the tour. And like, my old Prop membership, U2.com cost me $20. I can see how those who spent $40 would be doubly peeved.

Don't get me wrong, I am happy to be in the building, but you can see how a "spoiled" Prop member would see this as a rip off. I don't mind them charging as much as they did. After all, it is my choice to buy the membership. It's just that they really did market it as a viable replacement for Propaganda. If I knew that it would fall this short of what I got from Prop, I would not have joined.

I feel even worse for those who payed $40 and weren't able to buy any tickets because of technical reasons and because they just weren't available.

 

[u2girlcj]

For the first time I have felt nothing but disappointment for my favorite band. I like many have been U2 fan since I was a young kid but never did I expect something like an official website membership and presale to turn me off to U2. I do not like that my love for U2 has been tainted because of poor service to loyal fans.

I did not join U2.com because my original Propaganda membership was "expired” and for the fact that the customer support from Fanfire was to say the least poor.

After the lack of service and attention received from those handling the Propaganda memberships, I decided to not join U2.com. After reading several U2 fansites and posts by upset fans, I am glad I did not pay the $20 to join (Fanfire kindly offered me a $20 discount after I provided them proof of my membership date). I have read countless reports of double charges for memberships and after seeing today’s presale fiasco, it proved that my gut feeling was correct. I have participated in presales in the past for other artists and bands and never was I asked to pay money ahead of time to take advantage of a presale for tour tickets and I was always able to get very good seats. However if I were to pay a fee to take advantage of the pre-sale, I would hope that my fee would at least guarantee me seats near the stage.

I am sorry that my favorite band has outsourced their pre-ticket sales to outlets that were less than capable of meeting the demand for the loyal and die hard fans. And I am equally sorry that I will not be spending any of my money to see my favorite band for this tour.

-Iris S.

You are right on MVD. I think your Debbie Downer avatar is the best fit for a day like today!
I think the best plan would be for all to boycott U2.com membership and even ask for their $$ back. I know presales were not guaranteed (only the "opportunity" was) but what is the point of being treated like this by a company charging $40 or $20?!?

 

[Judah]

People, people...as Bono said on MuchMusic's interview the other week, U2 are a corporation...they have hundreds of people working for them. Employees have to be paid and every now and then corporations have to fuck over their customers to pay their bills.

Let's consider ourselves fucked.

I need a smoke.

 

[royo]

Hey everyone--

I can't include a link to the story because I don't have 15 posts here, but Google will likely pick it up within 15 minutes.

You can go to Groovevolt dot com and find the story on the top left side of the home page.

Thanks to everyone who wrote in and posted here and best of luck with your ticket search. I hope that someone will fix this fiasco.

--roy

p.s. if anyone finds any inaccuracies in my story, please tell me so i can edit it.

p.p.s fixed the Principle spelling error. (I've only been a fan since 1981)

 

[dsmith2904]

Here's the story link. I will also post it in News...

http://www.groovevolt.com/Newswires/newswire.asp?ID=1199

 

[wad2k]

People, people...as Bono said on MuchMusic's interview the other week, U2 are a corporation...they have hundreds of people working for them. Employees have to be paid and every now and then corporations have to fuck over their customers to pay their bills.

Let's consider ourselves fucked.

I need a smoke.

Agreed!(drop the "A")

And we all know how financally strapped the U2 Corporation is...they probably barely make their rent while us customers live in the lap of luxury.....

 

[nathan1977]

All you can hear is the complaints, and since those who were lucky enough to get their first choice tickets (of which there are probably thousands) are too busy being happy.

Are you on crack? Have you seen how many flippin' tickets are being sold on Ebay?

Try "unhappy fans"...but very happy brokers......

 

[wad2k]

Royo... Do we have your permission to email the link to EVERY NEWS ORGANIZTION AND MEDIA OUTLET we can think of???

EVERYONE that got screwed.......please email someone that will listen!!!!!
Local radio stations, tv stations, any and every message board you can think of........It we get the word out tonight to as many places as possible....the virus will surely spread tomorow.....and by thursay U2 will be forced perform some sort of damage control do to the bad PR.....

 

[royo]

Absolutely. Feel free to send the link along.

 

[U2@NYC]

That is a pretty good piece of writing, I must say.

Congrats, Royo.

 

[mcranston]

At this point, it seems that u2.com has exagerated the ticketing benefits of the subscription. While there is still opportunity for u2.com to make amends for this, I do not see it happening. The fact is that although the "best" tickets (meaning GAs) or tickets at all were never guaranteed, it was absolutely implied. I think you would be hard-pressed to find a subscriber who did not expect to get two decent tickets to the concert of their choice. There seems to be a justified feeling of resentment among most subscribers aganist u2.com and Fanfire at the moment. With the exception of lucky subscribers who got good tickets, it appears the chances of getting good tickets were not significantly improved by being a subscriber.

Mike

 

[wad2k]

There we people.....It won't take you long at all!!!

Just goto to your local radio stations and tv stations websites and email the link!

SUBJECT: BREAKING NEWS:U2 TICKET PRESALE INFLAMES FANS

(just highlight, copy and paste this link in the email)

http://www.groovevolt.com/Newswires/newswire.asp?ID=1199

This is the only way we'll get answers!!!!

PS Royo: I hope your site can handle the traffic..If all goes well, its going to get hammered!

 

[royo]

Thanks to everyone for the support. As you can see, I tried to go to the sources for comment, but still haven't heard a thing. I'm pretty sure GV can handle the traffic. We get about 12M page views per month, so it'll take a ton to take us down.

 

[DiGi]

I am pretty darn pissed to say the least. my prop membership was lost, I spend 40 bucks to get tickets and I got zero. I would really like to know how ticketbastard is allowed to operate as they do? Its nothing but wrong. The fact that U2 would allow them to run their presale is just plain stupid as hell.

Like Iris I may seriously consider not attending a show on this tour.

Plain old ridiculous the way this has been run and executed.

 

[wad2k]

it is starting to spread more

I started a thread on u2.com's forum about the media assaut....over 700 views and a 5 star rating...and people are working together to get the word out...lots of compliments to the author! way to go!

 

[hef4u2]

I JUST GOT OFF THE PHONE WITH FANFARE 1-800-615-1324.
THEY BLAME TICKETMASTER FOR THE PROBLEM.

THEY DID TAKE DOWN MY INFORMATION, I ASKED FOR A REFUND OF MY $4O FOR THE U2.COM MEMBERSHIP

IT SEEMS FANFARE IS THE ONE PLACE YOU CAN CONTACT AS U2.COM HAS ONLY REPLIED TO MY EMAIL WITH A FORM LETTER MAKING SURE I’M NOT INCOMPETANT IN MY ABILITY TO USE A WEB BROWSER

WHAT A JOKE…THE PROBLEM IS NOT THAT I CAN’T USE A COMPUTER AND A CODE.

THERE ARE NO TICKETS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

10 % WERE RESERVED FOR THE U2.COM MEMBER PRE-SALE, SO THAT LEAVES 90% FOR THE GENERAL, NON-PAYING PUBLIC TO BUY OVER THE PHONE OR THROUGH THE BROKERS TICKMASTER SCALPS THEM TOO.

 

[hef4u2]

CALL FANFARE

TELL THEM HOW YOU FEEL

 

[AtomicBono]

I passed the article on to the Indianapolis Star, 4 local radio stations, NME, Q, and Rolling Stone.

 

[Scarletwine]

i had two GA tix, but when i tried to pay for them, the site crashed and my password quit. by the time i got ticketmaster to straighten that out (after 3 calls, some heated words, and demanding to speak to a supervisor), the tix were gone.

Exact same situation. SUCKS.

I have better luck through regulat TM sales