Well, I can't say I'm exactly happy at this particular moment.
As I begin to compose this, it's 12:50 p.m. Sunday, May 21st 2023.
Instead of not being happy right now I should be jumping in the shower in preparation of leaving for Oakland California's Fox Theater to catch a concert this evening by a band I've never before seen live: Love And Rockets.
But there are some challenges. I'll break it down for you ...
First, I purchased tickets from Ticketmaster back in the early part of March for this show. Decent seats, not cheap, not too expensive, because I jumped at grabbing them the morning they went on sale. I got an e-mail confirmation saying "You Got The Tickets!" for L&R along with an order number and all the particulars on the show. I also accessed my Ticketmaster account and verified the show was on upcoming concert schedule. Things were looking good and proper.
A few days later tickets went on sale for Tears For Fears. Ended up getting tickets for that concert as well and, again, received confirmation I had tickets for same. An e-mail confirmation of that show was on my account.
A couple concerts within a few months of each other. Places to go, performers to see. And I was especially pumped for the L&R show as I've never seen the band live previously.
And then somebody came along and slapped me upside the head and back into reality. I tried accessing my tickets this morning online so I could print them out or at least have them available on my phone; they didn't show up in my account. So I started doing some digging.
I have my verifications. They say I've got tickets for the show. I've got an order number. I've got a date, a time, a location, even my seat numbers. I've got confirmation of payment. I've got a transaction number, got a payment ID number, a number for this, a number for that, a verification over here, a confirmation over there. I got the whole shebang. But I still can't access my tickets and the receipt I have showing the majority of this information states:
"This is not a ticket. This cannot be used for entry."
No QR code to access, no barcode to scan. Nada, nil, zilch. So what to do?
Well, after 45 minutes of fruitless research and another 10 minutes or so speaking with Ticketmaster who couldn't locate my information I discovered it wasn't Ticketmaster after all I was talking to. It was some third party ticket service.
Another venture online with Ticketmaster (verifying it was indeed Ticketmaster I was actually volleying with this time) resulted in a query asking about my account to try and resolve the issue. As noted previously, the problem was the Love And Rockets show wasn't on my account. So I had to shimmy around Ticketmaster's system of e-mail queries to explaining what was going on. The response I got back was that it would be 24 to 48 hours (possibly less) before I got a response. Well, that really isn't going to cut the mustard when the concert starts in 8 hours.
So what to do? Well I had the foresight to purchase insurance on the tickets. But, reading over the rules and regulations of the insurance, my situation isn't exactly covered. Speaking to a live person, however, gave me hope that that doesn't mean I can't file a claim in light of the circumstances.
So ... the question is do I take my chances drive 2 1/2 hours to Oakland and show up the at the theater with all my verifications in tow hoping I can get in? Because with all the rigamarole I've gone through thus far it doesn't look like I'd have much luck on that front. Throw in a 5+ hour round trip, parking and incidentals and that's gonna aggravate me exponentially if I can't step foot in the theater. Or do I just throw up my hands admit to myself I'm not attending the concert this evening and save myself the grief?
Also, do I risk not going to the show and finally getting some kind of response from Ticketmaster to which they very well could reply "Well, you really didn't make an effort to try to get into the show, did you?" And my answer would have to be to agree with that sentiment. But that doesn't discount the information I have backing me up my decision.
When it comes right down to it? I'm going to take my chances, save myself the wear and tear and probably engage in a little contest about getting my money back.
Stay tuned ...
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