WATCH: A Ticketmaster error has a woman ticked off after they cancelled her tickets for an upcoming Taylor Swift concert.
TORONTO – A Thornhill, Ont. woman is upset with Ticketmaster after an error cost her front row tickets to an upcoming Taylor Swift concert.
Barbara Altberg and her 16-year-old daughter Carly bought two pairs of presale tickets for the October, 2015 shows of Swift’s at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.
“She was really happy with them,” said Altberg of her daughter’s reaction.”She was like, we have perfect tickets! we have perfect tickets!”
But six days later, Altberg got an email from Ticketmaster explaining her order for one of the shows was cancelled because it exceeded the maximum number of tickets per customer. Carly and her friend Ashley were devastated and Altberg was left fuming.
“She was crying really hard. I said let me figure something out, let me call Ticketmaster, let me get in touch with them,” said Altberg.
An employee at Ticketmaster told her that the cancellation was a mistake since she and her daughter only purchased two tickets per show. The company offered to waive the service charge for Altberg’s next purchase, but didn’t offer to return the tickets that were cancelled in error.
‘The whole thing is disgusting that you have seats in your hand and they’re cancelled,” said Altberg.”And they’re like, well there’s nothing we can do about it.”
A spokesperson for Ticketmaster said in an email they would look into what happened.
- ‘Pretty scary’: Ill Ontario man stranded in Costa Rica finally recovering in Canada
- S&P/TSX composite down, U.S. markets mixed ahead of tech earnings and economic data
- 1 deal falls through but Toronto FC completes another in Derrick Etienne Jr. trade
- Big warm-up to follow blast of cold air in southern Ontario
Altberg and her daughter bought another pair of tickets for the second show which she says aren’t as good as the original tickets. Instead of sitting near the front centre, her daughter is now sitting at the very side.
Marketing expert Tony Chapman said there have been instances where customers have been frustrated with Ticketmaster. In this case, he says the company should give Altberg and her daughter tickets similar to the ones that were cancelled.
“Ticketmaster has one move here,” said Chapman. “They have to make good with the fan and the customer. Even if it costs them money to go on the black market and buy the tickets it doesn’t matter, its what’s right.”
Similar front row seats are available on Ticketmaster’s website but they are Platinum seats which cost hundreds of dollars more than the 150-dollars Altberg originally paid. Chapman says often times Ticketmaster only gets 10-percent of the concert venue’s tickets, the rest go to other organizations and fan clubs.
Comments