Looking back at my past few week’s posts, I’ve been relatively positive so I need to adjust that for today.  Sometimes a dead horse needs to be dug up out of its grave and beaten again, reburied, and maybe dug up again later only to be beaten again.  While I never have really expounded in print why Ticketmaster is no friend of mine and hasn’t been for almost two decades, my online experience with their site really leaves something to be desired.

Keep in mind my job is testing web sites – pounding the dog shit out of them until they squeal, running it through every scenario a stupid end-user might do and making sure it’s relatively stable before we release it to a customer.  When enhancements are introduced, you need to run through all your use-case scenarios again.

There is one function on their site that could really use enhancing.  While it is absolutely preferable to order tickets online instead of talking to a braindead representative whose sole purpose is to try to upsell you additional paraphernalia you don’t need, it’s still necessary to call when you’re trying to zero in on a certain section in a venue.  Case in point – I’m taking Ally to her first ever Major League Baseball game and I’m thrilled that the Detroit Tigers are in town so I can take her to see my childhood team.  With it being a Saturday 4PM game against the American League representative from last year’s World Series, combined with northern transplants like me down here, there’s not many seats available two weeks before the game.

While I credit their web site for allowing you the ability to target a general seating area (usually split out by price), the problem is when it gives you a section and/or row you might not want.  Since last week, I’ve been selecting “Best Available” and only getting the upper deck.  Fine.  I didn’t really want to be in the upper deck but on the other hand it’s not worth getting expensive seats when you have a 3-year old who won’t be paying rapt attention to the game like her dad.  The problem is the computer fills up a section before going on to the next, so while it might have you in a section in the upper deck near home plate, being 20 rows up is not something I want.  I want the ability to pick a section and then have the computer find the best available.  I’m more than willing to move down a few sections away from home plate if it means I can move up a few rows.  I’d rather have 5^th row upper deck seats by third base than 21^st row upper deck seats behind home plate.  You’re given the option of releasing those seats and selecting another but unless a lot of people are ordering at the same time, there’s a good chance the website will return the same set of seats on your next query.

When you’re redirected from a team site to Ticketmaster for that event, it’s next to impossible to find a phone number to talk to a live person.  In fact, you have to open another browser or tab, find the Site Map, and then select your state from a drop down list in order to find the local number.  Yes, I found it after poking around the site, but what about the majority of people who aren’t web savvy and don’t know how to find such things?  They’re stuck unless they feel like going to a place that sells tickets in person.

Anyway, the end of this story had Yours Truly being his usual stubborn self and refusing to talk to a live person and then trying to explain to that person what I was trying to do.  Instead, over the course of 3 days, I randomly kept on selecting the Search Again function until I hit the jackpot.  Yesterday they released a section in left field behind the front section and I snagged front row seats for that area.  Not only are they lower deck seats, which I wanted in the first place, they’re under the upper deck so we don’t have to worry about rain delays and/or the chance of the Pale Blue Scot getting tan in the early evening hours.

One more rant about ticketmaster.com - I’ve noticed each time that I make an order through their site, the email address I’ve designated for that account gets bombed with spam from them.  I’ll then select “Unsubscribe me from these emails” each time, the spam stops but starts back up again with each new order.  Obviously this isn’t my main email address but I don’t like this practice of automatically editing my existing email address preferences for that account each time I order through them.  If I really wanted to know about every goddamned event coming to metro Atlanta, I’d ask for it.

After further review, dealing with ticketmaster.com’s small hassles still beats the heck out of the olden days of yore when one would have to dial the local number hundreds of times to try to talk to a rep before an event sold out.  Do I think their service is worth an $8-$10 surcharge per ticket?  Hell no, but unfortunately they’re a necessary evil if you want to see an event and not go to that event’s actual box office.  It’s really a matter of taste.  Do I want to eat the steaming bowl of shit (talking to a phone rep) or the plate full of maggots (trying to get what you want from their website)?  Either way, you’re left with a nasty taste in your mouth and a Stomach Full of Unsatisfaction and your wallet's a heckuva lot lighter.