Ticketmaster ticket scam scuppered

Nothing pisses me off more than trying to buy tickets for a concert and finding the ticket office tries to charge me for the privelege of buying a ticket.

Worse still are parasites Ticketmaster who levy a charge for selling tickets.

Worst still is that Ticketmaster pimp for scum of the earth ticket touts.

Well done therefore String Cheese Incident who have scuppered the Ticketmaster ticket scam.

• A Band Battles Ticketmaster on Sales Fees

In what can be seen as a novel form of crowd sourcing and community supported music, fifty fans and friends of the band String Cheese Incident took $20,000 in cash to the Greek Theater in Los Angeles. The cash had been advanced by the band. With the cash they bought tickets, eight tickets each at $49.95. Then they took the tickets to the band who sold them through their website at $49.95 each, thus bypassing Ticketmaster and their markup.

I had not heard of String Cheese Incident, let alone heard them. For all I know they may be crap musically, but they certainly have integrity. We need more bands to follow their example.

It is not only the major record labels who are screwing bands and their fans. It is is also parasites like Ticketmaster and the ticket touts they pimp for.

Now all we need is String Cheese Incident to put their albums on bandcamp.

On-line tickets for British Museum exhibition

A wedding present for Margaret of Anjou and Henry VI

The exploits of Alexander the Great

It should be easy enough, ordering tickets on-line for an exhibition at the British Museum. That is what on-line is all about?

Right!

Wrong, very wrong! At least not if you wish to order tickets for the British Museum.

It should be easy enough. Select what you want, type in card details and tickets are paid for and in the post or there to collect.

Oh no. Before you can get that far you have to register personal details with the British Museum.

Then select a password. A very specific password. It has to be alphanumeric, including upper and lower case letters.

Then you have to type in a set of random characters that you can barely see, let alone read. Get anything wrong, you have to start again, including typing in the barely legible characters.

Why?

It does not say. Do they think we are going to run off with a few manuscripts or maybe do a runner with a mummy tucked under each arm?

Once you have done this, you then have to verify what has been e-mailed. You do not have to but it is advisable as otherwise you have to go through this entire procedure all over again next time you try to order tickets for an exhibition.

Then you enter card details.

Then how you wish the tickets to be delivered. A pull down menu, default e-mail. The default is the only option! Why the pull down menu if no other choice?

What an I supposed to do, drag along my laptop? Maybe will put on a usb memory stick!

All for a concert with The Sixteen.

One hell of a load of hassle.

It took me an hour or more on a laptop. I’d hate to try on a mobile phone. Do not even try. A friend did the previous day. After trying all afternoon and evening she gave up. It was not she who was at fault, it was an appallingly designed website. Had I not said I would try, I too would have given up. Had it been simply for an exhibition, I would not have bothered.

To add insult to injury British Museum had the gall to ask for a donation!

Autumn 2011, I went to the Sistine Tapestries at the Victoria and Albert. I never had this trouble. The tickets were there for me to collect.

I am always baffled why people think it is easier to buy on-line as it has never been my experience. I find it is far easier to pop in a shop. You can see and handle what you are buying and it is there in your hand to take away.

I wished to buy PaintShop Pro X4. I tried Amazon. There is also PaintShop Pro X4 Ultimate. No explanation the difference. I have never purchased from Amazon. But I am registered. It goes without saying I know not my password. Never mind, click lost password and a new password gets e-mailed to me.

Oh no, that would be far too easy. Type in illegible characters and type in last four digits of credit card. But I have never purchased anything from Amazon!

I went to PC World. Picked up off the shelf what I wanted. Exactly same price as Amazon.

Tickets for British Museum are for early music group The Sixteen, and includes free entry to Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination.

The concert is unseated! To unseat someone is to remove from office. Do they mean we stand? Do they mean seats not allocated? If so, why not say so?