I really don't understand some ParrotHeads

Hallwood · Post by **Hallwood** » March 18, 2003 9:07 am

who make post after post asking for other ParrotHead's extra tickets at cost. I say this because I was up at 4:00 am the morning tickets went on sale, froze my butt off outside waiting outside for tickets, and got tickets for my friends and I. Now I read about all of these people and their sob story about how they weren't able to draw a good number in their local lottery or how they woke up at 9:55 am to get on-line but weren't able to get tickets due to Ticketmaster's website problems. If you really wanted tickets you would have made a few sacrifices to ensure that you got tickets so don't tell us you haven't missed a show in nine years because if you really wanted to go to this year's show you would have put in a little more of an effort.

If you are wondering, No I don't have any extra tickets and I'm not laying down the ground work to make a later post about trying to sell tickets. I'm not an advocate for ticket brokers who scoop up hundreds of tickets but I just don't understand how someone who didn't make any effort can go on-line and ask someone they don't know who obviously made a huge effort for their extra tickets at cost. Maybe it's just me but I don't understand that.

Karin · Post by **Karin** » March 18, 2003 9:39 am

Hmm. . not sure this even warrants a response - but far be it for me to keep my mouth shut!

Hallwood - my crystal ball must have been broken because I did not forsee the system problems that Ticketmaster had. I have always been able to get tickets on-line - not always great seats. . but seats. In hindsight - yes - I should have taken the day off - driven 3 1/2 hours to Massachusetts, got a hotel room and stood in line with you at 4:30 in the morning so that I could get tickets. Additionally, had I done this, I would have bought 8 tickets so that I could offer these tickets at face value to my friends that do not have the same flexibility with work.

To be honest. . I do not understand - what you do not understand. . or what your point is.

BottleofRum · Post by **BottleofRum** » March 18, 2003 9:41 am

Hallwood wrote: I say this because I was up at 4:00 am the morning tickets went on sale, froze my butt off outside waiting outside for tickets, and got tickets for my friends and I.

First, unless you drove 5 hours to a Ticketmaster outlet you were up to early because as it was clearly posted all you needed to do was arrive 1 hour before they went on sale.

Second, to correct your improper English the above quote should say:
....and got tickets for my friends and me. (Not I)

Third, I think the biggest complaint here is Ticketmaster computers not being able to handle the influx of requests coming in online at 10:00am, something I anticipated which is why I went to a Ticketmaster outlet. Year after year when you always get tickets the same be it online or waiting in-line you stick to what works. Many people have had success online in the past so they went that route, others have had luck waiting in line.

Finally, a point you didn’t make is many many, many people who did the same thing we did (waited in-line at a Ticketmaster outlet) did NOT get tickets. Getting up early and waiting in the cold and taking a chance with the Ticketmaster lottery was far from a sure thing. The place I went to (which was 3 ½ hours from Boston) had 80 people in-line, only the top 15 actually got tickets or 19% of the people in-line. I am fairly certain the closer you got to Boston that number was significantly lower. As far as brokers and scalpers go, I have made my feelings know about that topic in the past.

In closing, I think this person was looking for a reaction and guess what it worked!

CANADIANPARROTHEAD · Post by **CANADIANPARROTHEAD** » March 18, 2003 9:48 am

I agree with Karin, I dont think this post does warrant a response, however Karin is right, there were a lot of problems with ticketmaster this year as was last year, and I dont know what the point of this post is. We are all friends here and if we discuss our ticket buying stories we are just doing that. I dont believe we are lazy people who went to get in line at 9:55 to get tickets.I do believe we are a little smarter than this.
Also, in putting up a post letting our friends know that we didnt get tickets, maybe someone will help out. I had a stranger help out last year whom I never met, now we are friends!
Lets all help one another get to the shows.

CANADIANPARROTHEAD · Post by **CANADIANPARROTHEAD** » March 18, 2003 9:49 am

B of R is funny..............

jbfins · Post by **jbfins** » March 18, 2003 9:59 am

Maybe these parrot heads just feel that Buffett trancends capitalism. Take me for instance, I am completely against another parrot head scalping (ie. charging 3, 4, or even 5X the price) their tickets. I'd rather pay a scalper $300 bucks for Great Woods tickets than pay a fellow parrot head $200. Why? Because there is nothing worse than being taken advantage of by someone who claims to know how wonderful and meaningful a show can be.

As for being compensated for your time and effort, that is completely understandable. If you tell me that you waited in line for five hours after driving all night, I would have no problem giving you something extra, in the form of margarita's, chips, homemade guacamole, jello shots, premium rum, a full afternoons worth of burgers, steak, hot dogs, BB-Q ribs, and crawfish. I'll happily make up the difference between your asking price and the face value in food and booze. Or if you want we could donate the extra money to charity. Heck, I'd even contribute the difference to your kids college fund!

Basically, all I care about is that you personally don't pocket $1,000.00 for your time and effort, because unless you are curing cancer, your time isn't that valuable.

jbfins · Post by **jbfins** » March 18, 2003 9:59 am

Maybe these parrot heads just feel that Buffett trancends capitalism. Take me for instance, I am completely against another parrot head scalping (ie. charging 3, 4, or even 5X the price) their tickets. I'd rather pay a scalper $300 bucks for Great Woods tickets than pay a fellow parrot head $200. Why? Because there is nothing worse than being taken advantage of by someone who claims to know how wonderful and meaningful a show can be.

As for being compensated for your time and effort, that is completely understandable. If you tell me that you waited in line for five hours after driving all night, I would have no problem giving you something extra, in the form of margarita's, chips, homemade guacamole, jello shots, premium rum, a full afternoons worth of burgers, steak, hot dogs, BB-Q ribs, and crawfish. I'll happily make up the difference between your asking price and the face value in food and booze. Or if you want we could donate the extra money to charity. Heck, I'd even contribute the difference to your kids college fund!

Basically, all I care about is that you personally don't pocket $1,000.00 for your time and effort, because unless you are curing cancer, your time isn't that valuable.

Hallwood · Post by **Hallwood** » March 18, 2003 10:53 am

That's just it. Not all Ticketmaster locations have a lottery. You have to do the research to find out which ones are still First Come, First Serve.

Karin, my friend and I did charge our friends face value. I would never make money off of my friends. Doesn't seem right.

BottleofRum, in the first sentence of your reply, 'to' should have been 'too'.

jbfins, I completely disagree with your comment about you would rather pay a broker more money than another Parrothead for a ticket. That only encourages the broker to try to accumulate more tickets next popular concert. If everyone only bought from random people on Ebay or in the parking lot before the shows the broker business would suffer tremendously.

In hindsight, it was probably a big mistake for Ticketmaster/Buffett to have so many of his shows go on sale at the same time. That is what caused the internet problems. They should have staggered the tickets going on sale.

Post by **SMLCHNG** » March 18, 2003 11:10 am

Hallwood wrote: Now I read about all of these people and their sob story about how they weren't able to draw a good number in their local lottery or how they woke up at 9:55 am to get on-line but weren't able to get tickets due to Ticketmaster's website problems. If you really wanted tickets you would have made a few sacrifices to ensure that you got tickets so don't tell us you haven't missed a show in nine years because if you really wanted to go to this year's show you would have put in a little more of an effort.

I don't think I've ever responded to posts like these.. but I had to put in my 2 cents..

I wanted 1 ticket for Camden. I live in Colorado. Most TM outlets here are not open at 8:00 AM. I wasn't allowed to use the website. So my only resort was the phone. "Sacrifice" or "Effort" had nothing to do with it. I was VERY lucky to get my one lawn seat, yes. But not everybody has the same choices or options in trying to obtain tickets.

BottleofRum · Post by **BottleofRum** » March 18, 2003 11:15 am

Hallwood wrote:That's just it. Not all Ticketmaster locations have a lottery. You have to do the research to find out which ones are still First Come, First Serve.
BottleofRum, in the first sentence of your reply, 'to' should have been 'too'.

In both above points you are 100% wrong! All Ticketmaster outlets have a lottery if there are more than 2 people inline. http://www.ticketmaster.com/h/tcenters/va.html#policies

CANADIANPARROTHEAD · Post by **CANADIANPARROTHEAD** » March 18, 2003 11:21 am

Im kinda disappointed that I never got an honorable mention in the response post!

Hallwood · Post by **Hallwood** » March 18, 2003 11:29 am

SMLCHNG, my complaint about people asking for tickets at cost definitely doesn't apply to you. It was meant for people whose Profile Location is in the area of the show they are asking for. Congratulations for being able to score the one ticket you were looking for.

jbfins, read the last word of the Ticketmaster site you posted. It says 'Typically'. Every Ticketmaster is different. Some have their lottery two hours before tickets go on sale, others a half hour, and a select few don't have a lottery. It completely depends on the location, management style, parking lot, etc...

Are you arguing that your sentence of (First, unless you drove 5 hours to a Ticketmaster outlet you were up [b]to [/b]early because as it was clearly posted all you needed to do was arrive 1 hour before they went on sale.) is correct? I hope not.

BottleofRum · Post by **BottleofRum** » March 18, 2003 11:38 am

This guy is a complete tool, he is responding to JBFINS with something I wrote, he has open html tag’s not to mention I am still not sure what his point is as nothing he is writing makes any sense! I am done playing with him.

CTphMike · Post by **CTphMike** » March 18, 2003 11:41 am

I think it is unfair to try and justify the huge mark up ticket brokers charge. Sure, they put in the time and effort to get the tickets but so did I. I didn't get a single ticket to either show and I waited for hours and froze my butt off too. It really burned me to see the obvious scalpers outside afterward talking with each other about who got what. I did plenty of research, showed up with several friends so we had a fair shot in the lottery. It didn't work out because there were large teams of scalpers working the same strategy. You can definitely pick them out of the crowd. As B of R said, there were about 80 people in line at the TM outlet I went to also, and I would say the first fifteen got tickets. The brokers do make it really hard on the rest of us. A lot of real fans put in the time and effort to try for tickets too. It really sucks that a lot of those people then have no choice but to pay a broker who took the time and effort to make sure they shut out some people that actually want to go to the concert. Easy to justify it when you're on the other side of the fence. Maybe you won't be so lucky next year. Good luck to all who are still looking!!

Tiki Bar · Post by **Tiki Bar** » March 18, 2003 11:42 am

Right or wrong, we always try to get the maximum # of tickets. We have taken a 28 person bus, but this year we're upgrading to a 47 seater. I know at least 10 of us try feverishly to get tickets... online, in line, and on the phone. Last year, all but 1 of us were shut out, meaning most of us shelled out pavilion prices for lawn seats, after noble unfruitful efforts. (Mine came from Calif. last year for Alpine.)

If somehow the TM gods let us all through, I'll offer any extras at cost to fellow BN PH's... if no one needs 'em here, I will send emails to nearby PH clubs to see if they need any extra, at cost. I'm not looking for a prophit - I just figure more good people will get in at cost that way.

Are we all shooting ourselves in the foot going for 8? Maybe... but most of us don't even make it far enough to choose a quantity.

ackparrothead · Post by **ackparrothead** » March 18, 2003 11:45 am

Although I am not looking to insight a riot, I will point out that not ALL ticket masters run a lottery system. The outlet where I purchased my tickets is first come first serve. Those who choose to spend the night in line or arrive before sun up are going to get tickets. Even with more than 80 in line (which it has been for the past 4 fours), they have never reverted to a lottery system.

vafins · Post by **vafins** » March 18, 2003 11:50 am

In regards to the comment about being compensated for time. How much longer does it take to buy 8 tickets as opposed to one ticket. Wouldn't you still have to drive 5 hours and wait in line just as long for one ticket. If you're already there and can get good seats and help out other phans why not do it. What if you were the one who was shut out?

I did try to get tickets to Nissan, but due to our kids schedule we had to use our cell phones and were shut out. No big deal, we got to see our son win a gold medal in his wrestling match and you can never replace that moment.

aquaholic · Post by **aquaholic** » March 18, 2003 12:16 pm

"Why does the sun set in the west and why does my heart........you know the line that's coming up!!!^^^^^^^^^^

Hallwood · Post by **Hallwood** » March 18, 2003 12:17 pm

I haven't seen eight as the maximum ticket limit in years. I just assumed the ticket limit for all shows this year was six for lawn.

puckhead · Post by **puckhead** » March 18, 2003 12:26 pm

When I first read this, I wasn't going to respond, but since so many have, I decided to join in.

First, All ticketmaster outlets are suppose to have a lottery if there are 2 or more people in line. Not all ticketmaster outlets do, and if they are cought they can have their license revoked.

Second, a group of 7 of my friends got up and stood in line at 7am for tickets. I also had 2 people at home on the internet. I met a lot of really cool PH's that day (all of which got up early to wait in line). It just so happened that none of us were able to get tickets. Now I would hardly call me lazy, in fact most of friends call me crazy for how much planning I put into getting tickets. It doesn't matter what time you show-up becuase all the people who came late (9:45) got tickets and none of the early (non-lazy) people didn't.

I was lucky enough to have good contacts and I have since picked up tickets for both the Camden and 8/30 MA show.

But Hallwood, you are wrong when you say, "If you really wanted tickets you would have made a few sacrifices to ensure that you got tickets", because I did make some sacrafices and was still shut out when they went on-sale. I am just lucky in that I know the right people.

Oh, Candem and Great Woods here I come....

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I really don't understand some ParrotHeads

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