Sure, we all hate Ticketmaster. But why? My favorite reason: even when I worked for one of their subsidiaries whose name I won't mention, I couldn't get better than lawn seats for Radiohead. And they still charged me convenience fees.Speaking of convenience fees, there are about two dozen Kelly Clarkson fans who won't be getting their's back. Anyone who bought tickets for her tragically cancelled summer concert series found out Ticketmaster doesn't refund the $3.75 order processing fee, UPS or Ticketfast (print at home) fees.
The UPS charge makes sense enough, if the ticket has already been sent. It's not TM's fault Kelly Clarkson isn't as much a draw as she thought, after all. The Ticketfast fee: well, this is the biggest scam around, right up there with ATM fees. You're saving TM and the venue from the hassle of printing out tickets, stuffing them, and mailing them, hopefully, to the right address. For this, you get charged $2.50 for the privilege of using your own ink to print out the tickets at home.
Hypebot details the refund situation and goes on to surmise that LiveNation, whose contract expires with Ticketmaster next year, will save the nation on account of how they've offered tickets without convenience fees. I'm sure LiveNation (born: ClearChannel, the company responsible for the dullness of modern radio) will save us all, but until then go support your local club and just buy the tickets at the box office window, without the fees.
Don't they have any competitors? Who else is there?