My email to Live Nation

[10achik]

Thought this might get a laugh, I was a little pissed off about the "hidden" fees after I bought tickets the other day and after thinking about it all weekend I decided to write an email to live nation to express my unhappiness with their government like tactics. I'm sure I'll get some canned response, but in the off chance it did some good I thought it was worth it, not to mention I felt beter after complaining about it I'll update as I get responses from them, I'm hoping to get a little back and forth with them but who know's? Anyway enjoy...

Dear livenation customer care,

Wow, where to start...So my kids come up to me the other day and say, "Dad, you got to take us to the Nickelback concert, Hinder Poppa Roach and Saving Able are going to be there too!" So I think to myself, that will be a great concert and a great chance for some dad/son bonding time enjoying the music and what not. So I go online to find tickets and much to my surprise they are $28, score! Then while talking to some friends I find out they want to go as well with their kids and so on...so I agree to just pick up all the tickets.

Well as I add them to my cart I see all the other hidden charges nearly double the cost of the ticket, not so much a score anymore. I'm sure you get these emails everyday, but bare with me please.

So the $28 for the ticket, that's an awesome price and am more than happy to pay. Then we get to the $6 parking, which in itself wouldn't be so bad, but $6 per ticket??? So I end up paying $54 for parking when I will only be driving two vehicles (well I won't be driving both, but a friend in one and me in the other) but seriously there are 9 people in two vehicles, why would each person have to pay for parking? Why wouldn't you collect the $6 per vehicle at the entrance and be done with it, this is a rip-off and I can't believe it's not illegal to do this. So are they going to arrest me when I bring my 7 cones to block off the other spaces I won't be using...I mean they are mine, I paid for them. It might be nice to have a wide buffer in the parking lot so we don't get door dinged, maybe we will put on a skateboarding demo out there, the boys do skate, maybe a break dancing expo...but I digress.

Which then brings us to the charity? Charity...really? I give to charity already, many of them actually, but it's my choice who I give to and I am pretty particular about which ones I choose to donate to. There are certain causes I don't wish to contribute to based on many factors, but that's my choice to do so. So I'm paying you money to donate to a charity that I don't even know, and with no choice to even opt out of it. For all I know you could be donating it to the "save the snails fund", I personally don't like snails, slimy little creatures, leaving tracks and what not all over the sidewalk...I wouldn't chose to give my money to that kind of organization, they can all die for all I care.

Which then brings us to the ticket charge, $12.10 per ticket, well holy crap on a stick, what the heck is involved in this nonsense. Why am I charged $12.10 when I just paid $28 for the ticket? I don't understand am I also buying a half ticket, is this a special rate for midgets or something, are they getting in for free because of me. I swear it's like you're being run by the government, got to get me for every nickel and dime you got, a little tax here, a little more there...seriously how about a reach around already?

And I know it's pretty simple, "don't buy the tickets", well that's not an option after your kids are all hyped to go now is it? I would hope you see it from my point of view, I want to go to a concert with my kids and expect to go for $28 and instead it costs me $47.10 per ticket. What should have cost me $252 to take myself and 8 people is now costing me $423.90 and it's ridiculous. I'm not even thinking about the cost of the overpriced food you have at the concession area, I'm guessing we will stop off at McDs on the way in and fill up before arriving since I will have no extra money for the event now.

You have taken a great thing or what should be a great thing and totally soured my view of it with these money grubbing tactics and I think you should be ashamed of this practice. Charge a flat fee for tickets and call it done, all this parking, charity and ticket fee crap is just absurd. Show the customer what it's going to cost up front not at the check out screen when you're already roped into going.

If you are still reading and haven't deleted this yet, I do appreciate you taking the time to go through this. And one last thought, I actually don't mind paying $40, even $45 per ticket if you had listed the cost of the ticket as $40-$45 up front on the front screen as the cost of the ticket. It's this bait and switch mess that has me fired up, if you hadn't bothered to break it down and point out that I'm having to pay for parking, charity and some fee I wouldn't have known the difference and wouldn't have my blood pressure up right now. Seriously, a little honesty up front will go a long way...parking, charity, ticket fees, really???

Thanks for your time,

[jeff91yj80]

that sucks. I wouldn't give them my business, but I understand with the kids, they'd be devastated. Ugh, Not to mention the strip search before you go into the concert so you can be forced to put your home up for a bottle of water, whats the going rate on concert h2o these days? $34.99 per ounce?
Better Business Bureau maybe?
I think you could get some attention with a local news station, they'd probably want an excuse to report on the concert.

[Metaloholic]

Originally Posted by 10achik

Thought this might get a laugh, I was a little pissed off about the "hidden" fees after I bought tickets the other day and after thinking about it all weekend I decided to write an email to live nation to express my unhappiness with their government like tactics. I'm sure I'll get some canned response, but in the off chance it did some good I thought it was worth it, not to mention I felt beter after complaining about it I'll update as I get responses from them, I'm hoping to get a little back and forth with them but who know's? Anyway enjoy...

Does this show happen to be at the 1st midwest bank amphitheater? Someone told me that the extra charges were because the place was going bankrupt. I understand it sucks if you drove with a van full of kids. I went to the Def Leppard concert with my gf and $12 for parking isn't bad at all. I have paid $25+ at the allstate arena. But I see your point.

O and remember even though it is outside and maybe blistering hot or raining (no outside food or drink, no umbrellas, no camera's, you basically bring yourself and sit on the grass.

[MountainMan864]

Or you could have saved your money for some actual good bands. Dont let your kids buy into this mainstream pop-rock crap they call music. 60's-70's FTW!!! But all of the extra fees do suck.

[jbolty]

Live nation sucks. They keep sending out these promo emails with "$25 tickets with no extra fees!!!" but if you click it the link takes you to the main front page of their website and there is no sign of the cheap tickets offer. You have to dig through the whole site to find the offer again.

Last time I went to a concert here there was no way to print your own tickets and the will-call line took an hour and a half because ony two windows out of ten were open.

All ticket companies suck

[chaos22]

Did you have to add on parking to each ticket, or was it already included. I'm thinking you should have only had to add parking to 1 ticket per carload. And if so, 6$ isn't so bad. On a second note, pappa roach has this awful song on the radio about some girl going down on him, and he almost told her he loved her because of it. I hope your kids enjoy singing it out loud with the band.

[mooseknuckle]

I understand. I bought Dave Matthews Tix and they were $40 a piece. For 4 tix, it ended up being $210. I could have bought a 5th ticket with all the fees.

I have no problem with the fees. I really don't. HOWEVER; why not just build them into the cost of the ticket? then people could make a more objective decision. Truth be told, I'd still have bought the DMB tix, but ultimately, for other concerts where I'd be on the fence, it would make the decision easier. I know they always have a "convenience charge" which I'd still like to know what convenience is being provided to me.

I DO think it's ridiculous to charge each ticket a parking charge though. That is flat out wrong and they should just charge you as you enter the parking lot like has been done for the last 100 years....

I just think they should have added all that stuff on from the get-go, and then your child would have come up and said, "Dad, Nickelback is going to be there and the tix are $45; let's go!"....and then you know what you are saying yes to right up front.

[timmyt]

i lol'd at these parts

So I end up paying $54 for parking when I will only be driving two vehicles (well I won't be driving both, but a friend in one and me in the other) but seriously there are 9 people in two vehicles, why would each person have to pay for parking? Why wouldn't you collect the $6 per vehicle at the entrance and be done with it, this is a rip-off and I can't believe it's not illegal to do this. So are they going to arrest me when I bring my 7 cones to block off the other spaces I won't be using...I mean they are mine, I paid for them. It might be nice to have a wide buffer in the parking lot so we don't get door dinged, maybe we will put on a skateboarding demo out there, the boys do skate, maybe a break dancing expo...but I digress.

Which then brings us to the charity? Charity...really? I give to charity already, many of them actually, but it's my choice who I give to and I am pretty particular about which ones I choose to donate to. There are certain causes I don't wish to contribute to based on many factors, but that's my choice to do so. So I'm paying you money to donate to a charity that I don't even know, and with no choice to even opt out of it. For all I know you could be donating it to the "save the snails fund", I personally don't like snails, slimy little creatures, leaving tracks and what not all over the sidewalk...I wouldn't chose to give my money to that kind of organization, they can all die for all I care.

[jccJeep]

Nickelback, really? How fun could hearing the same song over and over again be?

[trailblaze]

they were offering a "special" on those exact tickets last week here... 28 bucks or something... maybe 29.50?? anyway.. it included parking and all fees and you got a free hot dog and 12oz cola...

BUT it was a one day only offer... so the poor schmucks that bought tickets the day before got boned.... and if you missed that special buy your were back to getting boned.

[hillie4life]

This was funny. I especially liked the break dancing expo... if you put a can out during the session you might make some of your money back?

[HooblyGoob]

I can't believe you wanted to go to a Nickelback concert.

[jccJeep]

What the hell is on Joey's head?

[Rollin]

Older Nickelback is great (Im talking the stuff that they never played on the radio) but theyre new stuff has gone soft with ****ing mainstream media and "popular music" stations playing their song's every 4 rotations.

[wTheOnew]

Originally Posted by jeff91yj80

that sucks. I wouldn't give them my business, but I understand with the kids, they'd be devastated. Ugh, Not to mention the strip search before you go into the concert so you can be forced to put your home up for a bottle of water, whats the going rate on concert h2o these days? $34.99 per ounce?
Better Business Bureau maybe?
I think you could get some attention with a local news station, they'd probably want an excuse to report on the concert.

Last time I went to a concert you were aloud to bring bottled water in, just not the caps.

I just bought some CrueFest 2 tickets the other day for me and some friends.
6 Tickets: $96
Fees: $82
All ticket sales companies are straight insane.