Sticking it to Big Tickettaker

February 25, 2011 4:53 PM

I can't make a concert, and I'd like to sell or even give away the tickets. Here's the problem: the venue claims that tickets must be picked up night of, that they can't be transferred, and that one must present ID and the credit card used to buy the tickets when picking them up. The tickets aren't Ticketmaster or a similar service. Am I screwed?

The event is this one (linked so as to protect the identity of performer and venue in question). Here's what's odd: StubHub seems to have tickets for other events at this venue. I can't imagine for the life of me how these other people got them.

Any good ideas to get around this quandry?

posted by l33tpolicywonk to work & money (6 answers total)

Did you actually talk to someone at the venue or was that info posted on their site? If you haven't done so I'd suggest that you call the venue and talk to someone who can give you specific instructions on what to do. I'm sure they'd be willing to work something out with you.

I was in the exact situation once and I was told (after calling the venue) to give the purchaser a photocopy of my ID and a signed letter (in my case, it was a scan of a letter) verifying that someone else was picking up my tickets.
posted by blithecatpie at 5:07 PM on February 25, 2011

Did you read this on their website, or did you actually call them and speak to a person? When faced with an identical issue, I've usually gotten a "no problem" reply on the other end regardless of official policy.
posted by halogen at 5:14 PM on February 25, 2011

I called a few days ago and got "No refunds and no transfers." I was too timid to force the issue, but I'm not against trying again. What's the best course of action there?
posted by l33tpolicywonk at 5:16 PM on February 25, 2011

I've picked up tickets under policies like this for concerts I was going to on several occasions using just my credit card (no photo ID necessary). If you can give the tickets to someone whom you trust with your credit card and who could pass as having your name, they could probably pick the tickets up.
posted by supramarginal at 6:06 PM on February 25, 2011

In my experience, this is rarely enforced to the letter. I had this problem once where the tickets were a gift, but they insisted that the buyer would need to be present. We brought a photo copy of the requested documents (credit card / matching photo ID) and I'm pretty sure they didn't even ask for them. But we were assured by the ticket issuer (it was was whoever manages tickets for the 930 club, which might the venue in question here) that photocopies would be sufficient. So if you can offload the tickets on someone you trust with a photocopy of your ID + credit card, that will probably work.

In our case, our "receipt" was totally fakeable. We'd also prepared a fake version of the receipt with our names on it figuring it might let us convince the person at the will call window that there was some glitch in the system and the tickets should have been in our name anyway. It never came to that, though.

Good luck!
posted by heresiarch at 6:43 PM on February 25, 2011

Resolution: Called back this morning, and they said they can cancel the ticket. Maybe I was more sympathetic the second time around. The copy of ID rule is a good one, and I'll probably send them with one just in case. Thanks AskMe!
posted by l33tpolicywonk at 6:40 AM on February 26, 2011