$200 tickets are going to be wasted

February 29, 2012 1:57 PM

Help me figure out how to handle this problem with TicketMaster.

My mom is visiting and bought tickets for herself and my daughter to see Cirque du Soleil tonight. We just got a call from my daughter's school: she's sick. The time between the ticket purchase and me initiating contact with TicketMaster was about 20 minutes.

I chatted with TicketMaster and asked for a refund/exchange (she's probably going to feel fine tomorrow, but she's not going anywhere tonight) and they said there's nothing they can do. They said that someone else can pick up the tickets only if they have the same last name. We can't find anyone with the same last name (I'm going to be taking a midterm tonight or else I'd handle this myself), so I think I'm going to just give my mom's ID and credit card to a friend so she can go with her kid.

What's the likelihood that the venue is going to deny them the tickets because her face doesn't match the face on the ID? The tickets were about $200, and I don't want my mom to have just thrown her money away.

posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints to Media & Arts (7 answers total)

Best answer: Have you tried contacting the venue? TicketMaster probably isn't going to budge, but you may get the box office to let you transfer ownership of them.
posted by griphus at 2:00 PM on February 29, 2012

Response by poster: I haven't tried that. What's the likelihood of the venue saying no and THEN being on the lookout for this particular pair of tickets? I don't want to tip them off if that's a possibility.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 2:02 PM on February 29, 2012

Your mother could always go down there with them to pick up at the will-call, then hand them off to the friend.
posted by Pomo at 2:02 PM on February 29, 2012

What's the likelihood of the venue saying no and THEN being on the lookout for this particular pair of tickets?

I doubt there's any likelihood but if you're concerned, you can just ask in the general before giving them any concrete info.
posted by griphus at 2:07 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Pomo, unfortunately that won't work, because my mom is going to be at home with my daughter, who's not really able to ride in a car right now. My wife is out of town.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 2:07 PM on February 29, 2012

Call the venue itself and say you gave the wrong name to Ticketmaster.
posted by acidic at 2:17 PM on February 29, 2012

Response by poster: Alright, I called the venue per griphus's advice (can't believe I didn't think of doing that), and they said my mom needs to call TicketMaster and request a name change on will call. Easy enough, right?

TicketMaster refused to do that because that person's last name is different than my mom's. Grrr. However, they did take the e-mail address of that person, and they said they'll e-mail the tickets to them. They can print them out and they won't need to bother with my mom's credit card or ID.

Thanks all. Disaster averted.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 2:28 PM on February 29, 2012