Stephanie Duncan AKA ninelyvz (Al team #1022)
ninelyvz wrote:Countdown: 6 days until the concert! (8/12/10 - Phoenix)
Ticket status: Delayed!!!
Today's email to PAID, the company that is "managing" Al's VIP package sales:
I just spoke on the phone with Courtney there in Customer Service in reference to my VIP order. She indicated that you are the acting supervisor while your supervisor is out of the office. What a rotten time for your supervisor to be on vacation.
I want to let everyone know at PAID (and with Al's management team) that this has been a far from ideal VIP transaction. It is very disappointing that the "ticketing company" can be allowed to be responsible for holding up the processing of a $256 dollar VIP order that was placed and charged 30 days ago when the box office was able to sell tickets successfully to the general public just 5 days after I placed this VIP order. It doesn't seem much like VIP treatment.
At this time, I'm considering purchasing my own tickets directly from the venue, but I'm sure that PAID would only laugh if I were to request a refund for the full cost of any tickets purchased directly from the venue to replace the tickets delayed by the "ticketing company". (Please correct me if I'm wrong about that thought.) The "ticketing company" should be responsible for PAID's lost revenue, and I feel that I should be entitled to a refund of all charges for tickets that I would purchase to replace those not processed as ordered through PAID.
I looked at many available seats yesterday, and I'm pretty sure that I can get at minimum a couple of second row seats, since the box office allows you to choose your own seats and hasn't restricted sales to specific sections. I noticed that ticket sales to date have been concentrated to the first three rows of just a couple of sections, and I'm guessing that a lot of those seats are meant for VIP ticket holders. This can only mean that I would have a better chance of ending up with seats closer to the rotating stage if I purchased my tickets from the box office. It looks as if PAID bought the first three rows in just a couple of sections rather than making sure that Al's fans received the best possible seats by purchasing EVERY first row seat in EVERY section that is at the venue prior to the tickets going on sale to the general public. They obviously didn't do this if someone I know was able to buy front row seats on August 12th at the box office. It is wonderful that fans are able to get front row seats without going through PAID, but it is terrible customer service for the fans, who spent more than they normally would have spent only in an effort to give a friend something special for their birthday, if their VIP tickets are not also in the front row. (PAID should have reserved ALL of the front row seats until the date the venue's box office was allowed to start selling them, and then if ALL of the front row seats had not been bought through the VIP presales it would have been reasonable to release those back to the box office so that other, more sensible, fans could buy the remaining front seats. If I end up with anything less than front row seats from PAID, I will know that this was not the case.)
Courtney explained the following to me as it relates to my VIP order; if any portion of this is incorrect please correct me.
1) The VIP tickets that were supposed to be received by mail will now have to be picked up from the Will Call window at the venue. (It's extremely inconvenient to have to wait in line for tickets that should have been in my hand before the concert, and it gives us no advance notice of WHERE our seats will be located. We should be given enough time to make sure that we have the best tickets possible by being able to compare the VIP tickets received to what would still be available at the venue with more than just a couple of hours to decide on making a new purchase.)
2) The remaining items sold as part of the VIP packages are being mailed today without any type of express delivery even though the order has been delayed and the concert is less than a week away. (She originally said that the VIP items would be passed out the venue, but I expressed concern at this idea, so she checked with someone else there. She then came back with the alternate, "It's in the mail." reply.)
3) At some future undetermined date, fans that placed VIP orders will receive an email regarding this delayed shipping issue and the changes to the terms of the packages as sold. (We should have been notified of the "delay" by now and be compensated for receiving something less than what was ordered.)
4) No refunds or adjustments will be given to customers out of consideration for the inadequate customer service. (No matter who is ultimately responsible for the delay and failure to provide the VIP packages as ordered, since PAID is handling the transactions, they should give fans some sort of compensation. PAID can then take up the issue of lost revenue with the "ticketing company" and get their money back from them.)
Since Courtney is unable to provide me with the "ticketing company's" contact information, I would like these comments to be passed along to them and to everyone responsible for contracting PAID's services on the behalf of Weird Al. Not that anyone seems to care about the way fans of Weird Al are treated as long as the only person losing money and time are the band's fans.
Leanne, if there is ANYTHING that you can do to improve this undesirable situation, I would greatly appreciate it. It would shed a bit of redeeming light on PAID if they displayed some willingness to be a company that you could trust to do business with again in the future.
Sincerely,
Stephanie Duncan
Does anyone have any suggestions about who else I can contact about this? I'm going to see if there are any other threads reporting similar problems with PAID's services.
See ya in CA!
