TICKETMASTER? MORE LIKE TICKET DISASTER.

Ticketmaster faces lawsuits after crashing the day Taylor Swift tickets went on sale, and other controversies with jacked up prices and bad customer service

Story by Emi Stone

On Nov. 15, tickets for Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour” went on sale on the website “Ticketmaster” which allows users to purchase tickets for concerts. Fans who bought tickets noticed that the process was harder than it usually is, and that the fees were high.

Ticketmaster blamed automated programmed robots that engage in social media apps to prevent people from getting tickets and create high fees on ticket prices.

“I was disappointed in Ticketmaster and Taylor Swift,” freshman Taryn Jones said. “A lot of bots got tickets, and a lot of real Swifties didn’t get tickets. I feel bad for them.”

The fans were put into the queue for tickets at 10 a.m. on a Tuesday morning, which was also during school and prevented some students from being able to focus on their school work. Although tickets were sold, fans said it was glitchy, many bots were already ahead of them and many weren’t able to actually get to the loading screen until about 6:00 p.m.

Additionally, Ticketmaster claimed a number of bots were buying the tickets and reselling them for a higher amount than originally priced, preventing many actual fans from being able to get them. As well as that, Ticketmaster had high fees consisting of $80 for things such as the venue, the artist and increasing production costs.

“We paid $120, but with fees, it’s like $200,” English teacher Sophia Coen said. “It’s disappointing that the fees are that much for really bad seats.”

Online many fans said that they were outraged, and threatened to sue. Many fans felt additional disappointment regarding the fact that Ticketmaster could have fixed this issue.

Overall, the situation was stressful and frustrating to fans in terms of a significant amount of tickets not going to fans, and high fees.

“Buying tickets with your friends to go to a fun event should not cause stress, and it should not cost $1,500 to get your tickets to Taylor Swift,” senior fan Lillian Beightel said. “[Buying tickets] is a really vulnerable thing and it ruins a lot of people’s experience.

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