With the recent release of “GUTS ” by Olivia Rodrigo and Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour, there are plenty of concerts that millions of fans are lining up to see. To get these tickets, fans have to use Ticketmaster. However, this widely used site has been in a few controversies. In the winter of 2022, there was a huge demand for Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour tickets, with around 3.5 million fans in the United States registering for Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan presale program. But sadly, within just an hour of the program being available, it crashed and left thousands of people stuck in a frozen queue. Ticketmaster claimed the crash was due to heavy “site traffic.”
Although nearly 54,000 tickets were sold per show, this presale crash completely mixed up the system, and Ticketmaster announced that they wouldn’t be opening general sales to the public because there “weren’t enough tickets to meet demand.” Many users complained about poor customer service, due to the fact that they had been anticipating these tickets for quite some time.While Ticketmaster did release an apology for a lack of inventory, this still didn’t make up for the many fans that they had left devastated over this missed opportunity.
In more recent events, while trying to get tickets to a concert in Olivia Rodrigo’s GUTS world tour, an Oak Grove High School student, Ella Robles ’26, lost $1,000. Robles had been an Olivia Rodrigo fan ever since her debut album “SOUR” was released. So, when Rodrigo had announced that she would be going on tour for her sophomore album “GUTS,” Robles wanted to get tickets for her and her three friends. However, when trying to get her tickets, Ticketmaster glitched. Robles stated, “I was trying to get four tickets, so I selected four for $600, but I ended up with only one ticket. I don’t know if the website glitched, because I did select four, but I only had one for $600.” Robles was shocked, so of course she tried calling Ticketmaster to see if she could get a refund.
On top of losing $600, when Robles tried calling the Ticketmaster number, it turned out to be a scam number. “I looked up Ticketmaster number, I called the first one that came up, and I ended up getting scammed for another $400 trying to get new tickets.” What is really surprising about this situation is that it really shows how poor the customer service is for Ticketmaster. Not only did their website glitch and give Robles one ticket instead of four, but on top of that, they don’t have a user friendly and accessible way to contact them if there is an issue.
Scammers have been a widely spread issue across the globe for years now, and it has only gotten worse with the advancement of technology. Every day, dozens of people receive scam calls or emails, as well as being tricked into clicking on scam websites. The effect that scams have on innocent people increases vulnerability, and puts people at a disadvantage to their safety and security. Furthermore, Robles mentioned, “Scammers just want money and they’re greedy, and they don’t care how morally wrong or unethical it is. They just do it.” Scammers in the United States are one of our top problems, but we do have to think about how they might need money to feed themselves and their families, likely because they are trying to survive in an economic inflation. So, we can feel empathy for them, but that doesn’t make what they are doing right.
Ticketmaster is just one of many sites that seem trustworthy and are used by millions to see their favorite artists, but can result in huge losses. Be wary of Ticketmaster and always have a backup plan when buying tickets to your next show. “Don’t purchase something unless you are 100 percent sure that they are legitimate, that’s what I learned from this whole process.” Robles had to pay the price for Ticketmaster’s faults, so next time you’re looking forward to your next concert by your favorite artist, be prepared.
