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VIP is bunk.


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I fully understand why some fans especially fans who have not seen the band before or fans who have seen them a couple of times would pay the money. For me however, I have too many responsibilities to fork up 300 bucks for a ticket in the first 15 rows and not even know where the seat is. How can you charge that kind of money for something and not tell the buyer what they even bought? Its ridiculous.

Bridgeport will go onsale Friday and I will get what I get and live with it.

I miss the old days of putting in the effort and getting what you want.

I slept on a sidewalk in December in Hartford CT. in 1981 in 17 degree weather and got my tickets for Moving Pictures tour, and it was awesome!

Tell buyers where the seats are and I have little problem with it. The way they are doing this is pure crap.

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But as you said, it is not crap for those who have not had the experience before. Furthermore it does not seem like crap for those selling them cos they selling like hot-cakes.

 

Life goes on...enjoy the show.

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QUOTE (drgrendel @ May 1 2012, 11:48 AM)
But as you said, it is not crap for those who have not had the experience before. Furthermore it does not seem like crap for those selling them cos they selling like hot-cakes.

Life goes on...enjoy the show.

Oh leave me alone, I just needed to start a thread. tongue.gif

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I do agree with many of your points.

I hate the fact that the only way to buy a package is to do it blindly and trust they will issue seats based on the time of your order.

 

That being said, the more I think about it the less offensive it becomes.

 

 

Say the median price of a regular floor ticket is $125+fees .. call it roughly $140 after fees.

 

 

Now figure the median price of the VIP package is $300 flat. (no fees, thankfully).

 

 

The "value added" pieces in reality eat a good chunk of out that $160 difference. I would most likely buy a t-shirt for $35 at the show and a program for $25. Theres $60 right off the top. The rest of the stuff? VIP Lanyard? well, might be cool I guess... commerative ticket? might be nice. Guitar picks? meh.... oh.. and a poster which you can tag $15 to.

 

So lets call the "value add" $80.

 

You are now looking at paying a premium of $80 for a guaranteed seat in the first 15 rows... and if you do it right when they go on sale you *SHOULD* (in theory) be in the first 3 rows.

 

 

We'll see in September if VIPNation earns repeat business... but honestly, $80 for that upgrade might not be such a bad idea.

 

*shrugs*

 

 

I hate the whole idea of buying blind (like I said) but now that I've had a week to mull it all over I'm considering doing it for one of my 3 shows on this tour.

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QUOTE (Snaked @ May 1 2012, 10:08 AM)
You are now looking at paying a premium of $80 for a guaranteed seat in the first 15 rows...

Exactly. The value add that people are ignoring is that guarantee. There are a finite number of seats on the floor. Some of them are VIP seats, some are fan club presale seats, some are Citi seats, some are platinum whatevers, and some are "other" (radio station contests, things like that). Each ticket type or vendor has a certain number of tickets to sell.

 

With NO other kind of ticket are you guaranteed any specific seat in any row - or that you'll even get a ticket at all. People hammered away at the fan club presales and couldn't get floor. People have tried Citi and been unhappy with their luck. But nobody that has bought a VIP package will be further back than row 15. You might not know the exact seat, but you know you're in that primo first section somewhere. It's guaranteed. That is what you're plunking down +$80 for.

 

I agree it would be better if you could choose your VIP seats. I'm not arguing that... but there are some people 'round here that are acting like these companies are stabbing their mothers and impugning their sister's honor. It's not *that* bad.

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QUOTE (danielmclark @ May 1 2012, 11:23 AM)
QUOTE (Snaked @ May 1 2012, 10:08 AM)
You are now looking at paying a premium of $80 for a guaranteed seat in the first 15 rows...

Exactly. The value add that people are ignoring is that guarantee. There are a finite number of seats on the floor. Some of them are VIP seats, some are fan club presale seats, some are Citi seats, some are platinum whatevers, and some are "other" (radio station contests, things like that). Each ticket type or vendor has a certain number of tickets to sell.

 

With NO other kind of ticket are you guaranteed any specific seat in any row - or that you'll even get a ticket at all. People hammered away at the fan club presales and couldn't get floor. People have tried Citi and been unhappy with their luck. But nobody that has bought a VIP package will be further back than row 15. You might not know the exact seat, but you know you're in that primo first section somewhere. It's guaranteed. That is what you're plunking down +$80 for.

 

I agree it would be better if you could choose your VIP seats. I'm not arguing that... but there are some people 'round here that are acting like these companies are stabbing their mothers and impugning their sister's honor. It's not *that* bad.

You haven't heard what VIPNation is saying about your sister obviously.

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QUOTE (danielmclark @ May 1 2012, 12:23 PM)
QUOTE (Snaked @ May 1 2012, 10:08 AM)
You are now looking at paying a premium of $80 for a guaranteed seat in the first 15 rows...

Exactly. The value add that people are ignoring is that guarantee. There are a finite number of seats on the floor. Some of them are VIP seats, some are fan club presale seats, some are Citi seats, some are platinum whatevers, and some are "other" (radio station contests, things like that). Each ticket type or vendor has a certain number of tickets to sell.

 

With NO other kind of ticket are you guaranteed any specific seat in any row - or that you'll even get a ticket at all. People hammered away at the fan club presales and couldn't get floor. People have tried Citi and been unhappy with their luck. But nobody that has bought a VIP package will be further back than row 15. You might not know the exact seat, but you know you're in that primo first section somewhere. It's guaranteed. That is what you're plunking down +$80 for.

 

I agree it would be better if you could choose your VIP seats. I'm not arguing that... but there are some people 'round here that are acting like these companies are stabbing their mothers and impugning their sister's honor. It's not *that* bad.

Yup - well stated!

 

2.gif

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QUOTE (Merely Space @ May 1 2012, 10:25 AM)
QUOTE (danielmclark @ May 1 2012, 11:23 AM)
QUOTE (Snaked @ May 1 2012, 10:08 AM)
You are now looking at paying a premium of $80 for a guaranteed seat in the first 15 rows...

Exactly. The value add that people are ignoring is that guarantee. There are a finite number of seats on the floor. Some of them are VIP seats, some are fan club presale seats, some are Citi seats, some are platinum whatevers, and some are "other" (radio station contests, things like that). Each ticket type or vendor has a certain number of tickets to sell.

 

With NO other kind of ticket are you guaranteed any specific seat in any row - or that you'll even get a ticket at all. People hammered away at the fan club presales and couldn't get floor. People have tried Citi and been unhappy with their luck. But nobody that has bought a VIP package will be further back than row 15. You might not know the exact seat, but you know you're in that primo first section somewhere. It's guaranteed. That is what you're plunking down +$80 for.

 

I agree it would be better if you could choose your VIP seats. I'm not arguing that... but there are some people 'round here that are acting like these companies are stabbing their mothers and impugning their sister's honor. It's not *that* bad.

You haven't heard what VIPNation is saying about your sister obviously.

z7shysterical.gif z7shysterical.gif z7shysterical.gif

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For me, I will be buying a ticket that will cost me about 110.00 dollars. That's the end of it. I don't buy any merchandise. If I forked up 300 bucks and got front row, I would be pumped up. If I got 15th row, I would feel ripped off. Plain and simple. That's just how I feel.

Tell me what I'm getting before I make the decission to buy a ticket for 300 bucks. Is that so unreasonable?

I don't think it is.

Edited by Tick
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QUOTE (Tick @ May 1 2012, 10:44 AM)
For me, I will be buying a ticket that will cost me about 110.00 dollars. That's the end of it. I don't buy any merchandise. If I forked up 300 bucks and got front row, I would be pumped up. If I got 15th row, I would feel ripped off. Plain and simple. That's just how I feel.
Tell me what I'm getting before I make the decission to buy a ticket for 300 bucks. Is that so unreasonable?
I don't think it is.

They *are* telling you. You're getting a seat in rows 1-15. That's exactly what you will get. You're not going to arrive at the venue only to discover that you're in the nosebleeds or sitting behind the stage.

 

If you don't like not knowing the exact seat, if you think there's a $200 difference between row 1 and row 15 (even though they're all priced the same), then you shouldn't buy the VIP package. Simple. And that's what you're doing. So the question then has to be... what are you complaining about, exactly? You said you don't want the merch. You said you'll get tickets anyway - and with good luck in a presale you'll get within the first 15 (as I did - no VIP for me, either).

 

It's entirely possible to get in the first 15 without the guarantee provided by the VIP package, so... what's the problem here? (And I don't mean just you, tick, I mean everyone who is so up in arms over this). The more I think about it, the more reasonable it becomes. If VIP was the *only* way to get floor tickets, I'd feel differently. But there are more than enough ways for fans to get great floor seats without doing VIP.

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No way do i spend $350 to have a seat in the 12th or so row . Sure, you might get the first row and that is how they get you. First row for that price ? Sure , maybe even the first 3 rows but not anything else . The only way they will stop is if people stop buying them and i don't see Everyone doing that
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I hate how they're handling the new VIP packages too. Who the hell thought this was a good idea? They must enjoy screwing fans. They already gouge us with a $10+ "service charge" and now this?! From a customer service point of view, it is a terrible idea.

 

I'd pay $300 for seats in the first 5 rows, but 15? NO!

 

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QUOTE (Tick @ May 1 2012, 11:44 AM)
For me, I will be buying a ticket that will cost me about 110.00 dollars. That's the end of it. I don't buy any merchandise. If I forked up 300 bucks and got front row, I would be pumped up. If I got 15th row, I would feel ripped off. Plain and simple. That's just how I feel.
Tell me what I'm getting before I make the decission to buy a ticket for 300 bucks. Is that so unreasonable?
I don't think it is.

No, it's not.

 

The real tale of the tape will be, where will the folks who bought VIP in the first minutes of the sale be sitting. We won't know until the tour starts and they check in. Then we'll see if this was legit and it actually ran as advertised, or if the computer was programmed by "Peggy" and the 15th row got filled first.

 

Not knowing is bullshit.

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OK, I suppose I can come out of the closet and admit that I justified 2 VIP tickets for Manchester ($275 each.) Please, hear me out - I totally agree that it is quite shitty of VIPnation to make it blind seating (of course I would prefer differently!) and having done a VIP on the TM tour I know the merch is so/so (I would buy the tourbook anyway, etc.) However, I live in Florida and my buddy and I wanted to go to opening night. So, we are flying up and we want pretty good seats. I tried the presale for a short while and absolutely nothing decent came up - zilch on the floor. Hence, knowing that option B for good seats is StubHub and having watched prices on StubHub for other similar shows, I knew I'd be dropping a premium to SH for essentially the same thing (minus the goodies.) I heard front row on SH for this show is at $450. One other factor is that this particular show is an arena - the side would not be optimum, but not nearly as bad as sides in amphitheaters (which tend to wrap around.)

 

Are there better deals out there? Of course, there always are. In fact, one painfully fell into my lap the day after I bought the VIPs. But there's no way I could have known and I don't really have the time or patience to go hunting for tix. So that's it - for me, it was either settle for crap seats (would not since we're traveling for the show!) or pay a premium (similar to more) to SH for essentially the same seats. In that case, rolling the dice on the first 15 rows made better sense to me.

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I think it's shitty too. Some people were pulling up row 16 on the regular presale. It would suck to pay for VIP, get there, and find out you're almost as far back as someone who paid considerably less. That's me though.....if you've got the money, do your thing, moneybag$.
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How many people who are buying VIP would really be happy with row 15, when you can shake hands with someone behind you bought their ticket for a third of that price? But that's the brilliance (or cynicism) of the marketing plan-- these packages are selling out because people are buying the *chance* of sitting in the first three rows, especially if they got their order in at 12:01, right? But we have no idea how many of the really close seats they have to sell compared to those in rows 12-15. And there's no regulator looking over their shoulder to make sure the system is run fairly. It will be interesting to see what actually happens. There will have to be success stories, but my guess is that for most people, the wanting will be a lot better than the having.

 

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For me, knowing I have a decent ticket in hand is better than gambling and screwing around trying to get the best ticket. Bird in the hand thing...even if the bird is number 1-15. Know what I mean Vern?
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You make the big assumption that you can land those seats for face value. I tried over the course of a few hours and absolutely nothing on the floor came up. Probably ran 60-70 searches from two different computers... the writing was on the wall: StubHub or VIP. If you don't get lucky with the presale draws and demand decent seats, the dough is going to be spent either way.

 

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What VIP is esentially doing is saying...

 

 

"Damn, scalpers make a lot of money. Why don't we just suck up all the good seats upfront so the average joe can't get a good seat. Then we will charge scalper prices and make tons extra for the top seats unableing the buyer to be able to get tops seats without paying scalper money. The diehard fans will just be happy to get good seats, even if we don't tell them where there seats are. 1st row, 15th row, whatever. If they want good seats they'll pay."

 

That my friends is a crock of shit. atickhum.gif

Edited by Tick
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QUOTE (Tick @ May 1 2012, 11:41 AM)
I fully understand why some fans especially fans who have not seen the band before or fans who have seen them a couple of times would pay the money. For me however, I have too many responsibilities to fork up 300 bucks for a ticket in the first 15 rows and not even know where the seat is. How can you charge that kind of money for something and not tell the buyer what they even bought? Its ridiculous.
Bridgeport will go onsale Friday and I will get what I get and live with it.
I miss the old days of putting in the effort and getting what you want.
I slept on a sidewalk in December in Hartford CT. in 1981 in 17 degree weather and got my tickets for Moving Pictures tour, and it was awesome!
Tell buyers where the seats are and I have little problem with it. The way they are doing this is pure crap.

Agreed.

 

Being 15th row and being 1st row are NOT worth the same money, at least not in my opinion.

 

This just continues to add to the scam that ticket buying has become. It's funny that while technology has allowed us to easier means to getting tickets, it has also really screwed the entire process and makes the entire thing a crapshoot.

 

Ticket buying these days is simply not fun. It's become a downright irritating process overall.

 

But I agree again...at the very least, tell people where they will be sitting. Then at least people can determine whether or not the $300 is worth it to them for that seat or not.

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QUOTE (Tick @ May 1 2012, 12:44 PM)
For me, I will be buying a ticket that will cost me about 110.00 dollars. That's the end of it. I don't buy any merchandise. If I forked up 300 bucks and got front row, I would be pumped up. If I got 15th row, I would feel ripped off. Plain and simple. That's just how I feel.
Tell me what I'm getting before I make the decission to buy a ticket for 300 bucks. Is that so unreasonable?
I don't think it is.

Exactly.

 

If I KNOW I'm getting front row, then hell yeah...$300 is worth it. I'd pay that for sure.

 

But 15th Row on the floors is NOT that great at all. It sounds close, but it isn't all that close at all.

 

I once sat 10th row, center on the S&A tour, and it was fantastic. We had the back row of that first section of seats, so no-one directly behind us. BUT...the key here is, I only had to fork over $80 for that ticket. That's it. Well worth it. If it was $300, I'm not so sure I would've felt that way.

 

When it comes to buying tickets, knowing exactly where you're sitting is the main factor in determining whether the value is there or not.

 

The way they have it set up is simply a gamble. That's all...you're gambling, and like MD said...that's how they get you. People are all going in with the mindset..."ooh, what if I get first row! Yippee!". The fact is, like the lottery, you're probably not going to get it.

 

People thinking that 15th row is the same as the first 3 rows are crazy. They are not alike at all. Unless money is absolutely no factor to you, this is a rip-off.

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My concern with VIP-- beyond the issue of not revealing exact seat locations-- is the general direction this takes us. Access to the band is/will be a commodity for sale, along with all the swag you have to buy in order to get the package. While some people scored decent seats with the presales, this too will be a thing of the past. Already it appears that at some venues, presale buyers couldn't get tickets within the first 15 rows. And that will get worse going forward.
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I would like to add a few statements in support of the "other side."

 

1. Ticket buying is really not a hassle at all. In fact, I had my tickets purchased in less than 1 minute. Get this....from the comfort of my own chair, without multiple computers, without hunting, and fishing, and releasing. I FREAKEN LOVE THE PROCESS. One poster suggested that after the "process" they wanted to puke? Why? cos you put yourself through all that to possibly get close? lol - funny stuff

 

2. If one wishes to complain about seat location - then many of the posted comments have merit. So I'm thinkin it ain't about the money, it is more about "I am a member of a free fan club and I deserve .........., or "we are fans...we deserve...". Ummmmmmm - no - not how it works.

 

3. Life ain't about what is fair - Capitalism people....Capitalism...it is a system we love when it works for us, but like the Constitution, it can bite ya in the arse. In this case it may hurt a little bit.

 

Question: Did everyone that went looking for tickets during the pre-sale get a ticket? If the answer is yes, then it was a success.

 

Enjoy the show - that dude or dudette in the rafters is probably just as happy to be there as you are up there in the front row. Does that make them unworthy?

 

This will be a very unpopular post, but really people, your going to the show. Who cares......

Edited by drgrendel
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