1,251 posts
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Post by joem on Jul 31, 2016 11:58:55 GMT
Trying to see a performance is becoming a trying experience.
The Open Air Theatre will often only allow you the "print at home" option when you want to buy online. What happens if I'm not at home to print? What happens if I have an aversion to printers or cannot afford one?
Meanwhile the Fonborough Theatre (seats 50) has a loop when you call them of such length they really should consider calling it "The Neverending Story".
I look forward to the rapidly approaching date when theatres force us to go to the home of the box office employees to pay for our tickets in full, with a surcharge for purchasing a ticket of course.
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4,369 posts
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Post by Michael on Jul 31, 2016 12:05:57 GMT
Not getting proper tickets is one of my pet peeves, which is why I always choose box office collection as delivery method.
If one doesn't have access to a printer, the box office should always be able to print replacement tickets.
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3,589 posts
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Post by showgirl on Jul 31, 2016 13:03:04 GMT
I'd rather not have a paper ticket as I will only throw it away afterwards, but at theatres which invite you instead to show your booking on a phone, you have to stand there for some time with the confirmation showing, so as not to cause a delay when they open the house. It would be helpful if there was an alternative to wasting battery life in this way.
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19,856 posts
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Aug 1, 2016 6:25:27 GMT
Paying for a ticket, then paying for the privelege of buying it, then paying again for them to send it to you, all while you've "self-served" on-line has to be one of the biggest scams of our age.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 1, 2016 8:10:14 GMT
This really irritates me! As printers seem to have an aversion to me every one I buy seems to break at the most inconvient of times, and of course not every job has easy 'sneak something into the printer' perks either.
Mostly though, I've paid for a ticket please give me an actual ticket theatres.
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923 posts
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Post by Snciole on Aug 1, 2016 9:12:18 GMT
I always forget I chose the Print at Home option. I had an incident at my first time at the ENO. I had completely forgotten I had chose the Print option so was all "CLUTCH A PEARL" mortified when my ticket wasn't available to collect.
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157 posts
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Post by PhantomNcl on Aug 1, 2016 9:48:45 GMT
One of my local theatres charges you an online booking fee, and then has the cheek to go on to charge you to print your tickets at home. Using your paper, your ink, your electricity. Needless to say I don't go there very often!
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19,856 posts
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Aug 1, 2016 17:15:22 GMT
One of my local theatres charges you an online booking fee, and then has the cheek to go on to charge you to print your tickets at home. Using your paper, your ink, your electricity. Needless to say I don't go there very often! Ticketmaster do this don't they? Among many others.Imagine all the extra revenue that amounts to. We had a discussion about this previously and someone said that it's because the various agencies involved all take their cut and that this is outside of the control of the producers who only govern the ticket price itself. Ok, I get that running booking systems costs money but just wrap the whole thing up into one price for the customer and let the various parties sort it out in the background. Advertising tickets at a particular price and then clapping on unavoidable charges at check out was stopped in the airline industry, I don't see that this is any different. It smacks of leading the customer on until the very last page in the hope that they'll just think "oh well, I've come this far sooo....". Grrrr! |
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1,351 posts
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Post by CG on the loose on Aug 1, 2016 17:35:59 GMT
I do like an actual ticket - to tuck in my programme to date my vist - and I'm willing to pay a little more to have it posted out to me, in acknowledgement that additional costs are actually incurred, but I baulk a bit at paying to collect from Box Office and hugely at paying to print out my own - if they require me to have a ticket to access my seat and I've paid for the seat, the ticket should be part of the deal!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 1, 2016 17:51:05 GMT
Perhaps other companies should do the same thing. Shops could have a browsing charge and a watching-you-to-make-sure-you-don't-steal-anything charge and a using-the-checkout charge. Railway companies could supplement their income with a ticket-issuing charge and a train-boarding-and-exiting charge and a train-maintenance levy and a what-are-you-going-to-do-walk?-good-luck-with-that fee. Why should it only be theatres that benefit from this outright dishonesty creative pricing strategy?
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125 posts
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Post by CBP1 on Aug 1, 2016 18:04:25 GMT
This gets on my nerves too. Just bought tickets to Titanic at Charing Cross Theatre. Ticketmaster informed me I could print at home or pay around a fiver for some sort of special gift box with my tickets. I just want a proper ticket to stick in a scrap book. And am also willing to pay slightly more for this, but that was just silly money. I also tend to completely forget about the print at home option until it's too late.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Aug 1, 2016 18:09:33 GMT
One thing that many people don't appreciate that the cost of printing the tickets is rarely, if ever, absorbed by the theatre. They pass that cost on to the producers of the show.
In some places that can be 5p plus VAT per ticket - but in at least one ATG venue I have worked in, it is 24p plus VAT.
Add in the fact that credit card charges are either passed on to the producers (or as a surcharge to those booking) and it is clear that many theatres are fleecing everyone involved in the deal.
Given that theatres wouldn't exist without selling tickets, you would think that they would actually include these sorts of costs in their own budgets rather than passing them on at inflated prices.
And don't get me started on restoration levies, additional booking fees or postage charges.
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1,351 posts
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Post by CG on the loose on Aug 1, 2016 18:11:23 GMT
This gets on my nerves too. Just bought tickets to Titanic at Charing Cross Theatre. Ticketmaster informed me I could print at home or pay around a fiver for some sort of special gift box with my tickets. I just want a proper ticket to stick in a scrap book. And am also willing to pay slightly more for this, but that was just silly money. I also tend to completely forget about the print at home option until it's too late. I selected print at home, "forgot" to do so, and the theatre issued a ticket on the door without a quibble. |
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19,856 posts
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Aug 1, 2016 19:44:35 GMT
And don't get me started on restoration levies, additional booking fees or postage charges. Yes! Because patronising the theatre isn't enough, apparently. |
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4,046 posts
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Post by Dawnstar on Aug 1, 2016 20:01:24 GMT
Try opera companies who attempt to add "voluntary" donations on to your order. I always remove them. The ROH, for instance, is a hell of a lot better off than I am!
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4,164 posts
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Post by kathryn on Aug 1, 2016 22:30:21 GMT
Perhaps other companies should do the same thing. Shops could have a browsing charge and a watching-you-to-make-sure-you-don't-steal-anything charge and a using-the-checkout charge. Railway companies could supplement their income with a ticket-issuing charge and a train-boarding-and-exiting charge and a train-maintenance levy and a what-are-you-going-to-do-walk?-good-luck-with-that fee. Why should it only be theatres that benefit from this outright dishonesty creative pricing strategy? Airlines do this with fuel surcharges! |
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5,121 posts
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Post by Phantom of London on Aug 2, 2016 1:03:16 GMT
How can you pay a hefty booking fee and other fees, when you make your booking online, but conversely when you go to the theatre box office, where there is a real labour cost involved selling you a ticket, you are not expected to pay any fees?
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3,589 posts
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Post by showgirl on Aug 2, 2016 3:39:04 GMT
Try opera companies who attempt to add "voluntary" donations on to your order. I always remove them. The ROH, for instance, is a hell of a lot better off than I am! Not surprising that they ask, but I get fed up with negotiating this extra step in the booking process for the NT, Hampstead, Royal Court, and so on. It's the same if you ring and have to listen to the request on the recorded message. If I had money to donate, I would give it to a smaller venue whose work has meant more to me personally and where there is more chance of seeing the money put to what I consider a good use (basic infrastructure first, rather than productions), but as a pensioner looking for the cheapest ticket which meets my requirements, my aim is to minimise cost, not add to it. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 2, 2016 7:53:04 GMT
That lengthy message from Nick Payne about donations when you phone up the Royal Court drives me mad! Takes about 2 minutes before you can get through to a real person.
Agree with you on donations - stealth adding of them during the booking process is one of my pet hates. Particularly annoying if you are already supporting them by membership.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 2, 2016 9:13:21 GMT
Oh YES I hate that, especially from the bigger revenue funded/subsidised venues-you people have more money than I do, I'm already spending my hard earned money/money I don't really have on tickets, no I will not give an extra £2.50 for the fun of it.
I wouldn't mind paying extra for ticket printing from the smaller companies, if it was to genuinely offset their costs. I do object to places like Ticketmaster charging me for the privledge of booking then expecting me to provide my own ticket!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 2, 2016 10:34:13 GMT
I wouldn't mind paying extra for ticket printing from the smaller companies, if it was to genuinely offset their costs. Hand-crafted tickets could be the next big thing. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 2, 2016 12:33:23 GMT
I wouldn't mind paying extra for ticket printing from the smaller companies, if it was to genuinely offset their costs. Hand-crafted tickets could be the next big thing. Artisan ticket makers. All the hipsters will want one. |
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4,046 posts
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Post by Dawnstar on Aug 2, 2016 19:31:55 GMT
How can you pay a hefty booking fee and other fees, when you make your booking online, but conversely when you go to the theatre box office, where there is a real labour cost involved selling you a ticket, you are not expected to pay any fees? Not at my local theatre. They charge fees whether you book in person or online/by phone. It annoys me that there's no way round it, especially as I'm usually buying the cheapest tickets at £15 and having to pay £3 booking fee per ticket is a sizeable proportion of the ticket price. They also keep changing their minds as to whether the booking fee is given as part of the ticket price or not. First it was, then it wasn't, now recently it is again. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2016 10:17:14 GMT
What also annoys me is some places (not granted theatres mostly but the trainline for one, and some hotels for another) charge an additional booking fee on top of the booking fee for credit cards. I do get that there's an offset charge for that, but when you're that big a company I really feel like that's something you should be factoring in. Grr.
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Post by profquatermass on Aug 3, 2016 10:32:21 GMT
What also annoys me is some places (not granted theatres mostly but the trainline for one, and some hotels for another) charge an additional booking fee on top of the booking fee for credit cards. I do get that there's an offset charge for that, but when you're that big a company I really feel like that's something you should be factoring in. Grr. Trainline is an agency. It's always cheaper to use an actual rail company. If you go to nationalrail.co.uk you'll be directed to to the operating service (but Chiltern are occasionally cheaper even if you aren't using them |
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