More LiveNation Fuss

I'm evidently not the only one with a bone to pick with LiveNation. See Technorati's chart about LiveNation chatter on the interwebs:


Posts that contain Livenation per day for the last 90 days.

My Letter to LiveNation

I'm shocked at how bad my ordering experience was this morning.

At 9:59 a.m. EST, my computer let me click on the "Buy Tickets" button for the CLT Buffett show. I was at first pleasantly surprised when I made it through the word verification screen, and saw the screen ticker telling me that you were finding my tickets. "Success!" I thought. "Wow, this is even easier than Ticketmaster was in the past. This is awesome!"

Yet, your site returned an error page. "Return to event," said the button, giving me hope that this was a one-time glich. Little did I know this would be a 45-minute glich.

Your site returned an error message, after having to re-select the tickets and try to read the word verification screen 37 TIMES.

One of the error screens that I saw in my horrible ticket buying experience with LiveNation.

There were more than three times where the site didn't return me to the event page, as the button told me it would. It returned me to the temporary home page that told me what was ON SALE this morning. (Am I supposed to feel sympathy for the fact that you don't have the systems to handle this amount of traffic?) Those times I had to click back through to get to my event, adding even more time and stress to an already time-constrained and stressful situation.

THEN, your site told me that the CLT show was SOLD OUT. "Sorry, this show is sold out." So I began to try the Raleigh show.

Again, with the error screens. 7 more here, but I finally got through. Here's the issue though: Raleigh isn't going to work for us, so when calmer times returned, I decided to "Release the Tickets" (as the button said) to check CLT ONE MORE TIME.

Click "Release" and move on. Nothing should be in my cart, right? Any sane person would think that would be the case.

So, I go to check the CLT site on the off-chance that your system truly does suck as much as it's proving to, and that you might have royally screwed up.

Lo and behold: I'm proven right. LiveNation does suck, becuase NOW the CLT show IS NOT SOLD OUT. But it was a mere, oh, 5 minutes ago. WHY?

SO, I decide to try to get tickets again. It's a show I really, really want to see.

Again, with the error messages. Only four this time; you must have improved a bit.

Finally get to the page where I'm supposed to have 10 minutes to finalize my order, and yet, I only have 6 minutes and thirty seconds. Where did my other three minutes and thirty seconds go, hmmm?

But is that it? Does your ridiculous ordering process get any easier? OH NO!

The Raleigh tickets I'd "Released"? Yep, still in my cart. So, I use some of my precious 6:30 trying to AGAIN GET THEM OUT OF MY CART.

Finally, something goes right when it's supposed to and the tickets come out.

Filling out the final steps, I find I have to create an account. WHY CAN'T I JUST BUY TICKETS AS A GUEST? And why, oh why, couldn't you tell me BEFORE I tried to get my tickets? My precious 6:30 is now down to 4:30 and you don't even have my billing information yet.

Entering my information for billing, I find that you HAVEN'T followed STANDARD WEB FORM PRACTICES and you refuse to mark which fields are required. (BTW, you may be the only company in the world who thinks that the SALUTATION is a required field for a WEB FORM.)

I enter my information, typing as fast as I possibly can, trying to make sure I get everything right, watching the seconds tick away out of the corner of my eye. After trying to get these precious tickets through PHONE (which never even rang once) and WEB for more than 40 minutes, I can't lose them now.

Now, I don't know whether your forms will take dashes or hyphens, but some forms don't, so I don't even attempt the dash for Winston-Salem. I bypass it completely, thinking your system certainly couldn't be good enough for that if it's performed the way it has so far.

Happily, I uncheck the box giving you permission to send me more email than you already do. After such horrible service, I want nothing to do with a company like yours.

The paying part is perhaps the easiest--until I find out that you can't put any spaces between your credit card number. (Why isn't there a note beside the field? Have you just decided that web form standards SHOULDN'T apply to you?)

As my time nears 2:30, I finally get to click the button to purchase, hoping that your system doesn't decide to give me YET ANOTHER ERROR MESSAGE and I can finally buy my tickets. I think that after 45 minutes, this is the worst ticket buying experience I have ever had. And it is.

I even ponder printing my own tickets, because I have serious, serious doubts of your ability to actually print the correct tickets and send them to me before April 21.

As all smart consumers do, I print my confirmation page which wastes 4 extra pages of paper, because you won't let my computer print what it shows on my web browser, instead opting for some ugly, lengthy list-like printout.

Now, I'm going to log into my email, to print that confirmation as well, BECAUSE I HAVE SERIOUS DOUBTS IN LIVENATION'S ABILITY TO ACTUALLY PROVIDE THE SERVICE IT CLAIMS TO.

If I can avoid buying tickets through your service again, be assured that I will.

Also, rest assured that the 6 people I've told has already turned into hundreds, if not thousands, thanks to the fabulous world of social media.

I hope you have a nice day. At least a nicer day than I have had already because of your utter and complete lack of providing a half-way sufficient ticket buying platform.

Sincerely,
Your very, very upset customer,
Elizabeth

I Lied

Really, I did. Well, maybe not. I did have the best of intentions of updating the blog the other day, but it didn't happen. So, it's happening now.

Here's the short and long (apologies for the list):

1) I've got a mouse. Or not. We've caught two. Evidence below.


2) I joined Facebook. Yes, it's that time waster of all time wasters. I'm not completely involved in people's lives who I wasn't really involved in for a while, most of which was A-OK by me.

3) I'm still trying to figure out the fine balance of what fits the Liz brand versus what does not on Facebook. My instincts are not nearly as fine tuned as they are with blogging yet.

4) Tournament planning has officially started again, and despite the very late request to help, I'm happy to. Luckily, it'll be a very easy year.

5) I got a car. A 2006 Infiniti G35 Coupe. Red, of course. And fast. Very fast. It's fun.

6) A week or so after getting said Infiniti, I find out that they're coming out with a G35 Convertible THIS YEAR. Figures.

7) The boy's good, but would appreciate another investor for his film. Interested? Lemme know.

8) Peter Shankman is pretty, well, wide open. Saw him at the PRSA banquet a few weeks back, and that's really the only way to describe him.

9) Very, very, very glad that I've got a job. Know of more people looking for them and unemployed right now than I'd like to. Let's hope the economy turns sooner as opposed to later.

10) Quite happy that we've got a new pres and that I got to watch the inaugration at the office. Quite unhappy that NONE of the GOP could see fit to support the economic stimulus package. Humph.

11) I also tweet now, as in Twitter. It's microblogging. I get 140 characters to tell you what I'm doing (which, to be honest, may not be all that interesting). However, I'm still learning and trying to put out decently interesting content. Let me know what you think. See the feed to the left to see what I've tweet-ed recently.

12) Went to go help a good friend from undergrad watch the moving guys pack and ship her stuff recently in Greenville, SC. I certainly think that downtown has quite a bit going for it and those downtowns trying to do the same thing had better sit up and take notice.

13) Had a good new year's, especially because I actually got a decent new year's kiss out of it. Out late, with a bunch o' friends and friends o' friends. Just a few chocolate cake shots. And green monsters. And other such wonderful libations poured by the best barkeep in the world.

14) Buffett's already announced for the summer! Woot!

Ok, that's it. It's enough, isn't it? Surely, it is. More later. Like tomorrow or Saturday later. (Because the rules for Liz time go into effect in T-30 and counting . . .)

Never Fails . . .

Something big happens, and I get pulled away. At least it's something good this time.

Issuing new rules for myself today. And I'll be writing more later, so check again later, for the brief-yet-hopefully-pithy update of, oh, the last two months or so.

Choosing to be Wise

(April 12, 1999)

Most arguments are traps of one kind or another. Let go, and realize that what is happening should be avoided like poison. The argument is on the other side . . . leave it there.

The best revenge is to refuse to fight--and it brings to mind what someone said: "If you argue with a fool, you will end up being one."

Peace,
Tawanka

Thoughts

1) Happy New Year!

2) I got a new car. It's red. Fast. Shiny. For a really decent price. And I've gotten my phone to work through the stereo system. (Anyone in the market for a 9-year-old CRV with 210K miles???)

3) Though I LOVE the holidays, this year they took a lot of energy out of me. Probably didn't help that I was sick. I'm glad they're over. And I'm ready to be done with the christmas novels I'm still reading for book club that I'm hosting later this month.

4) I miss both of my sisters. (Yes, I just saw Christy.)

5) I want to go ice skating. And roller skating. And learn how to surf. Think I might do one of the first two this weekend with the man.