Earlier this year, I bought three tickets to see the band, Erasure. A week before the show, my friend who was to attend the concert let me know he and his partner would not be able to attend. Granted, I could have gone by myself, but after so much activity, I needed a break. So, I decided to resell the tickets via TicketMaster.
Reselling was pretty easy, but I feel that the information was very misleading. According to the information on the web site, if I sold the tickets, then I would get my money within about 7 days. That has not happened.
Last Sunday, I got an email stating that all three tickets had sold. Yay! The email stated that if I needed to verify my accounts, then I would be getting an email shortly. Two days later, I noticed that TicketMaster deposited two small amounts to my banking account, but nothing on what this was. However, I figured I would keep waiting for the money to appear in my checking account.
By yesterday, it was seven days and nothing. I called TicketMaster and they told me that I should have received an email stating to verify my bank account based upon the amounts that were deposited. I never got that email and stated that such a breakdown in communication was misleading. The person on the phone apologized, but stated that until I verify the account, I would not be able to get the money. Therefore, I went into my account and verified the amount.
This morning, I get an email from TicketMaster to verify the account based upon the two amounts deposited in my account. I have to wonder - Does this happen to everyone who attempts to re-sell their tickets through them? I just checked my account and there is no "Verify" button available at this time. How annoying!
Over the years, I have told people that email alerts are not very reliable. First, you have to make sure you have the right email address - definitely not the problem with my particular scenario. Second, email servers have to be able reliable. I cannot tell you how many times I was asked to set up a system to email out data and one manager would be on top of me when the email server failed to forward out the email. Worst part, getting someone to correct the issue. Third, if you have a huge influx of data and such, your email dispatches can be delayed by hours.
While I know that e-mail alerts are so cool to have, depending on them can be a real issue. There are so many open holes. For this scenario, all of the instructions should have been upfront - not piece by piece via email. This misleads the users. Will this post cause a change - probably not, but for anyone reading this, you might want to think about a back up plan before relying totally on emails.
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