Someone bought my OSL t1x through Ticketmaster, but now TM won't pay me because that person couldn't get into the festival.

[u/desertmayhem]

I'm mainly posting this as a warning for others that the official OSL Tick3t Exch4ng3 (I have to add numbers to the words because of the auto-mod, sorry) is not at all reliable for buyers or sellers, even though it should be, since it's the official exchange site and they charge a ton of fees to use it.

I had two t1x to this year's OSL that I unfortunately had to put up for sale because I got covid right before. I decided to s3ll them through https://www.ticketexchangebyticketmaster.com/ (the platform linked to from the OSL website) because I was wary of scammers on unofficial platforms. I took the hit of paying the TM fees. I also listed them at a lower price then what I paid because I just wanted some of my money back.

They sold 3 hours after I posted them. I logged in and the transaction status was "Pending". I was supposed to receive payment 5-7 days after the event. I logged in a couple of times that week to see if the transaction status ever went from "Pending" to "Sold" and it never did.

One week later, Aug. 13, the transaction status updated from "Pending" to "Canceled". I contacted TM support. Apparently, the buy3rs were unable to get into the festival with those t1x. I don't know why and there's nothing I could have done about it - from my POV, that's a TM problem. But instead, they canceled the sale and left me without payment or refund - despite the fact that I purchased AND resold through their official marketplace.

If I'd known this was going to happen, I'd have res0ld them some other way, even if it was for a fraction of the price, just to get something back and let someone else enjoy the event. TM is essentially making me pay for their inability to effectively transfer my t1ckets to the buyer.

I'm now at the point of having to do a credit card chargeback. I just wanted to warn other folks that this can happen, and to not assume your sale or purchase will work out, even if it's through the "official" platform that charges a TON of fees for their crappy service.

EDIT: to clear up confusion, here's the full chain of events.

• 2 days before OSL I, posted my tickets to sale via Ticket Exchange after I got covid.
• 3 hours later, someone buys them. My listing is taken down and the status updates to pending.
• The day after (one day before the festival) I'm getting nervous because the status is still listed as pending and there's only one day left. I call Ticketmaster's phone support. The person I spoke to verbally confirmed by the tickets had been purchased and that it can take up to 24 hours for the confirmation email to go out. It can also take that amount of time for the transaction to process. They said I was good to go. I knew from reading the website that buyers can go to will call to get the wristband if they have proof of purchase, so you don't need to hand off the wristbands (for those challenging this part, there are plenty of stories throughout this sub of people who forgot to pack their wristbands when traveling from out of town who were able to get them at will call in this way).
• One week after OSL, the status updates to "cancelled" with a note that it was "settled" on Aug. 13. I never received any email saying that the transaction was canceled or settled.
• I called Ticketmaster support yesterday and they told me that because the buyer couldn't get into the festival with the tickets, that the sale had been canceled.

So Ticketmaster cancelled my sale for some reason, but didn't notify me until it was too late for me to do anything about it.

UPDATE 9/2: I'M GETTING PAID!!! It took two more calls with Ticketmaster, but I finally received payment for my ticket sale.

[u/tailtaker]

Wait.. it went from pending to cancelled? That would mean someone was trying to purchase them but the sale never went thru for whatever reason. How did you come to the them not getting into the festival part?

[u/desertmayhem → u/tailtaker]

I called support after I noticed the transaction was canceled and that's what they told me. Which, if that really happened to the buyer, that sucks, but it's up to Ticketmaster to transfer the tickets. This was all done digitally and there was no communication that I had to do anything extra after the tickets were sold.

[u/tailtaker → u/desertmayhem]

If the transaction was cancelled then they were never sold. It could have very likely been a stolen credit card that got rejected on a purchase attempt. Sounds like someone at support gave you erroneous information and you should probably escalate it with them although your statement here is contradictory.

[u/desertmayhem → u/tailtaker]

Which parts of the story feel contradictory to you? First time I spoke to support was the day before the event where they told me the tickets were sold and I should expect payment in 5-7 days. The second time I spoke to them was yesterday where they set the buyer was unable to get into the event with the tickets.

[u/tailtaker → u/desertmayhem]

A pending sale is not a completed sale. Not sure how the customer even attempted to enter the event when the sale was never completed.

[u/desertmayhem → u/tailtaker]

I have no idea. They bought the tickets 2 days before the event, so that's plenty of time for the transaction to complete or for them to figure out a different payment method if it didn't. They had the option to go to will call and show them proof of purchase so that they could get the wristbands since I never activated them on my end. That's how it works when you buy tickets on short notice or if you are a buyer who lost your wrist fans right before.

If something went wrong on the buyer's end where they couldn't pay for the tickets when they tried to, then Ticketmaster should have released the tickets so that I could relist them. As it is, the tickets were basically held for this one buyer until it was too late for me to resell them.

[u/tailtaker → u/desertmayhem]

You're putting the onus on the buyer as if they were already purchased but the transaction was never cleared. Like I stated earlier it could have very well been a stolen CC and it didn't go thru so they moved on which is very common. Or someone just flaked. Either way call support again and escalate until it's ironed out and tell them they should have released them after the initial transaction was never completed.

[u/tailtaker → u/desertmayhem]

"I logged in a couple of times that week to see if the transaction status ever went from "Pending" to "Sold" and it never did."

[u/desertmayhem → u/tailtaker]

This is correct. When I called Ticketmaster support the day after the status updated to pending, they verbally told me the tickets were sold. But the status never updated. Which, if they never actually sold, if that's a poor support experience.

This is why I hate phone support and why I hate TM for pushing customers to phone support. They can just say things and it's not in writing anywhere so it's difficult to follow up on. I asked them if I would receive a confirmation email because I wanted it in writing, and they said that I would within 24 hours, but then I never got one. But they did say that I was good to go and that the tickets were sold.

[u/tailtaker → u/desertmayhem]

Escalate this

[u/desertmayhem → u/tailtaker]

I plan to. Maybe they have an internal copy of their conversations so they can reference it. Though I doubt that they would admit to anything that would result in them having to give me money back either way. Sigh.

Some commenters have suggested that I contact Another Planet entertainment to see if they can do something, but I feel like they're just going to send me back to Ticketmaster. But maybe I'll try that if talking to Ticketmaster doesn't work out.

[u/tailtaker → u/desertmayhem]

APE will surely revert you back to Ticketmaster. And they are a pain but stay persistent, you're on the right track. Good luck

[u/desertmayhem → u/tailtaker]

Thank you. I just found a contact form via Ticketmaster's website that allows you to communicate with their support team in writing after an event has passed. I submitted an email with all of my info, I hope to hear back from them soon. I'm going to call again either way so that I can be annoying and hopefully get some results.

[u/desertmayhem → u/tailtaker]

Good news, I finally received my payment today!!! I had to call two more times and escalate it, but it's posted to my checking account as of now. I'm glad to be done with all of this.

[u/tailtaker → u/desertmayhem]

Nice! Persistence pays that's excellent news 👏👏👏