Ticketmaster was better than this crap. Rockets charge outrageous fees for tickets

Hmm... and I mean this in a there-is-no-side-I'd-rather-be-on-way...

I wonder why the Rockets refuse to publicly acknowledge Clutchcity.net.

The organization is reading this saying... "What ever happened to the SILENT masses?? Go ahead Tim, we've got your back!!"

Tim is saying... "I really don't get paid enough. Hey, where'd everyone go?"

The media outlets are reading this saying... "Feature!! Get me my thesaurus!!"

Fight the power!!! Stamp out "convenience" wherever you find it!!

 

There is a single light rail line running from downtown to Reliant Stadium (south of downtown) 7 miles being constructed. It will be ready in time for the Super Bowl held here in February.

There is a measure on the ballot this year to expand the light rail but it faces stiff opposition.

Mostly, we have buses and they are really just for people with no cars. Houston is dominated by car-driving people mainly because the majority of Houstonians actually live far outside the city center in suburban areas.

As for access, there is no easier place to get in and out of than downtown. It was built to move people in and out with many different access roads and freeways surrounding it.

 

Yeah, like hell Tim is gonna respond to this. This probably isn't even his department, and he's a marketing guy so his thinking is probably "Hey, business is business, what do you want me to tell you?"
Those convenience charges are total BS and they always have been. It's one thing when Ticketmaster, which has a monopoly, does that crap, it's another when the Rockets decide "What the hell, Ticketmaster just didn't charge enough!" I don't remember paying $8.50 for a ticket to the Compaq Center.
Nowadays the box office charges you convenience charges too. Does anyone know if the Rockets are doing this? If so, why don't they just have a big guy standing there to piss on you while you put down cash for cheap seats?

 

Tim,

DEFEND YOURSELF

 

For my part, I can't understand why the prices are so high. This team is 3rd from the bottom in NBA attendance. And that's with two All-Star starters! Think how bad things would be if our best player was Pau Gasol or Eddie Jones. No one would come.

I've said this time and time again on this board:

Having the arena 1/2 full with high prices is stupid when you could have it full at decent prices. The Rockets lose food, beer, and merchandise sales with high prices and low attendance. And the team loses on the court when they have a dead, empty arena behind them.

The organization's philosophy is always the same:
If only we had Charles Barkley...
If only we had Scottie Pippen...
If only we had Steve Francis...
If only we had a new building...
If only we had Yao Ming...
If only we had a new marketing plan...
If only we had better commercials...
If only we win another championship...
...then more people would buy our overpriced tickets.

They don't understand that we love the Rockets just because they're our team. Sure, when they're not playing well we're less likely to attend games because nobody likes to see their team beaten down. But if you give us a play-off caliber team and fair ticket prices, we'll show up, we'll pack the place, the team will do better (both financially and on the court), and everybody will have fun. We don't need to be dazzled. We just want a fair shake, just like any other customers for any other business would want.

 

I'm not sure they're too worried about a half-full crowd. They seem to have sold a lot of season tickets. At least from what I saw when I went to the Open House. It's a fact of the times that the average joe ain't the top priority. If he had been the top priority, then there'd really not be much need to move out of the Compaq Center.

 

Jeff...


thanks. Thorough and informed as usual.

 

oh man, you know things are bad when Jeff is wondering why he bothered with SOR in the first place.

I feel for yall..
but I'll put up with it to go to my normal 4 or 5 games a year..
what choice do I have? Not go?
Not an option..

quit being a fan?
Hell No!
but I would love to hear the Rox's thinking on this..
is there a convienence charge to buy te tix at the box office? and if so, why?
Goin up to the arena to buy the tix isnt very convienent...

 

i can get to the arena in like 10 minutes so i don't mind buying from the box office and avoiding "convinience" fees from online. however if they want to charge me for driving my ass there and getting tickets then i might have to think twice about going.

 

Wow.

I watched this place being built from the ground up, I remember when it was just a huge hole in the ground. Everyday as I saw it grow I became more excited. I often park in the Toyota "Tundra" parking garage and walk by the front of the Toyota Center and watch the practice court being completed. Man was I pumped.

I often thought to myself how hard it was going to be to go home instead of walking over to the new place and catching a game. Guess I won't have that problem anymore.

The prices are crazy, the salaries are crazy, the game and more importantly the fans are suffering. I think the Salaries/greed of the owners are growing faster than the TV Contract/merchandising sales can support. Sooner or later this bubble will burst. I hope. Otherwise, I'll never go to another sporting event unless my company or someone else waste their money buying the tickets. It's really sad because I usually go to 3-5 games per year and I really wanted to see the inside of the new place.




Ohh and BTW when I bought Astros tickets for the last Friday night game of the year vs Milwaukee (when they choked) I bought 2 $5 tickets and a $1 ticket for my son ($11 total). The total was over $25!!! WTF? They actually charged to use the will call window? I paid more in fees than tickets, total BS..... I couldn't believe it, I won't make that mistake anymore.

 

I forgot one thing about the parking in the Toyota Tundra Garage.

I don't know what game time parking will cost, but if you work downtown and want to park there it is only $2 per day and a monthly contract is only $30, but there is a 1 time fee of $30 for this first month. I doubt you could use a contract pass/card to get in the place after a certain time on game days though.

 

Half of those tickets were probably bought by corporations so they could use them every once in a while to impress out of town clients. If they're used at all, it's by people who don't even care about the team that show up late, sit on their hands and eat popcorn, then leave early. The same people that give me dirty looks when I actually yell at a game.

But the Rockets get their $$ whether these losers show up to the games or not, so who the hell cares...

 

I can top everybody here. Rocketfan included.

Like Rocketfan, I ordered the tickets (online at rockets.com) for the game. I paid the handling fees and convenience charge and also paid extra to have them shipped to me next day. Then they called me and explained they were unable to ship them and that I needed to pick them up at the arena. I didn't bother asking if my shipping and handling fees would be refunded because I assumed that was a given. I just headed up to the arena and went to will call. When I arrived they told me I needed to come inside. A security guard lead me into a small room and asked me to have a seat. He then left, shut the door and I distinctly heard a "click click". I wondered what was going on but quickly put those thoughts aside and just looked around at the pictures of former and current Rockets. I was looking at the picture of Hakeem holding up the championship Trophy when the door opened again. Clutch and Turbo entered the room. I started laughing because I thought I was getting some kind of special treatment for the inconvenience. It was then they bum rushed me. I thought it was a joke at first but they got really rough. They flipped me over a table and yanked my pants to my ankles. It was then I heard the voice of Les Alexander explaining to them that "That'll do just fine, boys.". I won't go any further into this horrific tale. I'll spare you the details. But I'm definitely NOT going to go to any Rockets games after this. I mean when team owners and businesses figuratively rape you, that's fine, but when they cross that line and LITERALLY ANALLY RAPE YOU! well, that's just going too far.


Then, after 9 hours of torturous rape and sodomy, they let me go. I told Les Alexander I would press charges and that they'd never get away with this, but he said "What are you talking about? The city of Houston pays me to screw them."

then, to top it all off. The lot I had parked in charged by the hour. I had to pay 15 dollars.

The new arena looks fantastic though!

 

Well, uh....good luck with all of that...

 

Based on some information I recieved Season ticket sales are down from last year, the orientation was nice but based on the count they recieved only a small % of the Holders attended.

From my point of view it's not the fact that lower prom has wood paneling and cupholders versus upper prom getting shafted on both but from what I see this is all about $$$$$, to me the Rockets have not showed the true fan any respect.

On a lighter note the Food is excellent!

 

Wow.
I got around to checking out this thread and was I surprised. Living in Austin and going to Houston several times during the season I figured to be catching a few games. After reading about the "convenience charge", I'll go to one game to see the new arena and that's it.

The internet has reduced the expense of doing business. Buying something online is one of the cheapest ways to buy anything. Why is eBay doing such great business?? It's cheap. The mark-up on these ticket transactions is outrageous. They are making out like bandits.

Like I said, I'll go to one game... probably with a friend instead of the whole family, to save money, and pass on the 4 or 5 games I was looking at trying to make. Les makes less money. Not very smart, Les.

 

Man, that sucks. One question, did they take turns or was it all Les? If it was all Les, then it confirms he is a selfish pig.

 

hahaha, lol.

that would've been funny as $hit, had it not been true. unfotunately, it probably was.

 

You guys have no idea how r****ded the ticketing dept of the Rockets is.

Me and my friends bought four half-season packages. On the freakin website it said season tix holders (half-season too) are allowed to buy extra tickets. Well I called up my season tickets rep and told her I wanted to buy some six game packs as well. I convinced alot of my friends to get the packages. They all said okay. Well the Rockets actually informed me that they would not sell me any more tickets. There is a limit to how many tickets I can buy. My friends had to individually call up and get their own tickets!!!

I mean WTF man!?!?! Why cant I just get more tickets. My money not good enough?

Then my family wants to come to alot of the games this year. They wanted the first game, Cleveland, Lakers, Spurs, etc. I am talking about 20 tickets to each game. I was informed that I could have only ten tickets to the Cleveland game and thats it. They would not sell me even one ****ing ticket to any of the other games?!?!?!! Not even GS or Boston or any crappy games.

I guess they just dont want the arena filled. I was actually able to convince most of my friends and family to get tickets this year and the Rockets refused to sell it to me.

Tim told me to call the Group Sales dept and I should be able to get em. When I called them up they informed that I had already reached my allotment of tickets. If I have four season tickets myself the most I can get is four tickets?!?!?!?!

I just said to hell with everything and didnt even try to get any extras after that. All in all I think they lost out on a couple of thousand dollars from me, my friends and my family.

I absolutely love the Rockets, but their corporate personnell can go to hell.

 

Their sales department is a mess. Whoever is in charge of this needs to be fired. None of this makes any kind of economic sense.