Today, I'm in Houston for my spring break. I decided that I want to go to tonight's game with a friend. We haven't yet purchased tickets, so I call 627-dunk. I was calling that # to see the availability with tickets, namely the cheapest ones available. Instead, the lady on the other end tells me that I have to physically go to the ticket booth to find out which cheap tickets are still available. With the Rockets having crappy attendance, wouldn't it be common sense for them to go out of their way to help prospective customers/fans to go to the game? I don't feel like driving through the traffic on I-10 and 59 at 5:00pm. What is the point of a phone line, if it is there to just tell me to go to the will call window? The Rockets PR is such a joke.
Yeah, that happened to me last year. I tried to call from Austin. If they're gonna have a line for tickets, they need to make them available and hold them at the ticket counter at the Compaq Center. That's my opinion.
For all we know, the person on the other end of the phone line could be answering from Hawaii. It's just so asinine that 627-DUNK is just a service to tell you to go to the ticket booth.
kidrock8, you don't know what you are talking about. Obviously, you've never called any other sports franchise's main ticket line 56 minutes before the box office opens. You can't even get them through ticketmaster this late in the game, they transfer tickets to the box office to prevent duplicate tickets...just like every franchise I've ever purchased from. dork.
btw: I meant "dork" in a protecting the "full-fledged joke" kinda way. I've never been able to call even ticketmaster for any sports event this late in the game, anywhere. It's a logistical problem, and if another franchise has an answer, let me know, and I'm sure Tim will respond versus your "full fledged joke" accusation.
You act as if there are already printed tickets that they have to manually carry over to the box office. I'm saying that there should be a computer that tracks availability of tickets. Is it that hard to pull off? I'm pretty sure that is what is used. What are you talking about duplicate tickets? If that was a concern, then why can you purchase tickets from 503432324 different Ticketmaster locations? I wasn't asking the person if I could buy tickets over the phone, 2.5 hrs before game time. I was just asking about ticket availability. Was I asking them to prove E=MC^2?
You can't!!!! Not this late in the game. Ticketmaster and everyone shuts down when the box office fires up. Are you having trouble following this conversation. Show many any franchise that will take orders, or show me Ticketmaster taking orders this late before game time, and then you will be giving us new information about another franchise being ahead of the technology game, and we can make a formal request to Tim via the Fan Council. until then, you are griping about things that don't exist anywhere.
Apparently you are, because I never said that I wanted to buy tickets over the phone. I was just inquiring about ticket AVAILABILITY. My original plan was to call 627-DUNK, ask what the cheapest tickets available were. Then drive for to the box office to buy them. It is my fault that I acted upon it too late. However, I don't see why 627-DUNK is incapable of telling me about ticket availability before a game. Are they not allowed to actually be in conjuction with the box office!? It just doesn't make sense to me why 627-DUNK is a useless phone line unless you call well in advance. All I ask is that the phone line knows about ticket availability. I know ticketmaster doesn't sell tix just a couple hrs before an event. I checked ticketmaster.com to try and look for availability.
kidrock...your phone call was not going to the box office, nor was it going to ticketmaster. Neither Rockets employees manning DUNK nor Ticketmaster have availability after they stop selling. like I say, I guess you've never called another franchise before. why would anyone train those employees to give out info that they don't have access to. "Yeah, come on down...seats are available."..then they aren't and you get much more pissed. doesn't make sense. Like I say, until you show otherwise, this is standard practice to stop selling tickets or providing availability info this late in the game. Ticketmasters web site does not show availability. Just go to the box office like everyone else who forgot to call soon enough. Quit whining, and drive to the BOX OFFICE if you want to go to the game.
Is someone talking to you. find someone to talk to, diogenes...kidrock has an insulting title about facts regarding ticket sales, and why leave that out there for misinformation, and I think the guy can handle the word "dork" in comeback when I'm 'splaining to him how the box office works. what are you, some sorta self-actualized heypee police or sumpin.
kidrock's point is that standard practice is a joke. Quite obviously, as evidenced by at least two complaints in this thread, more tickets would be sold if they could just inform him about the AVAILABILITY of tickets at the time of his call. Perhaps there is a large cost associated with it, but it would seem to me that it is all computerized these days anyway, so it shouldn't be that hard.
JayZ, the Astros do not have availability if you call this late, either. Same with many franchises. The message here should be...don't wait this late, and just drive to the box office if you don't have tix on game day...for any sport. Singling out the Rockets is kinda naive and pointless, like yelling at them for no DirectTV, or yelling at your favorite coffee shop for no wireless internet.
Both sides have valid points... perhaps the thing to get out of this thread is: Isn't there a better way to handle ticket information on the business side? It does seem like having multiple vendors printing out tickets at the Box Office could have as many problems as also selling over the phone/Internet before game time... but I've never worked for TicketMaster, so I can't really say. HeyP - don't go off - you're right; I've never seen it either.
I agree in a way. I am here in Houston for my spring break too, and I bought tickets for the bulls game on the internet from the rocks site. The only problem i had is that they do not give u enough time to fill out all the text fields. The alotted time is a joke, i had to re do my order like 4 times because it ran out of time. I am not a slow typer. But man...that sucked. Well, i am happy though, i got my tickets...and i am off to the game.
Are you guys blind? Can't you see that it's just a marketing scheme to sell tickets? Some people live fairly far from the box office. When they are forced to drive 30-45 minutes to it (the ones who actually do), they are unwilling to waste a trip like that and they buy tickets regardless if the only tickets remaining are out of their normal price range. If the person over the phone says, "Sorry we only have $50+ tickets left" most people will just hang up. But if they "physically" get them to the box office, there's more of a chance to sell those tickets. My theory, at least.
