I got scammed

My DH and I were outside last weekend having a cookout and I heard on the radio that Trans-Syberian Orchestra tickets were on sale. My DH had already tried to get tickets for my birthday in September, but the concert was cancelled. I ran to the computer and stupidly purchased tickets on a site I don't know. I have no idea why I didn't go directly to the concert location or Ticketmaster. I guess I was just excited and wanted to make the purshase ASAP to ensure good seats. Silly me.

My tickets came in the mail. I paid $93 each plus fees and shipping. The price printed on the tickets are $49.5 each. The purchaser's name, printed on the ticket is Dan Silverman. I don't know him.

Did I read the policy? Ummm... not really. I skimmed it. It did say that the ticket price may be higher that what was printed. I thought they were referring to the fee of $28.83 per ticket. Nope. That's extra.

I called the 1-800 number. Of course the first thing I was asked was if I read the policy. Even if I knew that the price may be higher --- I wouldn't expect it to be almost twice as much!

The ticket vendor buys blocks of tickets and resells them. That's why someone else's name is on them. What I'm really concerned about is, what would stop them from selling the same seats to several people?

I put in a dispute request with my credit card company, which should take about 30 days to resolve. I really don't think they can help though.

Anyway, please don't post any warnings about why I should be more careful blah, blah, blah. I know. I hope my post prevents others from falling for the same scam though.

Thanks. I have nevet had a dispute before. Discover is temporarily refunding my money until it's investigated. I don't consider that getting my money back. The Discover rep didn't seem to think I had much of a case.

Good point and I was considering that too, but they have had the credit card number for a week and my tickets were the last purchase made, so I don't think so. Also, I looked up the company on several sites and although my complaint is common with them, no one has accused them of stealing the card info.

That's not really the case here though. Ticketmaster had plenty of tickets left. I checked when I received mine.

As far as going and having a good time anyway - If I lose the dispute I certianly will. If I win the dispute, good tickets will probably not be available, but I will have my $258.66 and buy every album I don't already have.

I agree it's not fraud. It is a scam though. That's why I don't think I will win. Yes and no that I evidently thought it was a reasonable price at the time. This is the first major concert I purchased tickets for since Rush (around 1985). I didn't know the going rate. I did see the "Happy Together" tour this year, at a local theater. I figured that would be quite a bit less expensive than TSO. I really wanted to see this concert and I really wanted good seats --- which I have never had before. I've always only been able to afford the nosebleed section. This time I rationalized to myself that it was my Christmas present from my husband.

I had no idea that it was typical for resellers to charge so much. As far as forgeries, that would be easy. My ticket is black ink only and looks like it is printed from a computer. I printed my Happy Together tickets from my computer, so I figured this was probably legitimate, but I won't know that until we get there.

Thank you, but how can they tell? If it is legit to print from the computer, what would stop them from printing additional copies and selling them too?

Ok, thanks. I'll take all the help I can get.

The fine print on the ticket reads something like - in the event that there is a conflict over seats, the theater reserves the right to refuse admittance to all parties and will refund the ticket price to the purchaser. The "purchaser" is Dan Silverman.