Complaint Review: Ticketmaster Ticketexchange

 I purchased tickets to the US Open through the Ticketmaster Ticketexchange.  I have used this service many times in the past and have never had any problems.  However, I am now aware of a trick/scam and I want to warn people about it!

The tickets I have bought in the past always said "Available-emailed within minutes".  The tickets that I purchased this time said "Guaranteed available-emailed by date shown". Do not order tickets with this heading, here is why:

The tickets that I bought were a very good deal, and I was happy to find them.  I ordered them right away with my ticketmaster login.  I got an email stating that my order was being processed.  Then later in the week I got another email stating that the tickets were no longer available, and that I'd have to order others.

In the time between when I ordered them and when they sent this message, the ticket prices had gone up dramatically.  When I looked into it further I found that the same tickets were back up for sale on their site for $67 more per ticket that I got them for.

I understand that with resale tickets that the seller can change the price, or decide not to sell.  But once the tickets have sold, at the price determined by the seller, it is extremely unfair to allow the seller to remove them and post them again at a higher price (even if they use a different name). 

So my advice to all is do not buy any ticket that can't be emailed immediately.  It means that Ticketmaster does not actually have control of that ticket and you may not get it.  In may case it ended up costing me several hundred dollars, and a lot of extra time. The word "guarantee" is pretty loose here.