How long until some action is taken against Ticketmaster's constant abuses?

Free market. In theory, it's a great concept. But time and time again historical evidence show that unless some regulation is applied, the concentration of power leads to monopolies or oligopolies which form cartels, thwart the principle of free market and of course, hurt the consumer. 

I will not lengthen my introduction. Below you will find the actual exchange of emails between me and Ticketmaster's consumer service. I am appalled by their attitude and all I can hope is that more people who have been shut out of their online website because it's always congested see this - and ultimately some action is taken to reverse TM's ludicrous behavior. 

On 8/15/2016 1:58 PM, Paula Sroka wrote:

(sent via Ticketmaster's contact form)

first-name=Paula

last-name=Sroka

eventDateRange=Have Not Purchased Tickets

question=Hello, I am not able to access ticketmaster.com from my home computer anymore. I get a "Forbidden You don't have permission to access / on this server." I live in Brazil and travel frequently to the US, so I like to buy tickets for concerts and broadway shows. What is going on and how can this be solved? Thank you.

----------------------

Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2016 14:56:29 -0400

From: customer_support@ticketmaster.com

To: coolpaulinha@hotmail.com

Subject: Re: General Information -> Received error during purchase process

Hello Paula,

Thanks for reaching out to us and for your patience with our delayed response due to a high volume of e-mails. My name is Sabu and I'll be happy to assist you today.

I'm sorry you were temporarily blocked while trying to buy tickets on Ticketmaster.com. Please reply with your IP address so that we can check if it has been erroneously listed as an "automated bot."

You see, automated programs (or “bots”) constantly hit Refresh when some onsales start, which ties up our system and blocks you (the real live fan) from getting tickets. When that happens, we block them.

Unfortunately, we can’t tell bots from human beings so sometimes fans who refresh too frequently get blocked – for about 24 hours.

A way to prevent this kind of block is to wait 2 – 3 seconds between each refresh when trying to buy tickets. That way, only the bots get blocked. 

If you need anything else, just reply to this email or give us a call at 1-800-653-8000.

Have a great day!

Sincerely,

Sabu

Ticketmaster Fan Support

On 8/16/2016 3:25 PM, Paula Sroka wrote:

Dear Sabu,

My public IP address is 189.XXX.XXX.XXX

Can you please send me confirmation of this?

Thanks and have a great day!

Paula

----------------------

Date: Wed, 17 Aug 2016 15:09:09 -0400

From: customer_support@ticketmaster.com

To: coolpaulinha@hotmail.com

Subject: Re: RE: General Information -> Received error during purchase process

Hi Paula,

Hope your day is going well, let me see what I can do to help out!

I’m sorry, you have been permanently blocked from our site for excessive violation of our Terms of Use. Unfortunately, I cannot reverse this status.  You can still purchase tickets with Ticketmaster over the phone at 800-653-8000. Also, tickets are often available in person at an event’s Box Office

If you need anything else, just reply to this email or click Help on Ticketmaster.com!

Sincerely,

April

Ticketmaster Fan Support

-------------------------------------

On 8/17/2016 4:27 PM, Paula Sroka wrote:

Hello,

I'm afraid that does not help me at all! I live in Brazil and travel often to the USA so it's not a possibility to by via phone.

If your website wasn't always congested certainly I would not have trouble refreshing the window to buy tickets.

Isn't there any way this can be reversed? This is absurd. I don't understand why me as a user needs to be penalized seeing as your tickets always "sell out" and we - the fans - end up having to buy from resale sites at overpriced rates.

I am really extremely disappointed by this. How can this be reversed?

I look forward to hearing from you on this matter and thank you for your attention to it.

Best,

Paula

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2016 15:09:09 -0400

From: customer_support@ticketmaster.com

To: coolpaulinha@hotmail.com

Subject: Re: RE: General Information -> Received error during purchase process

Hi Paula,

Thank you for reaching out to us. Unfortunately we are not able to reverse this. It may be that your Internet Service Provider will not allow you to have access to the website. If you can try to make the purchase from an Internet Cafe or anything like that, make sure that they do not have the same internet provider. <-- nbsp="" seriously="" span="">

If you need anything else, just reply to this email or click Help on Ticketmaster.com!

Sincerely,

Luis

Ticketmaster Fan Support

---------------------------------------

What terms of use? Trying to buy tickets on an overloaded server?
Go buy tickets at an internet cafe is an actual suggestion?
And they pass the buck, it's the ISPs fault? 

So, that's it. Ticketmaster blocks real fans from buying tickets so their resale sites can profit even more by reselling at premium dollar their already overpriced tickets!

Ontem eu não morri... Então hoje vos escrevo.

Ontem eu fui atropelada por uma motocicleta em alta velocidade que cruzou o farol vermelho na Av. dos Bandeirantes.
Talvez você conheça outra pessoa que tenha sofrido um acidente no trânsito. Talvez você já tenha sofrido um acidente no trânsito.  Mas eu nunca imaginei que fosse acontecer comigo. Eu dirigo de acordo com a lei vigente, jamais cruzei um farol vermelho,  seja dia ou seja noite, respeito os limites de velocidade.
Na bicicleta,  eu uso capacete,  paro no farol vermelho igualmente,  pois é meu dever respeitar o pedestre. Você pode argumentar que é perigoso parar no vermelho à noite. Caso você não saiba, quando você vir o semáforo vermelho lá longe, ao invés de acelerar, desacelere e mova lentamente até ele ficar verde. Mais um argumento sobre essa patética ideia do "perigo em São Paulo": já foi assaltado no engarrafamento?  Pois é! O trânsito parado é MUITO MAIS PERIGOSO que uma rua deserta à noite.
Mas vamos passar para o dia, pois afinal, eu fui atropelada de dia, e não à noite.
Por que você cruza o semáforo vermelho? Acabou de virar? Excesso de velocidade? Tá com pressa? Tá atrasado? Mãe morrendo no hospital?  É rico e dirige uma Mercedes ou uma SUV e acha que é melhor que os outros? É pobre e dirige um voyage 87 caindo aos pedaços então o resto do mundo tem que ter pena de você ser pobre?
No trânsito todos parecem ter uma boa desculpa para quebrar a lei. "Tadinhos dos motoboys, eles sofrem com a pressão do trabalho". Isso justifica tantos passarem no farol vermelho?
TODA VEZ QUE VOCÊ CRUZA O FAROL VERMELHO,  SEJA MOTORISTA, MOTOCICLISTA, CICLISTA OU PEDESTRE, VOCÊ DESTRÓI A CONFIABILIDADE DE UM SISTEMA COLETIVO QUE DEPENDE DA RESPONSABILIDADE DE TODOS PARA FUNCIONAR.
A confiabilidade desse sistema esta completamente deteriorada nesta cidade.
Responda para você mesmo, por que você desrespeita o semáforo?  Talvez a última razão que você consiga se recordar seja "porque eu não acredito que eu vá matar ninguém ".
VOCÊ ESTÁ ERRADO. Somos todos assassinos em potencial quando ignoramos um sistema utilizado para nos proteger.
As leis de trânsito evitam o stress de sermos forçados a tomar decisões a cada instante.  Não seria melhor viver num trânsito mais fácil?  Então pare de tomar decisões, só obedeça a lei.
E se você realmente acha que cruzar o farol vale a pena, eu sinceramente desejo que você sinta a dor que eu sinto agora um dia.

Fiquem à vontade para compartilhar. Quanto mais pessoas lererm,  mais a chance de vivermos melhor.

For those who think feminism is for man-hating dykes.

More often than not, I have heard people pointing out how feminism is ridiculous because it tries to make women superior to men. Any educated person who has read more than only Camille Paglia will know that is untrue. But what if it were?

So I woke up this morning thinking about this and why this happens. Undoubtedly, there must have been others who have written this, but it is the internet - we repeat ourselves as self-statements all the time.
First off, I need feminism. In a world where more than 50% of business leaders are men, they will continue hiring men because people mingle with like-minded people. Women have had to do more than men and be more energetic and harsh because if they were "just being women," they would have been stuck with "women's jobs" instead of succeeding in their ambitions.
Secondly, I need feminism because when I make breakfast for the two men in my house, I always get a thank you and a smile, but the rare times I ask breakfast to be made, I get a complaint or a sarcastic remark. I only get breakfast made without asking when it is International Women's Day - only contact me if you know what happened or when it is Google it - or Mother's Day or my birthday.
Finally, men still fail to see that emotions are part of being human, not a woman. If I cry, I am being a "little girl"; if I complain, I am being a "bitch"; if I yell, I am being "irrational". Men are never called those terms, except for "little girl" if they cry as children.
So I need feminism, being married, being a mother, being a teacher, being human because apparently the word man has left out the hu- on purpose.

P.S.: credit be given - my men share the chores with me at home. But if society weren't sexist, that would have been needless to point out...