Boycott Ticketmaster

I recently had the privilege of interacting with Ticketmaster's customer service department and was pretty horrified by the fact that they refuse to cease providing my personal information to third parties. Below is the entire interaction with their customer "service" representative. This is a pretty long thread to read through, but I think it demonstrates Ticketmaster's complete unwillingness to protect their customer's privacy. I find it funny how they continue to thank me for my business in their stupid ass form letter even as i'm basically telling them to screw off.

Hello,

Is there a way for me to opt out of receiving emails from third parties, such as venues, after purchasing a ticket through ticketmaster.com? Every time I purchase a ticket I am immediately spammed with emails from the venue, other venues, and promoters throughout the area. This is extremely frustrating and I'm upset that ticketmaster would give out my personal email address in this way. I don't want to have to create a separate email address just for ticketmaster purchases to avoid being spammed, and I shouldn't have to sift through these emails and individually unsubscribe from mailing lists that I never wanted to opt into in the first place, but I am not given a choice as to whether I would like to opt out.

Thank you for your time

Robert C


(Kelly (Ticketmaster.com Customer Support))*02/21/2008 04:51 PM EST

Dear Robert,

Thank you for your e-mail. When you initially set up your My Ticketmaster account or purchased tickets, you were opted in to receive e-mails from Ticketmaster and from those who provide the events for which you purchase tickets, as stated clearly on the screen during those processes, and in the Ticketmaster.com Privacy Policy.

We have re-set the Ticketmaster databases so that Ticketmaster will not send future marketing e-mails to the e-mail address designated in your My Ticketmaster account (unless of course you separately opt-in). We do not control the databases or e-mail practices of those who provide the entertainment events for which you purchase tickets from Ticketmaster. To unsubscribe from those databases, you will need to communicate with the event providers directly.

We hope you have found our reply to your e-mail to be helpful, and regret any inconvenience you may have experienced. If you have any additional questions about our privacy or e-mail practices, you may find the answers to them in our privacy policy.

Thank you for using Ticketmaster. We very much appreciate your business, and hope we were able to resolve any problems or answer any questions you had. Please reply, and let us know if we may be of further assistance.

Sincerely,

Kelly (Ticketmaster.com Customer Support) * Customer (Robert C)*02/21/2008 03:12 PM EST

Customer (Robert C)*02/21/2008 05:12 PM EST
Hello Kelly,
I understand that your privacy policy is stated and that you are not doing anything that I did not agree to by signing up for an account and purchasing tickets. My problem is not that you followed through on your promise to give out my email address, but that I believe your policy to be unfair and exploitive. Customers are not provided with a choice as to whether or not to opt into this spamming policy, other than not using your website for purchasing tickets. Considering you hold a near monopoly on event ticket purchases, customer's choices are severely limited.

I am not worried about whether or not you reset your database so that I don't receive emails from ticketmaster. I can do that myself through the account settings interface.

I am, however, upset that I seem to have no choice as to whether or not you provide my personal information to third parties from whom I do not want to receive such materials. Is this what is implied by your response, that your company will not discontinue providing third parties with my email address?

* Subject* third party emails * Discussion Thread* * (Kelly (Ticketmaster.com Customer Support))*02/21/2008 05:21 PM EST

Dear Robert,

Thank you for contacting us. We do regret any inconvenience you have experienced. Opting in to receive emails from those who provide the events for which you purchase tickets is part of an agreement Ticketmaster maintains with its partners. If you do not wish to be opted in to receive emails from those who provide the entertainment events for which you purchase tickets from Ticketmaster, tickets can also be purchased from your local outlets and directly from the venue. Again, we regret any inconvenience.

Thank you for using Ticketmaster. We very much appreciate your business, and hope we were able to resolve any problems or answer any questions you had. Please let us know if we may beof further assistance.

Sincerely,
Kelly (Ticketmaster.com Customer Support) *

Customer (Robert C) 02/21/2008 05:34 PM EST
Thank you for clarifying, Kelly. This agreement you have with your partners is at the expense of and to the detriment of your customers, a group of which I will no longer be a part. I am thoroughly shocked that a supposedly respectable company would have such a complete disregard for the privacy of its customers.

There is no valid reason that I can come up with that your company would not provide an opt out for to these types of information sharing. You said yourself that I could purchase tickets from the venue itself or through your local outlets and I would not be subjected to this type of deceptive marketing. I think I'll take the former option and make absolutely sure to tell as many people I can think of to do the same until your company changes this ridiculous practice. Please tell me how I can remove my customer account from your database along with any personal information.

(Kelly (Ticketmaster.com Customer Support)) 02/21/2008 05:38 PM EST
Dear Robert,

Thank you for your e-mail. We have removed your account from our system. We do not control the databases or e-mail practices of those who provide the entertainment events for which you purchase tickets from Ticketmaster. To unsubscribe from those databases, you will need to communicate with the event providers directly.

We hope you have found our reply to your e-mail to be helpful, and regret any inconvenience you may have experienced. If you have any additional questions about our privacy or e-mail practices, you may find the answers to them in our privacy policy.

Thank you for using Ticketmaster. We very much appreciate your business, and hope we were able to resolve any problems or answer any questions you had. Please reply, and let us know if we may be of further assistance.

Sincerely,
Kelly (Ticketmaster.com Customer Support)