Is Ticketmaster fleecing its customers, or is Leonard Cohen that popular?

TicketMaster is a major rip off.
Every time I've used them I ask meself why and that I would never do it again.
You pay for better seats and they give you what they want.
Service is less than one would expect and the attitude they have towards customers is take it or leave it.

Tickemaster is also operating an insurance scam when you purchase tickets. In addition to all the extra fees being added on (at least these are in the open), they also tack-on an insurance fee and then give you 10 days to cancel the insurance. The insurance is if you cannot attend. RIDICULOUS. If I can't attend, I'll sell my ticket!!!!!

Are you an idiot? Why in the world would someone wait until three minutes after a show goes on sale to try to get tickets? Concerts, especially those performed by people that rarely tour, sell out in an instant. If you are too slow or otherwise unable to be at your computer at the exact time tickets go on sale, then that is totally your problem. No one is forcing you to go to the show, or to not be at your PC waiting for the 10 AM on sale, like thousands of other, smarter, Cohen fans were. It's time for people to grow up and take personal responsibility for their own actions. If you were not smart enough to be there exactly when tickets went on sale, then you can either pay someone a mark up to make up for your slacking, or not go to the show. No one is entitled to a ticket to any event - get up, get in line (or online) and be ready to buy your tickets when they go on sale. Then maybe you want come across like a whiny little brat. As for the Attorney General's involvement, I would think the government would have far more important things to do than to be worried about who got shut out of concerts tickets. They go on sale at 10 AM, and at 10:03, you were late, and don't deserve a ticket.

Hopefully the merger doesn't go through.

If you want to get tickets, definitely try to get a presale password.

And please don't ever buy the rip-off insurance.

Mr. Jones, you miss the point. Ticketmaster is setting aside tickets to shows and scalping them at enormous profit on their associate sites. This is not OK with the artists or their fans.
I was online within the first 30 seconds of a PRE-sale for fanclub members only, with a 2 ticket limit; will call only. The artist requests these sales to throw the scalpers off, but we know Ticketmaster was scalping on their other sites even during the presales. (I got in, not great seats by a long shot.)
So, yes, we know that tickets for popular shows sell out fast, in part due to scalpers,
but we don't want Ticketmaster to have first crack at the tickets only to turn around and scalp them. Of course they should be investigated for it. No brainer.

Ticketmaster can be blamed for alot of things (e.g. Conflict of Interest with its ownership of Ticketsnow.com, poor service, high 'Convenience' charges, etc.) but the Ticketmaster TicketExchange/Marketplace Leanard Cohen fiasco is not one of them.

The promoter (and likely Leonard Cohen's Management) controls all of the ticket inventory for Mr. Cohen's shows and Ticketmaster provides the sales mechanism and vehicles (Regular sale, TicketExchange and possibly TM Auction).

For the most part, the vast majority of tickets being sold at obscene prices on the Ticketmaster Marketplace have been placed there by the promoter and not by fans or Ticketmaster. This approach is similar to many of the big acts currently on tour from The Eagles to Britney Spears... just check any of their shows that are on sale via Ticketmaster and you will see that the promoter is scalping their own seats using the TicketExchange or Marketplace facility.

The unscrupulous role of promoters and bands (through their management) has just not got out to the public through the media. The fixation has been on Ticketmaster primarily because the media and the average fan just don't know how the system works. When they do, it will be a shocker as fans will learn that the bands, through their promoters or perhaps even with their direct involvement are in on the shakedown.

All the best.

I sat at my computer from 9 am to 10 am waiting for cohen tickets to go on sale and at 10 on the dot they were sold out. I got sick to my stomache. There are so many presales, which i think are garbage, that by the time us regular folk can buy tickets, they are all gone. somehow, and on a random chance, i just happened upon the hall website where he was playing and i found tickets at a hundred and something dollars. but honestly for leonard cohen, i don't care how much it cost.

I logged in 1 second after the tickets became available on TMaster, by pressing the reload button at a frequency of 1 Hz after 10:59. The link (Oakland, Ap 14th) became active at around 10:00:03. I was able to buy two tickets for the original price of $69. I did not bother to look where they were.

Ticketmaster can not stop people speculating on tickets. The only way to stop this is to sell tickets with the names of the purchaser printed on them, and to ask people for IDs.

Here is what makes me mad - Britney Spears is a "sold out" concert. Got my tickets early from Ticketmaster - paid regular price but have tickets in the seated area. Would have preferred the general admission floor area but they were sold out "in minutes". Went onto Ticketmaster today - 2 DAYS BEFORE CONCERT and there are tickets available in ALL price ranges...CLEARLY NOT SOLD OUT. Good thing I didn't buy tickets off of eBay for triple the price! How is that a sold out concert??????????