ComplaintsforColumbus Clippers

• Initial Complaint

  07/15/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On Friday July 15th, 2022 I was attempting to purchase 4 tickets to a Columbus Clippers baseball game through Ticketmaster. The online purchasing process would not allow me to purchase tickets in my desired location within the stadium because it left one open seat in the row. I contacted the Columbus Clippers ticket office and advised that due to the size of my group I would need to leave one seat open to satisfy our desired location within the venue. I contacted the ticket office at 9:48 AM EST on July 15th, 2022. The consultant advised that customers are not allowed to purchase tickets to games that leave one seat open in the row because it hurts the Columbus Clippers' ability to sell the other empty seat. I advised of the size of my party and that we would need to purchase that one seat. The consultant refused to sell that seat to me advising specifically "How do you expect us to sell that one ticket?". I am unclear on the legality of this process and feel that is discriminatory in nature that only benefits the company and not the customer.

  Business response

  07/28/2022

  Here is my explanation of the policy and below is *****' version of the phone call.
  
  The policy to not allow one single seat in a row is an industry-wide policy as most people attend games in groups of 2 or more. Single seats are harder to sell as most people do not attend alone.

  Per Ticketmaster.com, "it means you can't leave a seat at the end of a row or between two occupied seats. This ensures more fans who go together can sit together".

  https://help.ticketmaster.com/s/article/What-does-you-may-not-leave-a-single-unoccupied-seat-mean?language=en_US#:~:text=Mar%2015%2C%202019%E2%80%A2Article,or%20between%20two%20occupied%20seats.
  
  From *****:
  
  I believe I was the person he spoke to.
  
  He called indicating he had already purchased a small group (six or seven) seats together and now needed to add one more, but the Ticketmaster system did not allow him to do so because only two seats were still open in the row. He asked me to bypass that system and do it, but I told him we had the same constraints and could not sell him that particular ticket and break up the open pair as there were still plenty of open seats still available elsewhere in the section.
  
  I offered him two alternatives to get his entire group together by moving the original tickets. One option was to relocate the group back just 2 rows in the same section they were already in, and the second option was to relocate to a different reserved seating section on the opposite side of the ballpark. Both of those options would have allowed him to purchase one more ticket and have the entire group together, but he refused, saying only that he felt he should be allowed to purchase the seat he was asking for.
  
  At that point he began yelling and threatened to complain later saying it must be illegal not to sell him the exact seat he was asking for.
  
  WE WILL CONTEST THAT A GUEST DOES NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO DEMAND A CHANGE IN A VALID POLICY THAT A COMPANY OPERATES UNDER AND THAT IS CONSISTENT FOR ALL OF ITS CUSTOMERS...
  AND IN COLUMBUS, YOU WILL FIND THIS SAME POLICY WITH THE ARTS VENUES AND CONCERTS AT THE ARENAS..
  ALSO THE SAME POLICY WOULD BE IN PLACE WITH OSU SPORTS, THE CBJ AND THE CREW...
  HE WAS OFFERED SUITABLE ALTERNATIVES, BUT CHOSE INSTEAD TO TRY TO YELL & BULLY HIS WAY TO THE ANSWER HE WANTED....
  
  *** ********
  President & GM
  Columbus Clippers
  Huntington Park
  330 Huntington Park Lane
  Columbus, OH 43215

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