Ticketmaster has always shown

Ticketmaster has always shown itself to be a subsidiary of satan, with their frequent buyouts of their only competitors and their attaching a $6 "convenience fee" to my tickets (30% of face value, how convenient!), but last week they showed a new face of evil.

Wednesday night, I wanted to buy three tickets for a Friday night show in San Francisco. The tickets were for my wife and I, and a friend. Trying to buy three tickets resulted in an error message stating that due to either ticket limitations or server problems, my request for tickets could not be fulfilled. I was instructed to lower my requested tickets and try again. So I tried 2, which worked fine. Just for the hell of it, I went back and tried 4 tickets, which also worked. Hmm. I went back and tried to buy three, but again got an error. I tried 2, then 4 tickets again to make sure, then tried three tickets. Buying 2 or 4 tickets still worked, and 3 tickets gave an error.

I bought two tickets and informed my friend of the troubles and told him to buy a single ticket. A few hours after I bought my tickets, he couldn't buy 1, 2, 3, or 4 tickets, getting the same errors I was getting before for 3 tickets. My friend didn't end up going to the show, fearing it was sold out. When I got to the concert, not only was the event not sold out, but they were selling tickets like hotcakes from the box office, and the venue was only about 3/4 full during the show.

I really wish there were alternatives to the Ticketmaster cartel.