Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Ticketmaster is Blocking IPs - 403 Forbidden Error



When you try and access the Ticketmaster.com website and receive the error message:

Forbidden

You don't have permission to access / on this server.

If this occurs, it is likely that Ticketmaster.com has blocked your IP Address. This can happen since Ticketmaster the IP Address every time a user makes a request to buy tickets. The problem is that in many large Condo Buildings, the IP Address for the High Speed Internet Connection is shared. Therefore, if one user in the Condo Building makes too many Ticketmaster requests, the IP Address rather than just that registered users account is banned automatically by their system after 24 hours.

After this occurred to me, I tried calling Ticketmaster Customer Service at 800-653-8000. Of course the Rep was aware of the situation and was able to lookup my IP Address and tell me it was blocked for 24 hours. He said there was nothing that could be done, assuming that I was the one that was submitting numerous ticket requests to their system. I was thinking to myself, the idiot that did this must have been on their computer for 3 or more hours considering how long it takes to get past the Captcha characters. I told the Rep. The Rep told me there was nothing that could be done and he refused to escalate my request. He said I could send a letter to customer_support@ticketmaster.com.

Instead of sending the letter that probably wouldn't get responded to in the next week or so, I decided to send a Tweet to @Ticketmaster. After 3 hours, still no reply which was irritating, since I noticed they must have read the message. I followed it up with a second tweet, this time including the Ticketmaster CEO @nathanchubbard who as before been accused of blocking the IP of ticket brokers.

What I simply don't understand is with all that technology at Ticketmaster, why would you prevent your good customers from downloading their season tickets. Instead, why don't you find a better business process for addressing those that hit their site too many times for new tickets or different seats. Why don't you base your system on the registered account user and ban him or her rather than the entire IP Address?

If I were the professional Sports Teams, I wouldn't use Ticketmaster for managing the ticketing process. They should either build their own or ensure a more customer friendly system is in place so that there is 0% downtime for printing and accessing tickets. They certainly do not understand their customer.

10 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm having the same issue.After the 24 hours did they unblock you?

Unknown said...

This happened to me but I didn't buy anything! I was merely looking for better tickets and made many search attempts. What the hell is wrong with them? I go to ONE concert every 2 years or so and I can't afford much, so I am relegated to exhaustive searches. Ticketmaster really sucks, they always have, just more now than ever. Thieves. They are a monopoly only one step less criminal than the scalpers. That said, does this ALWAYS go away after 24 hours? Thanks!

Unknown said...

I had been searching to Eagles tickets ... waiting for some good seats. I finally get Section A, Row 3 floor seats ... I hit the "Buy" button and I get the "403 Forbidden Error" message. UGHHHHHHHHH!!!

Unknown said...

No, it DOES NOT always go away after 24 hrs, I'm going on 36 hours now! I too was searching for Eagles tickets, went to press "buy" and got the 403 Forbidden Error. Not the first time this has happened to me. Last time it was 24 hrs, this time though it's going on 36 hrs and I still cannot get back on, anyone have any suggestions?

George Koumoutsidis said...

go to know. thanks. i live in a condo. thanks neighbors!

Unknown said...

hello i have had the same issues with ticketmaster, i search and search to much cause they always give the same seats n sections i dont want, the locked me out during the presale of a wwe show i was trying to get, it let me back in on the general sale, but it woudlnt even show up any seats at all, i ended up calling them and even on the automated ph it gave me the same seats n section, i just gave up and took the damn seats, its not what i wanted tho!
The next day i went to show a friend where we are going to sit for the show, and it already blocked me out once again! i was like what?? i didnt search any seats at all after got my tickets. and once in a while it pops up when i go to it, then it doesnt it doesnt make any sense at all, i will use that twitter name and i will message them, i also sent out a few tweets of my own i was so upset with them.. im at the point that id rather pay more going thru stub hub than to deal with them at all. :-( i cant afford to go to shows often so its silly they even do this crap, it only took about 40 mins for them to block me, i kept getting nose bleeds seats, with the price i was paying, i shouldnt have gotten them, and same ones over and over.. its suppose to automated to pick random seats, but it doesnt

Unknown said...

You can use a VPN to circumvent it as far as I can tell.

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Aurora said...

I've had this happening to me for years now and have spent countless hours on the phone with their customer service.
I repeatedly point out to them that this method blocks the legitimate user who just happens to get a recycled IP address from a user who was blocked, and they should use another scheme, like block based on account login, which would be fair.
I now request hard tickets whenever I can get on to purchase.

I'm thinking of going to my local media.

Unknown said...

I have also been blocked. Ive tried purchasung sisters of mercy tickets online but when entering my address UK is not listed in the mandatory select option.
Crazy. Now i am alsi blocked by phone.
Terrible service!!!!