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Absolutely!  In fact, I have one strategy that will guarantee you will be on the phone with a live Ticketmaster agent the minute tickets go on sale.

If the event goes on sale at 10am, call at 9:30am. 

First you spend about 15 minutes playing in the automated system.  “Press 1 to hear about Disney on Ice.  Press 2 for the Dallas Cowboy’s Home Schedule.  Press 3 to hear about Britney Spear’s comeback tour.”  Keep pressing buttons and listening to the recorded message.  “Press 4 to repeat this message.” 

Around 9:45am everyone you know is starting to dial now and they are getting a busy signal.  Meanwhile, you have memorized the dates and times for Dancing with the Stars for upcoming weekend in Chicago, Illinois. 

At some point you will make a mistake and hit a wrong button, the system will kick you out because you have been on too long, or it will get to about 5-10 minutes before the tickets go on sale.  In any case, you are now on hold waiting for a representative.  Once connected, you should still be a few minutes early.  As such, it is time to ask everything you can about upcoming events.  “Did I hear there is a rodeo coming to town?”  “Is Disney on Ice sold out?  My husband sure loves Minnie Mouse.” 

At 10am rolls around and you say “I would like to purchase 6 tickets for the World Series please.”  It works every time.

Here are a few other strategies that will help your odds buying tickets through Ticketmaster.

1. Recruit everyone you know to call on your behalf.  Even if you end up with a few extra tickets, they should be easy to resell on eBay. 
2. Do not call Ticketmaster Express (866-448-7849.)  It is 100% automated, leaving you with no options if you need live help.  Also, Ticketmaster Express allows automated purchases for most events, but not all events.
3. Do not call the Ticketmaster local access number for your area.  Ticketmaster does use regional call centers, so you can’t call a California access number for a Miami event.  You can however call a Tampa access number for a
   Miami event.  This will help you avoid a busy signal.
4. Call from a landline.  It’s not faster, but it is less likely you’ll lose the call mid way through your order.
5. Know exactly what you want – number of seats, sections that are acceptable.  Every second counts!

Good luck and please continue to send me your questions.  Feel free to subscribe to my RSS feed or weekly newsletter.  Both will provide links to my articles and information about tickets going on sale in the near future.  Thanks!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 17th, 2007 at 10:45 pm and is filed under Buying Strategy, Ticketmaster. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.