7:32 p.m. UPDATE:
Still no word from FGT. In other news, this is awesome.
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Coachella and its ticketing partner, Front Gate Tickets (FGT) are currently in hot water due to thousands of ticket transactions becoming “lost” in cyberspace this morning. The passes went on sale at 10 a.m. this morning, and only an hour later weekend one tickets were completely sold out. Shortly following, weekend two tickets sold out around 1 p.m. In all of this hustle and bustle, according to Front Gate Ticket’s Facebook page, it seems that thousands of hopeful festival goers (including myself) have been given the short end of the stick and were charged for tickets without receiving any confirmation.
Here are 7 things that can still happen to turn this mess around.
1. Responding to inquiries on social media without new or helpful information is just as bad as not responding at all.
Providing a phone number that leads to a phone message and not an actual person on the other line during a crisis is only making things worse. Instead, dedicate your team, whether they are in customer service or not to answer phones and then direct them to a customer service representative.
2. Put out an official statement regarding the issue and your plan on how it will be resolved.
Social media is a beast, and if you choose to feed it you also have to deal with the consequences. Hashing out the relatively same message to each inquiry is not helping the cause. I do admit, it is a step above being silent, but it is better to have some answers instead of nothing at all.
If it were me sitting behind the computer faced with a thousand angry customers I would stay on message, but provide helpful feedback. You may not have an answer, but there has to be SOMETHING that is in the works. Telling you customers and “fans” that you understand the frustration today has caused and a team is currently working into resolving the matter is better than “contact customer service.” Go one step father and say once you hear word of any information regarding this matter you will post it on your social media pages and for your customers and “fans” to check back in an hour (or however long you feel it will take to get some kind of answer.)
Time references is important in social media. Soon ≠ soon. Give them a real time frame (and stick to it) and you will make people much happier.
3. “Patient” is a trigger word.
When you’re pissed, the last thing you want to hear is to “please be patient.” Might as well tell your fans to take a chill pill or to calm down. Instead, put the blame back on you even if it is out of your hands. This is where #2 comes back in.
4. Protect your brand.
Again, stay on message but HAVE a message.
5. Get your partner on board.
And what about the thousands of people who are still in ticket limbo? Anyone? Bueller, Bueller …
6. You’re only human, and so are they. Share some empathy.
Crisis communications is overwhelming. Don’t take things personally and just do the best that you can to get the message out. Kudos for this response. It shows some humility.
7. Know your audience.
I haven’t done any market research, but I would bet that the majority of Coachella attendees are millennials. This generation is tech savvy. They get social media. They are influencers and know what good customer service is (and feel entitled to it.)
But, it is sold out. And … you still have my money.
Hmm.
I am still waiting for an email response to an email I sent FGT at 11 a.m. I’ll update as this saga unfolds. I just want to be assured I either have tickets or will be getting a refund.
i go to more festivals and concerts each year than you have probably been in you entire life. i have had the unluckiness to deal with frontgate for years now. this is same process they have used to years and have watched it fail for lollapalooza, langerado, and austin city limits music festival as well as for just regular shows for years now. the front gate company itself has like 25 people in there office so when they do these large festivals it’s pure chaos because they do not have the staff to deal with the problems sell outs create. i can gaurantee you probably won’t get a response for a day or 2 atleast.
Can we sue them for taking our money and telling us we are getting tickets? I have not recieved an e mail for mine but after I purchased mine I kept going through purchasing tickets for my friends thinking I already has tickets since they told me I did. Now all of my friends recieved their conformation e mails except for me!! This is truely un fair to tell your customer they got what they purchased, take their money and then tell them they didn’t. I honestly want to take this to court.
After talking to my bank today which handles my visa, they assured me that the money for the unprocessed transaction would be returned in 3 days or a fraud investigation would be eminent. I did manage to get tickets but only because my credit limit was high enough that even though i was declined 3 times, and charged 3 times, on the 4th order i received my confirmation that the tickets had in fact been purchased.
Hi you guys took my money however didn’t give me a ticket or a email confirming my purchase, i would like my ticket please
Yeah same thing here.
“Apparently, FrontGate will bring you through to the purchase page, even if there aren’t tickets available. Then, after verifying funds on your card, if no tickets are available, they’ll cancel the order and you start over. Shit thing is, these funds are on hold with your bank/AmEx for a few days. Fucked up fucking system. As for the shuttle passes, apparently Coachella is obligated to the City of Indio to sell a certain number of combo passes… ???”
From Here: http://www.coachella.com/forum/showthread.php?49229-Who-Else-is-In-The-Waiting-Room&p=2349973&viewfull=1#post2349973
This. Is. Bullshit.
Hi all – we’re collecting information from people who experienced the same thing: funds were removed from your account, but no tickets were delivered.
Please gmail us your information so we can begin to compile a list with the total amounts that Front Gate Tickets has effectively stolen from consumers (limiting their actual product purchasing in the case of failed transactions).
A fraud report is being prepared for submission to the Texas State Auditor’s Office, and we will look into either (i) having the product delivered promptly (in this case verification of ticket purchase), or (ii) recovery of funds, plus interest and damages.
Please include any details about contact attempts you have made to Front Gate Tickets.
Our gmail address is ‘robbed.by.frontgate’ or ‘robbedbyFGtix’
Follow us on twitter @robbedbyFGtix.
If we work together, we can find a resolution more rapidly.
(Single fraud cases of $millions are handled with greater attention than thousands of individual fraud cases of $thousands each.)
At this point I don’t want a damn refund. I want my ticket. I was on the site from the start when there were plenty of tickets available. There was an error on the first attempt but my card was still charged. My card was declined on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th attempts because a charge had already been placed on my card and so my funds were too low to purchase 2 tickets. All this time wasted and all I’ll get back is my money. What about the 8 hours spent trying to speak to a manager? Or the day of work I missed in order to buy these tickets? Or the frustration I’ve experienced just trying to claim what I’ve paid for. Gimme a break man. Things aren’t supposed to work like this. Did the high demand catch you guys off guard? Were the last 12 years no indication?
exactly^^
any news on this disaster? has it been resolved?
doesnt really matter cause im the unlucky person who couldnt get tickets in time anyway. so pissed this coachella, ive been to almost everyone. never had any trouble getting tickets 3 months in advance before.. jeez. get more tickets for the event, i know coachella and there is plenty of free space.
i really dont like how they are doing it now, no single day passes, very little passes in general it seems now.. the two weekend thing is great but if it honestly is going to sell out like this every year i quit bothering.
ive never been the person to just spend money on a event so ahead of time i dont even know what the actual lineup will be, sadly coachella has turned into this. im for sure not going to be pissed one year when the line up sucks ass and i had to buy my tickets like 5 months before the lineup was even realeased… just stupid. majority of people dont live in cali and its more than just buying a ticket sadly thats covered with the cost to get their.
i really hope they figure something better out for next year, definitely sucks to miss that lineup but ill catch them in other places for much cheaper and less of a hassle and i can buy some extra instruments on the side…. all for cheaper than the price id pay just to go straight to coachella and back from texas.
ill see you in Austin M83.. atari teenage riot, justice.. not so much.. maybe one day.
suck just aint looking worth it anymore. before you had more of choice of what you really wanted to see, i dont like being forced to pay for days i wont be apart of or just might not enjoy as much as others.
SUUUUUUUCCKCKCKCKCKKSSSS
i fail at typing when im upset..