How to unbuy tickets to a flop

[BroadwayAbridged]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 10:20am

I just read about this in Second Act Trouble, a way people "return" tickets to a show they pre-purchased for when it ends up being a flop:
exchange the tickets for a far-flung date in the future when you're sure it will have closed by, and then get your money back when it does.

If I buy tickets to a show I pretty much want to see it regardless, but anybody ever actually done this?

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 10:57am

Its happened the OTHER way around for me.

BOBBI BOLAND closed 6 days before the performance I had tickets for. As you know the show closed after its first week of previews -- I would have seen it on its 2nd week of previews.

Ugh!

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 10:59am

I thought you couldn't exchange tickets...is the policy dependent on the show or theater now?

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 11:09am

Another show that closed on me (I had tickets for the following weekend), was PETE 'N' KEELY. All I have to remind me of that little gem is the cast recording.

They should film/tape this as an HBO Special with Megan Mullally as Keely and Alec Baldwin as Pete.

[keen on kean]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 11:38am

I also thought tickets were not exchangeable. What's the secret?

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 12:25pm

Hope the show closes before you are to see it.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 12:28pm

Yeah, but if you can't exchange tickets for a future date (which is what you are apparently supposed to do to get a "refund" according to the original post), then I don't see the point.

[BroadwayAbridged]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 1:00pm

I can think of two separate times that I've been able to exchange tickets for a future date. Both were tickets bought (and exchanged) at the box office. I wonder if they would have let me just plain return them in those two situations, my assumption is maybe not, but who knows.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 3:28pm

The ticket policy states that tickets cannot be refunded or exchanged, but I have heard of instances where people got away with it, which is why I was curious. Maybe it also depends who you encounter at the box office and what mood they're in.

Updated On: 1/6/08 at 03:28 PM

[WickedBoy2]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 3:38pm

Depends on your attitude as you approach the box office clerk! Be polite to them and they will be helpful to you. Ive worked in box offices many times over the years.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 4:05pm

I tried that once and the nice man at the Box Office smiled and told me to add a few more months, just in case the show limped along.

Guess he'd seen it all before...

[alfgiotir]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 6:39pm

wait, but what is the point of buying a ticket to a show months ahead, knowing it is going to flop?
Updated On: 1/6/08 at 06:39 PM

[jordangirl]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 6:42pm

I *think* the point is what if you have tickets to a show that got panned or whatever and you basically want a refund...then if it's obvious it's going to flop, you can possibly exchange it for a date in the future when you're pretty sure the show will have closed so you can get a refund.

Not really an issue for me because if I want to see a show, I'll see it in spite of the reviews (except possibly roscoe's...seems like if s/he likes something a lot, I'll hate it), so... I like to make up my own mind.

[jordangirl]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 6:44pm

My point exactly. If you've already got the ticket, why not see it for yourself and make up your own mind?

[alfgiotir]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 6:48pm

why would someone buy a ticket to something you don't have any intention of going to go see?

[jordangirl]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 6:51pm

I'm not the original poster, but I think (let's try this again) the scenario is this:

Person buys tickets to a show they think they want to see. Show gets panned by critics and possibly people on a message board and is not selling well, likely to close at some point in the near future but after Person's tickets. Person decides to listen to everyone else's opinion and not go to the show rather than going to see it and making up her/his own mind. But Person wants his/her money back.

(Translation: Person thought they wanted to see the show, but since it seems like there's no one else in their little world who likes it, they assume they won't either.)
Is that more clear?

Updated On: 1/6/08 at 06:51 PM

[SpellingBeeFan4Ever]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 6:53pm

So, if you have tickets and it closes before the show your'e supposed to see, can you get money back?

[jordangirl]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 6:57pm

Yes. If a show closes before your tickets are good for, you get your money back.

Updated On: 1/6/08 at 06:57 PM

[SpellingBeeFan4Ever]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 7:03pm

Thanks I was always curious.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 7:07pm

You mean you actually thought you lost your money if a show closed?

Shows have been closing with tickets sold in advance for decades (yes, decades). If this 'no refund' policy was the case -- I think you would have heard about this for decades.

Same thing applies to concert tickets -- concert gets cancelled... you get a refund. Concert postpones... your ticket works for the new date scheduled (they never reprint tickets with 'new' date).

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/7/08 at 3:11am

Jordan, add a few elemnts. The person who bought the ticket is a student. He has limited resources. He buys a ticket to a show with a very famous composer or lyricist. Figures he'll get his $$$ worth from the score alone. Turns out the show is one of several POS the composer or lyricist cranked out at the end of his illustrious career. So....

[B3TA07]

Posted: 1/7/08 at 3:37am

What show are you bitter about, allofmylife? Lol

[jennafan]

Posted: 1/7/08 at 3:55am

Ugh, I hate the no return policy on tickets.
In 2001, I visited NY for the first time. I had purchased ahead of time tickets for Aida and Phantom of the Opera. The night I got to NY, I started feeling sick. I made it to Aida, but spent most of the time in the bathroom. At least I could still HEAR the show from there. :P
It was weird cause the batroom was pretty empty, and then some woman came in and told a cleaning lady that she had just gotten 'sick' on the stairs. :|

I made it through Aida, but just stood in the back and watched it. As my trip went on, I still felt sick. I was told it was just a virus.

The day of Phantom of the Opera, I knew I wasn't going to make it. I tried calling the day before, too. I called the ticket place (I think it was tele-charge) and they would not hear it. They told me that there were no refunds and if I wanted to resell the tickets I would have to go down to the theatre to do so. I had like 2nd row seats (because I purchased them far in advance) and I was SO pissed because I knew they could resell them.
To make a long story short, I went home a day later and within a couple days after that, I was having my appendix out (and it was gangrene).

To this day, I have not gotten over how rudely I was treated by the ticket place. I wrote them a nasty letter afterward and told them where to go.

Seriously, if you get sick, you SHOULD be able to get your money back. It seems like I am not the only one since the lady at Aida got sick on the stairs while running to the bathroom.
To me it makes more sense to get a refund if you get sick, rather than only get one if the main star is out that day.
So weird.

[patti+bettysgirl]

Posted: 1/7/08 at 4:18am

We got tickets to see Wicked about 4 yrs ago for a wedding gift and there was a blizzard the day we were supposed to go. The show still went on, we just weren't able to get there. They let us exchange the tickets for the spring instead and it was no trouble. I guess the policy is only supposedly written in stone but depending on the situation they may bend? idk, just my experience.

[Craww]

Posted: 1/7/08 at 4:57am

My experience suggests that "no exchanges" isn't at all strictly enforced, but maybe I've just been lucky.

I have one experience switching tickets, and a friend has another (much more difficult than mine, granted.) Both through calls to Ticketmaster. Maybe they're more lenient than other services? That seems atypical, for sure.