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My frustrating situation with the Shubert box office staff — Page 2

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#26

My frustrating situation with the Shubert box office staff

Posted: 7/18/10 at 12:57pm

I work at a bank and you definently want to call them a place a claim. One note, if it is a pending transaction the bank has been notified that they are expecting to get that charge, it can be different when it actually posts to your account, so it may "hard" post correctly. Your bank will let you know their procedure for taking that claim, and you have the receipt , so there will be no problem. Your bank will tell you how long it will take to credit you, most do it very quickly these days. The problem that could arise is what if you had checks or other purchases coming in and that money is still being held , it could cause you a possible situation with an overdraft, again if that happened, you bank should eat it. Keep us posted!
#27

My frustrating situation with the Shubert box office staff

Posted: 7/18/10 at 1:05pm

With most box office systems (including Telecharge) refunds can't be given once the performance has happened. In order to get your money back to you, they have to do a "manual refund" - i.e. running your card through a separate credit card machine and charging -$132.50. Usually the manager needs to approve things like that because they're generally pretty strict with the no refunds rule.

Not that it makes your issue any less annoying, but I wouldn't necessarily assume they were trying to give you the runaround.
#28

My frustrating situation with the Shubert box office staff

Posted: 7/18/10 at 1:14pm

i think i know what happened...

i work in ticketing on telecharge's system. lately, our systems have been doing this weird thing where when we swipe a card it will bring up the last customer's payment information and use that. i think that is exactly what happened to you. as others have said you can definitely fight it with your cc company (keep your 'n2n' tickets for proof of your attendance there).

my big concern is that the shubert's box office must not know about this malfunction. i had figured my job was the only one dealing with this, but if this is happening at multiple locations, telecharge should really be informing their theatres/vendors to keep an eye out.
"the stage too must experiment - with ideas, with the psychological relationship of men and women, with speech and rhythm forms, with dance and movement, with color and light - or it must and should become a museum product. in an age of terrific implications as to wealth and poverty, as to the function of government, as to peace and war, as to the relation of the artist to all these forces, the theatre must grow up. the theatre must become conscious of the implications of the changing social order, or the changing social older will ignore, and rightly, the implications of the theatre." - hallie flanagan, director of the federal theatre project
*blame e.e. mings*
#29

My frustrating situation with the Shubert box office staff

Posted: 7/18/10 at 1:27pm

There seem to be a few of you who have theatre box office experience posting on this thread, so I'm wondering: is it usual practice that there is *not* a manager who can do this type of refund available at all times while the box office is open?

It's just weird that the box office can charge your credit card at any time during box office hours, but a refund can only be credited when a manager is there on days A, B, and C, during the hours of X - Y. If I have my receipt and I'm returning merchandise to a retail store (and I'm within the time frame of the merchant's return policy, etc.) I can get my refund at the store at any time; why don't theatre box offices have managers working at all times while the box office is open?

Personally if this had happened to me I would have filed the chargeback with my credit card company without ever even going to the box office that first time and allowing them the chance to fix it. Handling an overcharge of FIVE TIMES the agreed to purchase price is what my credit card company is there for. So I give the OP credit for trying to let the box office take care of it first. But, to go to the box office and try and allow them to take care of it, only to be told oh, can't help you today, you have to come *back* on this second day when the person who can help you is in? That just looks like flat out lousy business practice to this casually interested party, sorry.

Updated On: 7/18/10 at 01:27 PM

#30

My frustrating situation with the Shubert box office staff

Posted: 7/18/10 at 1:51pm

Again, thanks for all the advice and well wishes!

I went back to the box office around 12:10pm today and waited in the long line. When I got up to the front, the man that did the mistake was there and just gave me $132.50 in cash. He said when he was reconciling everything last night, he finally noticed the mistake. I didn't have to speak with the manager at all. The only annoyance was that I then had to stop by the atm to deposit the money.

It was just an irritating experience altogether. I plan on doing what you guys said and write a letter to the Shubert org.
"Chicago is it's own incredible theater town right there smack down in the middle of the heartland. What a great city! I can see why Oprah likes to live there!" - Dee Hoty :-D

Updated On: 7/18/10 at 01:51 PM

#33

My frustrating situation with the Shubert box office staff

Posted: 7/19/10 at 10:57am

@anakela: technically there is a no refund or exchange policy on all tickets. of course, in some cases refunds do happen. as far as the actually ability to credit customers, it's different in every box office. in my case, all employees are able to return tickets up to a certain time before performance (in order to allow time for the tickets to be re-sold). i know other box offices that only give abilities to the treasurer/bo manager. this is to prevent scalpers & brokers from taking advantage of the system. if all refunds are done by one or two managers they become aware of "frequent customers" easier.

hope that answered your question.
"the stage too must experiment - with ideas, with the psychological relationship of men and women, with speech and rhythm forms, with dance and movement, with color and light - or it must and should become a museum product. in an age of terrific implications as to wealth and poverty, as to the function of government, as to peace and war, as to the relation of the artist to all these forces, the theatre must grow up. the theatre must become conscious of the implications of the changing social order, or the changing social older will ignore, and rightly, the implications of the theatre." - hallie flanagan, director of the federal theatre project
*blame e.e. mings*
#35

My frustrating situation with the Shubert box office staff

Posted: 7/19/10 at 11:57am

He gave the refund in cash? That sounds incredibly fishy to me.
Maybe not, but if I were the box office manager I'd be watching this guy that did it pretty closely. I can think of a couple nefarious scenarios that would fall neatly into what has been described.
#36

My frustrating situation with the Shubert box office staff

Posted: 7/19/10 at 12:02pm

"He gave the refund in cash? That sounds incredibly fishy to me.
Maybe not, but if I were the box office manager I'd be watching this guy that did it pretty closely. I can think of a couple nefarious scenarios that would fall neatly into what has been described."

I've returned stuff that I originally purchased with a debit card and have received cash back instead of having the money directly go back to my account. Often they have to do it this way. I recall this happening to me at Costco and Best Buy.
"We like to snark around here. Sometimes we actually talk about theater...but we try not to let that get in our way." - dramamama611
#37

My frustrating situation with the Shubert box office staff

Posted: 7/19/10 at 12:13pm

Agreed. I've returned several things for cash purchased on a debit card. But this was an overcharge. I'm not sure why when it was discovered at reconciliation it wasn't charged back to the card at that time. It's not like they should just have cash there waiting just in case the person realizes it and comes back for it.
#38

My frustrating situation with the Shubert box office staff

Posted: 7/19/10 at 12:52pm

I'm so glad that you got your money back and that it all worked out in the end - it always does. Getting angry and causing a scene, does nothing to help matters. It only makes you appear unprofessional and immature. Which is something that you don't want.

That's not "fishy" at all, giving you cash back, rather than crediting the card back. A few years back, I had purchased a ticket via Telecharge for "Phantom Of The Opera" in NYC. I've seen the show many times, but wanted to see Hugh Panaro. Once I got to the theatre, it was posted that it was out for the performance. So, I went to the box office to ask for a refund, and rather than crediting my card that I used, they gave me cash.

Writing a letter to The Shubert Organization is a good idea. Making them aware of a problem, that perhaps they don't know about, is a good thing. Just keep the letter brief, pleasant, yet firm. Express your disappointment, and be appreciative that the problem got solved.

Let us know when you've sent the letter. Perhaps you'll receive some type of compensation?

Updated On: 7/19/10 at 12:52 PM

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