Seating Issue at "Pee-Wee"

Last week, my friend and I attended a performance of "The Pee-Wee Herman Show" with tickets I purchased through Telechage. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves – except for one thing.

Our tickets were for Row A, Seats 8 and 10. When looking at the seating chart provided on the Telecharge website, Seats 8 and 10 in Row A do not exist, only 2, 4 and 6. So before purchasing, I called Telecharge to make sure this was not a mistake and to confirm that these were not going to be Partial View seats. While looking through the various tickets available, several did come up labeled "Partial View" - however, these were not. The girl from Telecharge that I spoke to on the phone assured me that these seats do exist, despite the seating chart and that they were 100% full view. Once the show began, however, we determined this was NOT the case. These seats were extremely obstructed by the proscenium and we missed any action that took place on the right side of the stage (the Flowers, the Fish, the Tin Foil Ball, the entire Onion Ring skit – to name a few). We never would have purchased these tickets if we knew they were going to be Partial View.

After the show, I spoke to the House Manager. She told me to contact TeleCharge, as they were the original point of purchase. After going back and forth with TeleCharge, they are telling me the Sondheim Theatre is denying that these are Partial View seats, refusing to give me any sort of credit and telling me that my only option is to dispute the charge with my credit card company.

Thoughts of this matter?

Updated On: 12/10/10 at 06:36 PM

No, we were not aware of what we were going to miss until after the curtain went up. And had there been an intermission, I would have asked to be re-sat. But the show does not have one.

I once emailed the house manager of a theatre about terrible limited view seats at WIcked (in San Francisco). I understand what limited view seats are; the view is limited. The seat I was in, however, shouldn't have even been sold at all. None of the flying portion of Defying Gravity was visible, among many other things. I argued it should be labelled as Obstructed view if even sold at all. The house manager said there was nothing they could do, but forwarded the email to someone with Wicked (The "producers" I was told, but that doesn't seem logical). I heard back a few weeks later and was offered a free pair of tickets,

I would send an email off to the house manager again to see if there is anyone with the show they could put you in contact with, or something along those lines. Best of luck!

The producers have the "final say" when it comes to which seats are obstructed/partial view and which are full view. The house manager can only go by what the producers have signed off on.

Telecharge have NOTHING to do with the decision. Telecharge can only go by what they are "told." I doubt they would have ever been inside the theater, they only go by what's on the machines they are using to sell tickets from whatever office cubicle or calling center they are located in.

So if your first attempt was with Telecharge, do not continue with them if they are not willing to do anything.

Your next move should be to write to the Company Manager of the show. You can address the letter to the theater. The Company Manager's name is listed in the Playbill. Address the letter as such:

Company Manager's Name
c/o THE PEE-WEE HERMAN SHOW
Stephen Sondheim Theater
123 Sesame Street
NY, NY 10036

KINDLY inform them about the situation and the action that you have already taken to try to get the situation resolved. Provide your contact information so they can call, e-mail, and/or write to you.

IF, and ONLY IF you do not receive a response within a reasonable amount of time, then you should write to the producers of the show. However, it shouldn't have to come to this and the company manager should be able to resolve your issue.

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your complaint must be in writing and you must send copies of the tickets and you must get the name of someone at the box office.

Does anyone know if row BX center is too close? thanks!