Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Counting Tickets

I was so happy to get the mail today and see that envelope from the Met with the replacement tickets. Or so I thought. I opened it and spread the 4 pieces of what I'll call "ticket stock" on the table. One had my name and address and was used as a mailing label. That left... 3. My first thought was that they had sent 1 ticket for each performance. No... the 2nd piece of "ticket stock" I looked at had the billing and credit info on it. That left two. Two tickets for La Fille. The Internet order. The telephone order tickets were not in the envelope. I peeled that thing apart to make sure. Then I called. Of course my super friendly helper from the other day wasn't there. And the woman who answered had her automatic reply: Oh, you lost the tickets? You'll have to show up at the box office two hours before curtain on the day of the performance to pick up passes...

Um... no. I resolved this all last week... didn't I? She checked the computer and said she saw the authorization to resend all the tickets. I told her I got tickets for La Fille only, and asked if it was possible that since the other tickets had a different order number, perhaps they were mailed separately? She said no, all six tickets were mailed in the one envelope. Um... no? I'm holding the contents of the envelope. Two tickets. She said, no, there are 6. And if I've lost them, I'll have to come to the box office on the day of the performance, two hours before curtain... NO!!! Is anyone LISTENING? And you'd THINK that they'd have the phonetic spelling of the operas available to the people who answer the phone so at least they'd pronounce them correctly. I can't even remember how she butchered Die Zauberflote. I heard the Z and knew which one she meant, barely. So I left a message for the guy with whom I spoke last week.

Why oh why can't they get this right???? It's not that difficult. 3 operas. Print the tickets. Mail them. Am I missing something here?

2 comments:

tcarstetter said...

This indeed a most felictious turn of events, Susan! I am exceddingly happy for you!
When you see "La Fille" at the MET with Florez and Damrau, will you post about the dazzling performance on your blog?

Susan said...

I think you may have missed the point - I purchased these tickets in August and have been waiting for them to arrive. I also purchased tickets to Carmen and Die Zauberflote in August. I have known since then that I'd be attending these performances. However, I never received the tickets in the mail. After many email exchanges and a telephone call, the Met box office agreed to resend all the tickets. Then they resent the tickets for La Fille only, and when I called, they insisted that tickets for all three operas were in that envelope. So while it's great that they sent out the tickets for one of the operas, they still haven't sent the other tickets. They charged my credit card for all 6 tickets in August.