Is it fair to charge every concert goer a parking fee?
ba_ba...@webtv.net
Yes - Concert venues gotta make money some how, right?
No - If I don't have a car, I shouldn't have to pay for parking.
No - Concert venues make enough money as it is, parking should be
free.
Music fan have something new to rage at: $6 parking fees per ticket
whether you come alone or pack six into your car - or even take a bus.
The unseemly fee is slapped on every ticket for shows at New Jersey's
17,500-seat PNC Bank Arts Center.
"I passed on buying six tickets to the Def Leppard concert because I
don't want to pay six times for parking," said Gary Kane, 39, of
Brooklyn.
"I know people that drop off their kids when there's a show like the
Jonas Brothers, and then pick them up," he noted. "Why should they
have to pay - and on every ticket?"
Concertgoers were already fuming over how quickly Ticketmaster sells
out their favorite shows but mysteriously has plenty of higher-priced
tickets at their secondary resale sites, TicketsNow and
TicketExchange.
Live Nation, the company that oversees shows at PNC, which is in
Holmdel, refused to discuss the newest way to gouge fans. Under its
per-ticket parking fee scheme, a vehicle carrying three people gets
charged $18 to park a single car. If six people arrive together, they
pay $36.
By contrast, Nassau Coliseum charges a flat fee of $7 per car,
the Meadowlands' venues take $15,
and Jones Beach doesn't charge anything.
Vincent Torre, 42, of Brooklyn, said he sometimes takes the bus to
PNC, formerly known as the Garden State Arts Center.
"I'm already paying bus fare," he said. "Why should I pay for parking?
I think it's disgraceful."
PNC also tacks on an involuntary, and unexplained, "charity fee" of 25
cents per ticket.
"Isn't charity supposed to be voluntary?" Torre asked.
Gary Bongiovanni, editor of the concert trade mag Pollstar, said fans
are right to be mad.
"It's really a disingenuous way of doing business to have all these
add-on fees," he said.
"If, in the end, the ticket costs $80 instead of the $65 it originally
seemed, they should just say that from the start."
Rocker Bruce Springsteen is among the performers who've railed at the
bilking of fans.
He took aim at Ticketmaster when the $65 to $95 seats to his shows
went on sale at TicketsNow for up to $5,000.
"The abuse of our fans and our trust by Ticketmaster has made us as
furious as it has made many of you," he wrote to fans on his Web site.
"We condemn this practice."
I'm glad I don't go to many concerts anymore. How is PNC getting away
with charging for a service they don't supply? If I'm paying $6 for
parking, I expect them to provide me with a parking spot. Maybe if
ticket holders claimed their spot, even if they just camped in it,
forcing the PNC lots to fill up early, PNC will get the message? Even
though I live near PNC I'd rather go the city or even Newark to see a
show then give these ripoff artists extra money.
ezflyer Mar 17, 2009 7:05:44 AM Report Offensive Post
One solution is for the people to not go to theses concerts and
functions as a protest towards these extra and hidden charges. These
organizations bank on the fact that a "fan" will just pay up the fees
without question. I can see if you drive then you pay the fee but if
you are dropped off, take the bus or walk to an event, why pay.
Voluntary fee means voluntary, not forced.
stunned Mar 17, 2009 7:52:13 AM Report Offensive Post
It is becoming absolutely amazing the ways that business' are finding
to rip people off. Not only are you being charged a parking fee (even
if you don't drive) but EVERY TICKET is being charged, so you are
paying double for parking. PNC will NEVER get my money.
daveb521 Mar 17, 2009 8:50:44 AM Report Offensive Post
Ticketmaster is the master of ripoffs and that is where this shady
venue may have learned their trade. Ticketmaster calls it a
convenience charge. If a show does not sell out and you don't mind
seats in the back buy them at the gate.
bbb wrote:
This kinda sucks!!!
Why carpool then???
If you travel with 4 people in the car, then you pay an extra $24.00.
I don't think that is fair.
booie..........
sparksfly
Its fair as long as a member of Phish isn't a special guest.
Mike