Warning to all potential online ticket buyers stay away from ticketbis. I lost over 1000 euros due to them not safeguarding the tickets I was sold. I’ll go into more detail in a minute. I am not alone in my dissatisfaction with this site. Check out what other angry customers said at Review Centre. Here you’ll find that Ticketbis is chronically late in sending out tickets, does not answer emails, ignores clients requests and rarely gives refunds. While these failings are poor business practices they pale in comparison Ticketbis’ main flaw which is THEY DO NOT VERIFY THAT THE SELLER’S ARE ACTUALLY SELLING THE SAME TICKETS THEY ADVERTISE ON THE SITE. In other words a seller could advertise that they selling tickets for the Champions League Final that are “the best in the stadium.” You buy them for about a 100% mark-up BUT when they arrive they turn out to be up in the nosebleeds. The worst seats in the house sold at the best seat prices. You complain to Alma M at Ticketbis you’ve been cheated and she smugly tells you that it is your own fault. That’s right your funking fault. Turns out good ol’ Ticketbis is just a LISTING AGENT.

Huh? You say what about all the “guarantees” and promises of “100% safety and reliability”? Those are just marketing strategies, or ad slogans. Cause they sure as heck ain’t actual promises or policies. Not in my case they weren’t.

In September, 2012, I was in Spain visiting friends. I saw Jose Tomas would star in bullfight in Nimes, France. This is a rare occasion he only fights a few times a year. Regretfully I used Ticketbis to secure seats. Now the offer for the tickets I bought described itself as being in the shade and “the best place to watch the action from.” At time of purchase there was no seating chart available to nail down the exact location of the seats. To me that sounded like ringside (first 5 rows. Rows 1-5). That and the fact that the offer was grouped on the page next to the other offers for front row seats. As well these tickets were priced similar to the other ringside tickets. So naturally I thought they were ringside tickets.

But I’d never been to this particular bullring before. And, the ad contained the word “toril”. Now in Spain toril is the door the bulls come out of. So a seat over or near the toril is a very good ringside seat. I was on the Spanish version of Ticketbis so it was safe to assume that this was yet another indicator of a front row seat. To be absolutely sure I called up Ticketbis’ Madrid office and asked Alma M what toril meant. She confirmed what I thought that it was the door for the bulls and that these were front row seats. Then I asked her if there was a seating chart I could consult. At the time there wasn’t. Though Alma wasn’t sure exactly where the seats were, she told me that “they must be contrabarreras (rows2-5) at the very least”. She did say that and more…”but don’t worry our site is very safe.” So now I had assurances from an employee. I bought the tickets. The nightmare began.

For starters the tickets were late. They did not arrive within 2 weeks as promised. Alma who had assured that the site was safe neglected to return any of my 5 emails. Finally I had to threaten to go to Madrid and confront them to get a response. The tickets finally did arrive 5 days before the fight. When got the tickets I checked their locations on the seating chart Ticketbis had posted on their site in the interim. And surprise, surprise my seats weren’t in the 1st, or 2nd, or even 5th or 6th row. No sir. My seats were in the 3rd to last row of the upper-most section. AKA nosebleeds. So funking high-up you need an oxygen tank and a sherpa to make it to your seats.

When I complained to Ticketbis they told me that it was my fault. I should have made sure what type of tickets the seller actually had before I paid for them. Wow, unbelievable. But it get’s better. They owed me no refund because they’re just a listing agent. If there was a problem with the tickets I should take it up with the seller. Fine you wanna punk out, I can’t teach to be a man. Just give me the seller’s contact info and I’ll
deal with that scoundrel. What’s that? You can’t give out that info. That’s confidential. So you’re gonna protect the thief whole stole my money.

And that’s how it went down. I have Long since lost hope of getting my 1000 euros back. Ticketbis maintains that because I received tickets I got what I paid for. That’s like you seeing an add for the world’s finest chocolate and orderinf it based on the ad. Then BOOM when you’re chocolate arrives it’s old and stale and opened with sand on it. You complain to the chocolate-guy and he says that because you did in fact receive some chocolate, albeitn dirty chocolate, you have no refund coming your way. Imagine living your life like that. No moral, no character, just lie and cheap chicanery. Sad ol’ Ander. Poor lil’Jorge.

I’ve since learned that Ticketbis’ scandalous ways weren’t exclusive to me. They’re shadey with everyone. I don’t know Ander Michelana (ceo) but it seems his parents weren’t home much. At least not long enough to teach him how to be a man of honor and character. I’m not saying he’s in fact that way, but by how he does business he seems that way.

I have even offered to let this whole thing go if one of Ticketbis’ manager’s meets me for coffee, admits they screwed up and agrees to post a warning for buyers to beware of possible fraud on their site. I’ll let you know if ODT (“Old Dirty Ticketbis”)