I'm sharing my experience here in the hopes that anyone facing a similar ordeal in the future might stumble upon this post via a web search and find the empowerment to take charge of their situation.
When I attempted to register for the Pearl Jam Ten Club Lottery for the Manchester UK show, I encountered a persistent error message:
"Transaction declined based on your payment settings for the profile."
Seeking assistance, I reached out to Ticketmaster's support team, and initially received assurances that my issue was a priority.
"I'm looking into this for you at the moment, and I'll get back to you as soon as possible – please be assured we are treating this as priority."
However, 3 days passed without any follow-up or resolution, despite me asking for one, meaning the the registration period to closed without the promised priority support.
I contacted support once more, only to be met with dismissive responses akin to "tough luck."
Frustrated by the lack of accountability, I raised the question of a refund for my Pearl Jam Ten Club subscription fee, as I pay that subscription fee to be able to register for that lottery and their system let me down. Unsurprisingly, my request was denied.
Persisting in my quest for answers, I sought clarification on what went wrong and how to prevent similar issues in the future. What ensued was literally a month-long back-and-forth with support staff, filled with evasive responses and futile attempts to respond to queries I didn't make.
Eventually, after much persistence and an escalation within Ticketmaster's ranks, I received a response claiming that after a thorough investigation, the issue lay at my end. To which I replied, that I know they didn’t thoroughly investigate my issue, because if they did they would know I actually got tickets (which I did after around the 100th attempt on the 2nd day, after literally trying the same thing for 2 days).
Desperate for clarity, I asked for an explanation for the message, "Transaction declined based on your payment settings for the profile", and a resolution to prevent its recurrence. Ticketmaster's response, having been caught in a lie and seemingly now actually investigating, pointed to me having, according to their system, two credit cards listed in my account and advising me to delete the erroneous card.
I refuted their claim, providing a screenshot, from their mobile app, demonstrating that only one credit card was linked to my account. Finally, with evidence that there was a problem in their system, Ticketmaster took some action and removed the phantom card from their system.
While this resolution may not guarantee the absence of future issues, it demonstrates the power of persistence and evidence to hold corporations accountable for their shortcomings, who have a vested interest in blaming us, because then they don’t have to do anything.
If you find yourself in a similar predicament, don't hesitate to advocate for yourself and demand transparency from Ticketmaster. By sharing my experience, I hope to empower others facing similar challenges to stand their ground and compel Ticketmaster to conduct thorough investigations and provide satisfactory resolutions.
Remember, you deserve better, and don't let Ticketmaster off the hook without a fight.
