So after getting a few people today, I guess it was only a matter of time before I became someone else’s April’s fool.

For their second series of the season, the Boston Red Sox will becoming to Anaheim and playing the (der!) Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.  I wanted to go for the last game of the series which is on Easter Sunday.  Not wanting to pay the exorbitant convenience and processing fees to Ticketmaster, I decided to use StubHub instead.

StubHub is a website where individuals can buy or sell their tickets.  It’s actually a pretty big company, owned by eBay, and is linked to from the Angel’s website along with many other MLB teams’ websites.  I wasn’t worried about being ripped off by using StubHub.

StubHub isn’t without fees though, but it’s less than Ticketmaster.  There’s a 10%  or $5 fee, whichever is greater, on your total ticket price, plus a $4.95 fee for eDelivery, which is where your electronic tickets are emailed to you (or you can pick Will Call).  Usually, with any StubHub purchase, you have to wait at most 48 hours for the seller to confirm the sale before your order is final and you get your tickets, but now they have an Instant eDelivery option where that step is skipped and you can print your tickets right away.

Well, I bought two tickets for the game which offered Instant eDelivery just to make sure everything was all set and that I wouldn’t have to worry about it (a seller backing out, selling it to a friend in the meantime, etc.)

My receipt page with Instant eDelivery shown

It says I should receive my confirmation email and tickets within 15 minutes, but from experience, you usually get confirmation emails right away.  5 minutes later, with no email, I checked my account history to make sure that the order was listed:

Why is it waiting on the seller to confirm??

It said that my order was not yet confirmed by seller - WHAT? The point of Instant eDelivery, the only thing that makes it different from their regular eDelivery, is that the seller did not need to confirm! Did I misunderstand?  I checked their FAQ page:

Seems pretty clear right there that

I waited the full 15 minutes with no email then called StubHub.  Definitely wanted to make sure nothing was wrong considering what was supposed to happen didn’t happen.  After being on hold for 20 minutes, I got an agent who told me “it is our policy that the seller has 48 hours to confirm the sale before the tickets are emailed out.”  When I asked “Um, but this was Instant eDelivery.  What’s the difference between Instant eDelivery and regular eDelivery then?”  She ummed and ahhed a bit before putting me on hold “while I check on that for you” and after a couple minutes came back on the line and told me to give another 15 - 20 minutes for the tickets.  I figured since I had a long hold time and there was a hold message saying they were experiencing high call volume that they were probably just backlogged for a bit so it was taking longer than usual.  I ended the call, a bit annoyed but satisfied, and went out to do some stuff.

3 hours later and still no tickets! WTF!

I called again and this time I was on hold for a ridiculous 35 minutes.  I cut to the chase and told the StubHub rep that it has been over 3 hours since I ordered my Instant eDelivery tickets and have received no confirmation or ticket emails.  After giving my order details again, he very apologetically said that there are 3 MLB teams that won’t integrate with the StubHub instant services, the Twins, the Red Sox, and one other that he couldn’t remember.  WHAT!  I could tell by his tone that he knew it was their fault for not stating this on the website and that he was uncomfortable having to tell me and apologize for something that isn’t his fault, but is StubHub’s.

So okay, Boston Red Sox tickets aren’t available for Instant eDelivery on StubHub.  It’s no big deal for me, but it’s definitely something that should have been stated.  What if I was in a situation where I needed those tickets right away? What if I was at a friend’s and only bought the instant ones (versus non-instant ones) because I had access to a printer at that time.  I haven’t been inconvenienced and Instant eDelivery doesn’t cost more (I would be MUCH more upset if I were), but it is very irritating to be told one thing and get another.

Earlier today, I thought it was 100% that I would be going to see the Boston Red Sox play on Easter Sunday.  But now that the seller has 48 hours to respond, who knows?  Grrrr!

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