Ticketmaster/ticketmaster.com

I had set everything up as soon as I figured out what I had wanted to do. I put in my credit card information the day I bought my first ticket, and I saved it into the system. I also put up all of the other information that I needed to be able to sell my ticket.

I put the numbers in on the barcode. It worked. I then needed to put in the three-digit number on the back of my credit card to continue. PROBLEM. Apparently the credit information isn't valid. That's weird, since I just bought a ticket 15 minutes ago with the EXACT SAME INFORMATION that I'm using now.

I figured that since the service was new that it might be a little buggy. I e-mailed their customer service. I got a reply e-mail a few minutes later that said the zip code was bad. I went and checked, and the zip code I had put down WAS indeed bad.

For background, I live in a dorm in one zip code. The billing information for my credit card is at my parent's house in a different zip code. I had basically put down half one zip code and half of another. The two numbers are very similar, so I can see how it slipped by - plus, I figured I might have been really excited to get the first ticket to begin with, so I didn't fully pay attention to what I was doing.

I changed the zip code. I entered the information in again. ERROR. I e-mailed customer support again. My zip code is still bad. I went and deleted my information, then put it in again and saved it. ERROR. I deleted it again, then entered it in manually. ERROR.

At this point, I'm getting annoyed. The customer service person told me to delete my information then put it again. I'm way ahead of that - explain to me what's going on here.

The customer service person then suggests to contact the bank and check their system. I figured that very well could have been the problem, since nothing else here is working. I DID get the card LAST YEAR, though.

I contact the bank. Everything is in order.

Now I'm getting angry. I e-mail ticketmaster again to say that it's a problem with THEIR system, and that I had indeed changed the zip code. I get this reply back:

If you have changed the zip code to something different than what the card issued has on file it will cause an error with the address verification process. The verification process used when purchasing tickets allows for a partial address match depending on the amount of purchase. When posting tickets via the TicketExchange we require an exact match as a matter of fraud prevention. Unfortunately, if you are unable to pass the verification process you will be unable to post tickets on the TicketExchange. We regret any inconvenience.

Thank you for using Ticketmaster where we really appreciate your business.
We are glad to have been able to help today, and hopefully have answered all your questions.
Please let us know if we may be of any further assistance.

I am really mad at them for letting that slip by. How on EARTH was I able to purchase two tickets within three days of each other with a bad zip code? Why bother even having customers putting their billing addresses in if they don't matter? Someone very well could have stolen my credit card and gotten my zip code incorrect on the billing address part, yet they could have purchased mountains of stuff. I send this back:

I have NOT changed the zip code to something different to what the card has issued.

When you first said that there was a problem with the zip code, I checked, and there was indeed a problem with the zip code. I changed it to the correct zip code.

Can you explain why I was able to purchase two tickets with the bad zip code and how I’m not able to sell one with a correct zip code?

I had to leave at that point, and I just now got back. No e-mail from anyone, but the TicketExchange has magically started working.