My experience with Fandango.com (1 Viewer)

[Craig Chatterton]

Here's an Email I sent to Fandango the day we went to see LOTR, December 26, 2001.

Dear Craig,

Thank you for contacting Fandango!

We apologize, but Fandango has a ?No Refund, No Exchange policy? that is stated on the site. When tickets are purchased at Fandango, the seats are automatically reserved and cannot be resold.

One alternative for you might be to visit the theater itself and ask the box office attendant for a possible exchange or refund of tickets. Again, we regret that we can not do anything further to satisfy your request.

Thank you for your understanding.

If you have any further questions, please reply to this message or call Customer Service toll-free at 1-866-688-6675.

Thanks again for visiting Fandango!

Best regards,

Fandango Customer Care

So that's it. It cost me 30 bucks to find out what Fandango was like. On December 26th I was definitely pissed at them, but now a month later after reading my note, I don't know if it was just a misunderstanding or not. What do you guys think? Anyone have a *good* experience with Fandango?

 

[Michael Reuben]

On the few occasions when I've used Fandango, I've done it the old-fashioned way: i.e., insert a credit card into a machine to pick up the tickets. I've always been dubious about the "print your tickets" at home, because it's never been obvious to me that theaters are properly equipped to handle it.

Have you considered disputing the charge with the credit card company? Might be worth a shot.

M.

 

[Scott L]

What a joke. Didn't give you any records of the transaction and seems like they sent you a "Sorry, No Refund" email template for customers who have complained about the same thing.

Thanks for the warning.

 

[MikeAlletto]

Fandango is awesome...never had a problem. It does clearly state on the web site that there is no refunds or exchanges. So...whats your question? Doesn't sound like its a Fandango problem at all...sounds like its a problem with the theater you went to. Since the manager offered to walk you into the theater without paying again what else are they supposed to do?

You should be able to verify that the tickets were never used since none of your terminals would accept the confirmation number, so there should be no record of the tickets being

Just because they are printed doesn't mean they are torn and used. Fandango does not track who uses the ticket...they just sell a seat.

 

[DaveF]

Not to be accusatory, but have you checked to make sure that you did copy the confirmation # correctly? That was my first thought as to the problem.

Assuming the # was correct, then perhaps what someone previously said: talk to the theater manager. It sounds like a problem with their hardware or staff, that caused the delay.

 

[Craig Chatterton]

Just because they are printed doesn't mean they are torn and used. Fandango does not track who uses the ticket...they just sell a seat.

That's the thing - they weren't printed. No one could find my confirmation. Obviously Fandango records when the tickets are used, otherwise they wouldn't need terminals at the theater to confirm you actually bought the seats. So they have to have a record of my purchase, but no record of my ever using that purchase. Seems like it would be easy to get a refund because of that. But they didn't want to bother.
Since I couldn't print it out, I made doubly sure I had the correct confirmation number. But my handwriting may have been bad - they had to ask a few times if I wrote a number or a letter. If they had a "self use" terminal at the theater, I might have been able to find my confirmation, but the only two terminals were employee operated.
I guess I'm not too mad at them now - it was a while ago, and I suppose it was partially my fault. But the fact that there's "no refunds" specifically mentioned on the site and it took them one month to reply to my complaint gives me the impression that they don't want to help their customers, they just want the money. I'll just put it down as a 30 dollar lesson.

 

[Neil N]

I've used the Fandango "print your tickets at home" service approx. 5 times in the last 3 months or so. I believe only once have I been able to get into the theater with no problems. It seems almost every time the scanner at the theater was broken, or wouldn't read the print out upc code. To be fair, the people at the theaters were very good about taking care of the problem, and we never experiencecd an exceptional delay in getting in. However, I don't think I'll be using Fandango again unless I've a great fear of all the shows being sold out (ala LOTR opening night).

 

[brian a]

I've used Fandango several times over the past few months and had no problems whatsoever. I've bought at the machine and pre-bought tickets as well. I always think about how great it is whenever I stroll past the lines at the window and pick up my tickets at the empty machine.

If you had purchased non-refundable airline tickets and not shown up for the flight, do you think the airlines should refund your money? Fandango has no way to know if you went to the theater or not.

It sounds like the theater owes you the refund, not fandango. You should have had the manager comp the tickets to the next show instead of waiting in line and buying them.

brianca

 

[WoodyH]

I've used Fandango twice so far, once pre-ordering my tickets and picking them up at the machine by swiping my credit card, and once using the 'print at home' (or, in my case, work) option when I wanted to see LOTR on opening night. Both times worked like a charm for me.

Tickets are expensive enough already that after adding in Fandango's $1 service fee I'll only use them when I want to ensure seats either for a group or on opening night, though. But when I've used 'em, it's worked.