JAGtickets – Concert organizer FAIL

Posted on March 29, 2011 · 2 Comments

Here’s part 2 of my Michael Bublé concert experience.

So two weeks ago I blogged about the awesome Michael Bublé concert on March 13th. Part 2 of the post has to do with how the concert organisers weren’t so good in, organising.

JAGtickets.com.my (owned by JAG Entertainment & Design) were the organisers for the last leg of Bublé’s Crazy Love tour. They promised big things:

“Rest assured that we have invested in the best for the concert – expect state-of-the-art sound systems, lighting and an elaborate stage that will simply dazzle you (as though the music wasn’t divine enough already!). You may have attended concerts before, but we promise that this one will be unlike any other that you’ve experienced.”

They delivered on their promise—it was top of the class, spectacular, unbelievably extraordinary. Who would have doubted their capabilities? JAG is run by a guy with a team bragging a long list of reputable references and successful projects. I’m talking about Walt Disney premiere events, involvement in renowned theme park projects such as Ocean Park in Hong Kong, and even Cinema Expo International, Europe’s largest gathering of Motion Picture Theatre Industry.

BUT … they HAD to mess up seating arrangements.

We got into the stadium and to the location of where our seats were, but then was told that we had to wait for a bit before we’re shown to our seats. Time passed us by and a group of us (approx 30 – 40 people) were still standing along the walkway waiting to be told where to sit.

Every staff I stopped to ask about what’s going on, gave me the same excuse—that their sorting out the seating. I don’t get what’s so hard about showing us to our seats. Our tickets say seats B12 and B13. What’s the point of having a seat number but now you tell me I don’t have a seat?

Turns out the problem was…there isn’t a row B.

To be exact, there weren’t any rows A to L.

The block where we’re supposed to be seated started from rows M to Z.

What an FML moment.

45 minutes after we arrived at the stadium, with minutes before Bublé appeared on stage, WE WERE STILL STANDING! I know I got the cheapest tickets but HEY they still cost us RM 500 for those two freaking seats!

How could a concert organiser even make this mistake? And even so, why wasn’t it discovered before concert goers arrived into the venue? And why did it take so long to rectify the problem?

We finally got our seat just as the Bublé got on stage, but there were still at least 20 – 30 people waiting for their seats, standing along the walkway, shouting at staff who were walking pass, angry and upset why they had no place to sit. Who wouldn’t be? I could have paid less money to buy free standing tickets if I wanted to stand, no?

Yeah, so your T&Cs say that you “may add, withdraw or substitute seating arrangements without prior notice”. But is it our problem if you can’t even figure out your A to Zs?

JAGtickets PLEASE don’t mess up future concert experiences. Because this one left a really bad taste in my mouth.

Nuff’ said.

 

Filed Under: The in-betweens Tagged With: , ,

IOI Boulevard Parking FAIL: Inconvenienced by payment system

Posted on August 22, 2010 · 3 Comments

Last Friday night I met up with my girlfriends over dinner at Umai-ya which recently opened in IOI Boulevard. Located in a commercial area directly opposite IOI Mall, IOI Boulevard’s concept follows after Jaya One, with an array of coffee joints, bars, restaurants and an occasional live band performing in the foyer. Built within an already populated community of commercial properties, it only makes sense for IOI Boulevard to include ample parking space in its vicinity. For the unfamiliar, tenants include Munich, Kissaten, Otak Otak Place, XO Shabu Shabu, Pappa Rich, and Honeymoon Dessert to name a few.

When it comes to a big commercial building as such, we would expect the automated parking management system to be pretty standard i.e. we need to make payment before exiting the parking lot. I’m writing this blog post to announce to all in the web universe that the IOI Boulevard Parking payment system is MAJOR FAIL.

Here’s what happened:

I paid for my parking at the automated kiosk. Inserted RM 10 for a RM 2 payment (as i didn’t have small change). Instead of getting my change back, I was given a “refund receipt”, which instructed me to walk to the car park management office, and get my RM 8 back.

At this point, I was a bit concerned as I was alone, in a basement car park, and I had no idea where the heck the car park management office is at. Thankfully, it was a mere 20 meters from where the payment kiosk is located.

I walked over to the office and there was another couple in there and we realised that, THERE’S NO ONE THERE TO GIVE US OUR REFUND! I see phone numbers stuck on the wall, and I called one of the numbers. No answer.

Two minutes later, 2 of the parking management staff shows up, and takes the refund receipt from me and the couple. He asked me if I had RM 2, cos he only had RM 10. I looked at him and said, “If I had RM 2, I won’t have inserted RM 10 right?”. So you’d think he was using his brain after I said this but NO…he went on and asked the couple if they had RM 1 (cos their refund was RM 9). At this point, I almost fainted at his dumbness.

The couple managed to take out all of the coins they had and gave him RM 1.

Then, my turn. I decided to look for coins in my car and see if I had enough. Instead of the staff trying to get spare change, he asked me to exit the parking first, in case the 15 minute grace period was up (cos it’s like taking us forever to get my refund back right? wtf wtf)

I literally ran to my car, drove over to the management office, took out whatever coins I had and chucked it on the table. Instead of saying sorry for the inconvenience, he was pissed at me giving him 2 x 5 sen coins! WHAT THE F?

Maybe it was the sashimi that kept my cool cos I was surprised why I didn’t yell at that incompetent piece of nutjob. I made it out of the parking just in time but i guess the next time i come here, I’d probably not park in the basement.

Filed Under: The in-betweens Tagged With: , ,