Siouxsie has a $17 per-ticket service charge. Our total order for two tickets was over $125. That's ridiculous.
Now the Dresden Dolls are coming to San Francisco. Tickets are a reasonable $25 each. But the service charge is $9 apiece, and the only shipping option is $9.50 per ticket. (through "independanttickets.com")
Why exactly do I need to pay $9.50 for 2nd-day shipping for a concert nearly 2 full months away? And why exactly do the service charges total nearly the entire ticket cost?
Is it perhaps because the ticketing companies offer more service than they used to? No, they've cut back staff and replaced their people with online systems that suck and interactive telephone systems that suck even worse.
I have no reason in the world to give money to any of them.