Ticketmaster Bait and Switch and New Yankee Stadium Social Stratification Update

The other day, we shared the sad story of an unsuspecting Yankee fan who fell victim to a shady bait and switch technique by TicketMasterNation while trying to purchase some uber-expensive Opening Day Yankee tickets.

Today, we received word that Ticketmaster recognized their error, but was unwilling to make good on it. Here is the email that was sent:

Hello [name redacted], this is Ticketmaster Customer Service with an important alert regarding your order, [order No. redacted]. The tickets that you ordered from Ticketmaster for the New York Yankees vs. Cleveland Indians on Thursday, April 16, 2009 scheduled at the Yankee Stadium were put on sale inadvertently, allowing you to order tickets at an incorrect price.

We are currently holding replacement tickets for you in the price level that you had originally selected in Section 16, Row 9, Seat(s) S5.

Please call customer service at 800-653-8000 on or before 12 noon Eastern time on Monday, April 13, 2009 and you will be given the opportunity to exchange your tickets for these additional tickets to the New York Yankees vs. Cleveland Indians on Thursday, April 16, 2009 scheduled at the Yankee Stadium.

You are also free to decline the exchange and receive a full refund. If we do not hear from you by noon Eastern on Monday, April 13, 2009 your original tickets will be cancelled and your credit card refunded.

Please note your original tickets will be cancelled and will not be valid for entry.

We regret that we were not able to provide you with the tickets you ordered. We really appreciate your business and hope you give us the opportunity to better serve you in the future.

In other words, you can have your single, overpriced ticket for Opening Day, but it is not going to be the single overpriced Opening Day ticket that you purchased in the first row, it is going to be the one that Ticketmaster decides you can have. Hopefully this guy will give Ticketmaster the finger and let the seat rot.

Switching gears a bit, our post about the introduction of the caste system at the new Yankee Stadium drew interest from around the interwebs, and plenty of banter in the comments section. The "A-Z Guide" has not been updated, but some fans have taken it upon themselves to contact their ticket representatives for some clarification. We would never recommend trusting any information passed along by a Yankee ticket rep. Not because they are incompetent, but because they are constantly fed false information by their clueless leaders. That being said, our buddy "Legendary 23" on Twitter contacted his ticket rep who has always been good for accurate information. According to him, "people will have access to all food courts on all levels" and "the same rule applies to watching bp....you will have to leave and go back to your seat when they are done." Put simply, the guide on Yankees.com "is wrong."

We fully expect an update to the "A-Z Guide" resulting in the disappearance of the verbiage in question. Luckily we will always have the original words archived, proving just how out of touch the Yankee Stadium decision makers were prior to the fan uproar.