Theatre tickets grief!

You should rethink boycotting Eventbrite. It’s very easy to use and it’s the way lots of small organisations manage ticketing for their events including many that are free. If you have the app on your phone it’s very easy to find your tickets and show them at the door. It’s very user friendly and no fees. Give it a go !!!

It’s not just theatre, sports venues too, most you can print but some now it’s only smartphone not just with a Q code but a moving Q code.
it’s all about identity and stopping swapping tickets, stopping known trouble makers at football grounds

It is so important to keep up with technology, no one needs to be left behind! If you are finding it difficult ask a younger family member or a friend who knows what to do to teach you.

my daughter is in her 40's and doesn't have a smart phone either, she booked tickets over the phone and they said she would get emailed, which she did and forwarded it to me BUT it said we couldn't use it as proof of entry,then the stress began!

Why did your daughter send them that way? She must know you have an old phone???? I suggest you get a nice new 21st century'smart' phone and avoid all that stress in future... glad you enjoyed your talk.... eventually.

I’m lucky that I have an IT expert in my son or I would be stuffed! It’s rubbish getting old with all of this modern technology!

Why should we all have to rely on smart phones to live our lives?
I accidentally left mine on the plane when changing at Doha last year enroute to New Zealand.

Once I'd got over the initial shock and realised it had gone forever, I got on with my journey and spent a month with DS family without a phone. It was bliss!.
It is still possible, I'm happy to say.

Librarians and community centres sometimes run courses on how to use your smart phone.
I suggest you get a cheap one or a second hand one (refurbished) to try out. There is also a guide to mobile phones for Dummies, though I haven't used it. When I first got a Smartphone, I didn't realise you had to swipe it to answer it!

Gingster...if the theatre has a box open during the day and you are able to get there.
Give reference number ask for paper tickets .
They should do this for you.(,our local theatre box office does)
Or ring them.
Ive now decided if option to collect tickets on the night this is what i do.
Most London theatres i have been too also have this option .

Get a smart phone! My Mum is almost 94 and has the latest model. Admittedly she doesn’t use all the functions, but it’s handy for her to have.

It's not just an age thing. Some people are far more easily stressed than others.

During the Edinburgh Festival recently my son said he had a spare ticket to a show, where my DGD was performing. My DGS would meet me there and he had both tickets on his phone.
I got there really early and stood in a queue for half an hour. Others were going in but no sign of DGS.
I panicked and went to buy a new ticket. A kind person in the queue said I could have her spare.

I took a seat and saved a seat for DGS who appeared as it was starting. He said Dad had only given him one ticket.
Later I told my son this and he said rubbish there were 2 tickets on the Q code. Ofcourse there were. This boy aged 18 has just passed all his advanced highers with As.

No it's definitely not an age thing. Everyone finds it difficult.

I try to book things over the phone if possible.

I have just purchased tickets direct from the National Theatre.

When they emailed me back with confirmation and e-tickets (I was on my iPad) there was a little wallet icon beside them, tapped the icon and when I checked my wallet on my phone there they were.

Gingster
Forget the idea of producing your iPad at the theatre. No offence meant but that will be too stressful for you unless you have roaming on your device.
You have two options.
If you are able to get to a library take your iPad and the very helpful staff will print the tickets for you.
Or get your daughter to transfer the tickets to her phone.

I ran one of the first computorised system of communication and trained over 200 staff throughout GB, and am perfectly aware of how to use internet at the level I am interested in. However I continue to fight for the choice of using phones or internet and being able to buy direct, use cash etc. It has recently changed but up to now it didnt matter if you were a millionaire with the latest phone available, there was no signal up swaledale and many dead spots up in other dales, so the only thing that worked was cash.

I also champion those who cannot afford a phone or whatever, and now get treated as second class citizens in such things as getting appointments. Around here there is a particular area where they are no doubt now losing money from a car park where you can only use your phone to pay. Very few people go there as it often does not work well and is just a hassle. One very sensible and well thought out company here is the cinema at Thirsk. There you can order tickets online if you wish , but they also have tickets available on the door too. So they have a regular group of people who keep them going all year and they recognise that and are not allowing something like Downton Abbey to be deluged by those who rarely go at all and would book ahead and take over. A very good attitude and I support them wholeheartedly. Unfortunately due to mostly my back problems, I no longer book ahead for things, as can only judge on the day , whether I am able to do something. That can be sorted with trips with friends where I will ring them before a certain time if I am unable to do something that day. However both very expensive if I pay for a ticket and cant go, and also that means that another person cannot use that place and when there are limited seats that is a shame. I also get cash to use on our local market, partly because I only want small amounts of various fruit and vegetable , but also because the stallholders also have to pay to use a card and so it puts prices up. As other people have said, for me , I much prefer to just take cash and simply buy a ticket and have no aggravation. Having worked in an airline etc I also insist on paper copies of tickets information etc, whilst I may also have it on my phone, I am far too aware of possibilities such as blank spots, losing or breaking phones etc, and having both just covers my back and makes for a calmer day. I always have a certain amount of cash on me for times when the systems go down and have had several occasions in a supermarket where familes with trollies full of items were stuck as the power went off at the tills and only cash payments were possible, where I was able to sail through. So just because someone chooses to use cash or have paper tickets does not mean they have no idea how to use internet, just they are more savvy to the vagaries of life. Its why some of us are still around!!

So far we've been OK with theatre tickets -I've even managed to buy some myself, but parking is another matter. My daughter sometimes uses a parking app. She's a scientist with a PhD and is a lot more tech savvy than me, but I've seen her take over 20 minutes trying to pay for parking. I try to stick to car parks that require you to take an actual ticket when you drive in.

Im lucky in that i can do most things online i need.Anything im stumped by ive got 2 sons who can do techy stuff.(but all of us cant understand how my new ('smart') phone wont connect to our new printer! Could your daughter maybe have printed the ticket& got it to you? If you prefer your old phone& dont want to upgrade then a small tablet or kindle reader can get all this digital stuff downloaded to them too.And some are not expensive, either new or secondhand?

I wonder whether to bother moaning to Ticketmaster!

Expecting everyone to use a smartphone or an app sounds like discrimination on grounds of age:

www.gov.uk/discrimination-your-rights/how-you-can-be-discriminated-against

indirect discrimination - putting rules or arrangements in place that apply to everyone, but that put someone with a protected characteristic at an unfair disadvantage

Perhaps these companies could be challenged.

I’ve booked a show at our local theatre in November. Me, Dd, gd1 and gd6.
I’m worried as I just have a thingy in my I pad. I can’t print it off s o I’ll just produce my I pad at the theatre.

I hate to think I’ll let the others down if we can’t get in. 🤯

All this downloading tickets sends me loopy loo.
Couple of local theatres i go to i do book online ,an option to collect tickets when i go to event ,so i do that(collect on the night)
Have confirmation email of ticket purchase on phone to show proof of purchase.
They usually just ask who i am ,dont even ask to have proof which i find odd.
Of course if you book through Ticketmaster ,entirely different.
My worst experience was i purchased tickets on Viagogo to see The Killers from U.S.A.
Tickets not available any more on Ticketmaster.
Viagogo came up first on Google.
Didnt realise it was a resale site.
2 Tickets for £120.00 .
Pressed confirm purchase ,price Shot up to £400.00!!!!
Could only resell them on viagogo.
Then i read reviews ,how awful site was , people getting scammed as tickets didnt arrive.
I was haveing a panic attack if they would turn up,would i even get in venue, people used viagogo and tickets werent accepted as already had entry.
They did turn up,two days before concert(thankgoodness)
BUT face value was £30.00 each and i had paid £400 for two tickets.
Got to the venue, heart was in my mouth would we get in.
Ive never been so happy to here the ping on the manned entry machine
People never purchase from Viagogo.
Concert was amazeing.
Sorry im off topic just wanted to warn people.
A few months later a work collegue ended up by accident on Viagogo
Same thing happened to her.
If she had told me she was looking for tickets i would have warned her.

It’s all gone a bit crazy hasn’t it? When you buy something online you often have to “create an account” just to make the purchase! And so many services now seem to demand an app. I am fairly tech savvy and do have an iPhone. I put my train tickets in my Apple wallet which is very useful. BUT what happens when the technology goes wrong? For instance if your mobile phone is dead and/or there is no signal? I do think we are bombarded with technology on all sides. It’s exhausting. I was watching Ben Fogle’s Scotland’s Sacred Isles on the beeb recently and some of the inhabitants were saying Sunday (or Shabbat if you are Jewish) are days of rest, of contemplation and reflection. No cooking, no shopping and a digital detox. Remember when? Such a good idea. Perhaps we should reinstate the tradition.

My daughter is in her 40's and doesn't have a smart phone either. She booked by phone and they sent an email which she though we could just print.

Everything being done on a smart phone is very convenient if you are tech savvy but I get very stresssed about some things. Having to check in for flights using an app on my phone was very stressful. I was flying alone as my family were meeting me abroad after flying from the other end of the country. If I had been travelling from the same airport my offspring would have booked the tickets and had them all on their phones. Thankfully I managed it without having to consult someone else to help, but I checked in at the earliest possible time in case I needed to enlist help.
Like everything else that is moving to online systems some people are being disenfranchised. I still have friends without smartphones and one who has no tech at all. The person who has no tech wanted to attend an event at my church so I booked for her online while booking for myself. It is a weekly course and I now get two copies of every email update! Fortunately nothing essential I need to pass on so far as she doesn't even have a basic phone so I'd have to go round to her house!

If you are not smart phone savvy and your lovely Dc or Dgc get you tickets get them to print out the e tickets and post them to you . Yes it’s 1.70 or second class but surely it’s better than all this stress .
Also you can ring the box office before you go as they are usually very helpful and will help on the night. I love trees but one or two bits of paper won’t hurt . And many libraries or work places will let you print off .

Even my very tech savvy daughters get caught out. One recently, when a ticketing app did a major upgrade that didn’t transfer her booked tickets across. She had to go through her emails to find bookings and reload the tickets. She probably goes to an event of some sort at least once a week so there were quite a lot.
Some platforms make it easy to transfer tickets. Others actively block transfers to minimise reselling. So it’s not stress free even with all the tech.
I do use my smartphone for all of this. But they are complex devices, and bring their own stresses, with worries about battery levels and signal strength.
And expensive. I’m going to have to replace mine shortly as it is running out of capacity for all of the apps I am using and can’t think I’ll get much change from £300.
I find box office staff unfailing helpful, but door staff are often the opposite