Don’t Go Breaking My Bank Account

Tickets went on sale Dec. 3 at noon for John’s Feb. 17 concert at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene, Ore. The show sold out that afternoon.

According to Eugene’s Register-Guard, the error messages caused “hundreds or thousands of music fans” to receive charges for multiple ticket purchases on their credit or debit cards.

“It appears there were issues with coding,” University spokesman Phil Weiler said, who noted that the software problem was fixed before the show sold out. “There were definitely people who experienced problems and we regret that sincerely.”

The paper explained that the charges in question are “authorizations,” which temporarily freeze funds in checking and credit card accounts until the merchant either clears a transaction or the authorization drops off the account. In many cases, authorization holds generally fall off bank accounts between 1-5 days whereas holds may last as long as 30 days when it comes to credit cards.

Although the authorization holds will eventually fall off, many fans that received error messages are not pleased with the situation in the meantime.

Local resident Tom Cox told the Register-Guard he received an error message three times when trying to purchase four tickets online through the arena’s website, MatthewKnightArena.com.

After receiving the error messages Cox went in person to the Ducks ticket office at Autzen Stadium. He was told the show was sold out and his ticket purchases didn’t go through.

“My credit card was hit three times for $400 each time,” he said. “This is unbelievable.”

A similar situation affected Rob and Shannon Whitney of Eugene after they tried to purchase tickets through the arena’s website. The couple’s bank account appeared overdrawn on Friday with about $1,200 in authorization holds.

“It locked my account up,” said Rob Whitney. “So, basically, I can’t pay my rent today. I can’t pay my cable bill.”

Mike Duncan, University of Oregon’s senior associate athletic director for facilities, events and operations, told the Register-Guard there was no way to know how many fans were affected by the miscoded software as individuals could potentially receive multiple error messages.

The university’s ticket office can be contacted by calling 1-800-WEB-FOOT or by emailing tickets@uooregon.edu

Click here for the Register-Guard story.