Yesterday my wife and I went to the Oktoberfest at St. Anthony Main in Minneapolis. After walking around, I decided that I would have a beer--since it was Oktoberfest. There were signs everywhere that said "beer/cider = 4 tickets, wine = 5 tickets." This same sign was even at the ticket booth. However, when I went to buy my beer after purchasing 4 tickets, I discovered that an additional ticket (tickets were $1 each) was needed to get a wristband.
Feeling like I was being taken advantage of, I went back to the ticket booth and asked for my money back--since the sign clearly made no mention of the additional charge.
The man in the booth refused and said tickets were "nonrefundable." I asked him to let me speak to someone who could help me and he claimed that was him, and the tickets were nonrefundable.
Eventually, as he may have sensed that I wanted to punch him in the head, he told me to sell the tickets myself. So, I stood next to his ticket counter until I found a man looking for 4 tickets holding $4.
I have left a message with the contact section of the Oktoberfest website expressing my annoyance, and got this reply.
Thank you for taking the time to send us your feedback on the festival. I'm sorry you are diappointed in the $1 cost of the wristband fee. You are right that some festival that charge admission or don't have such extensive free programming do not charge for the wristband. We feel that $1 is a nominal fee. As a not for profit producer, we need to cover the expense of festival. All of our proceeds go to the Mpls Park Board and Mpls Riverfront Arts and Events to beautify, preserve and promote the Mpls Riverfront. I did check our website and this information is posted.
My reply was,
You are right that the information is on the website. You are wrong to assume I had access to the website on Sunday--which I did not. I saw the festival on the news. You should not explain what is obvious, and focus on why the wristband information was not on any of the signs at the festival.
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