Lost Tickets... oops. Help!

[joshuaj]

So, last year I got "will call" tickets and waited more than 3 hours in the will-call line (that's after the usual multi-hour wait to get in) just to pick up my tickets. This year, I decided to do myself a favor (and everyone else, by staying out of their way and had my ticket mailed to me. Now, I can't find it. I've turned my whole apartment inside-out looking for it, and it's just not coming up.

So I went on the website to see what I can do, and I find this: "We cannot be responsible for tickets lost in your possession and do not issue replacement tickets."

Now I'm *really* frustrated and disappointed. Why not? Even airlines, which usually take every opportunity they can find to screw me over, think nothing of re-issuing tickets, or even letting me show up with nothing but a confirmation number scribbled on a scrap of paper. In fact, I can't think of a single organization I've worked with in the past 10 years that wouldn't issue replacements for lost tickets. I would never dream of sitting on hundreds of dollars in cash for months... but Burning Man expects us to do just that with our tickets?

So... is that it? Am I completely screwed? Have I effectively just torn up and thrown out hundreds of dollars in one simple, tiny mistake? I can't afford to buy a second full-price ticket. Burning Man already has my money... are they really going to take it and not let me in unless I pay again, for a little slip of paper that I can easily prove I bought the first time?

Does anybody have any experience with this situation, and what I might be able to do about it?

[Bay Bridge Sue]

Like the other ticket q... call the Burning Man office M-F Business hours (west coast time) 1-415-TO-FLAME. If you CAN prove it you MAY have a chance - no guarantees, tho.

You DID check under your underwear drawer first, tho, right?

[Clar-i-ty]

This happened my second year. I found the ticket behind the dresser stuck between the back of the dresser and the trim at the bottom. Ever since then it goes in the same very specific spot as soon as it arrives.

First, take a deep breath and clear your mind, and then say "if I were a Burning Man ticket where would I be."

Then, very calmly, very systematically go through everything again. As you go through the process keep envisioning yourself finding the ticket.

Staying calm is your best bet at this point. As you go through areas keep a record of the places you have looked.

While I despise the phrase, "the Playa Provides," I'm a firm believer that the universe provides and that Playa Magic exists.

When you find your ticket, be thankful that your drama occurred off Playa.

Good Luck

Best,
Clarity

Good Luck.

[Shambala]

I'm sure what happened was that you put that ticket in a very secure place where it could not be lost or stolen. I can just imagine the horrible way you feel right now, but like others said, try to relax and figure where you would have put that ticket to keep it from getting lost. Do you have a safe deposit box, or possibly a place where you put your travel papers? A cork board where you pin stuff, a place where you put paid bills? It most likely is still in the same large white mailer that it was sent in. that could not have been tossed by mistake. Are you looking right past it in your search?
You may want to have a friend over to help you look. That usually works for me, and I find what I'm looking for, right in plain sight.

BREATH, BREATH, BREATH!

Unlike airline tickets that can be reprinted, but only used once since they are scanned upon entry on the plane, these tickets are considered negotiable. They are not scanned, and therefore treated much like money. If you lost a $100 bill, the government or bank can't replace it for you. A ticket can not be voided by the serial number that's scanned at the gate. I hope you can imagine the bedlam that would happen with people claiming to have lost their ticket, and then selling it to a friend. Half the tickets at the gate would be flagged if that were allowed.

Good luck with your search, and please post here the status of your ticket hunt.

[Trishntek]

Well now that you know where your ticket is NOT, I'm positive you will find it in the last place you look.

[some seeing eye]

I think everyone is afraid of loosing their ticket. So hope it all works out. But if your think of the cost to the BMORG to implement individual ticket tracking, the cost of which would have to be added to the ticket, and even it's feasibility... They would have to have dozens of ticket scanners at the gate running for a week. These are electronic devices a significant number of which would be destroyed by the dust each day. If they collected all the stubs and scanned them in SF, after, the gate crew would have to collect and not loose 50,000 small bits of paper in a windstorm and with long shifts and exhaustion. It might me more possible if they chipped the tickets, again expensive, but has been done for sporting events for several years. That would truly be the mark of the BORG But it will eventually be done as the event grows, for the purpose of customer satisfaction, the exact point you raise.
(startup idea, extreme environment ticket scanners)

[jkisha]

Obviously, it wasn't such a simple, tiny mistake. IT WAS A BIG $300.00 MISTAKE!

Sorry. Good luck with finding it. (Look behind and under the places you might have put it too.)

So, last year I got "will call" tickets and waited more than 3 hours in the will-call line (that's after the usual multi-hour wait to get in) just to pick up my tickets. This year, I decided to do myself a favor (and everyone else, by staying out of their way and had my ticket mailed to me. Now, I can't find it. I've turned my whole apartment inside-out looking for it, and it's just not coming up.

So I went on the website to see what I can do, and I find this: "We cannot be responsible for tickets lost in your possession and do not issue replacement tickets."

Now I'm *really* frustrated and disappointed. Why not? Even airlines, which usually take every opportunity they can find to screw me over, think nothing of re-issuing tickets, or even letting me show up with nothing but a confirmation number scribbled on a scrap of paper. In fact, I can't think of a single organization I've worked with in the past 10 years that wouldn't issue replacements for lost tickets. I would never dream of sitting on hundreds of dollars in cash for months... but Burning Man expects us to do just that with our tickets?

So... is that it? Am I completely screwed? Have I effectively just torn up and thrown out hundreds of dollars in one simple, tiny mistake? I can't afford to buy a second full-price ticket. Burning Man already has my money... are they really going to take it and not let me in unless I pay again, for a little slip of paper that I can easily prove I bought the first time?

Does anybody have any experience with this situation, and what I might be able to do about it?

[Rice]

I too misplaced my ticket a few years ago. The car was loaded to the gills, the 24 hour drive was planned out. I grabbed my passport, my US cash and my ticket {what? No Ticket} It wasnt there.. Where is my ticket? ?? {EEK} Why isnt my ticket in the same place? NO Freaking ticket. !!!

So I tore my house apart. Again, no ticket. Sure, I had a printout of the confirmation email, and all digital stuff, still no ticket! {panic beginning}

After the house was in shambles, and no ticket, I figured "fuck, its in one of the bins in my car"... So I unpacked all of my gear and tore through each bin (my neighbours thought I was going insane), still no ticket to be found... Prior to this moment I was kinda panicking, that was upgraded to FREAKING PANIC.

I knew that I had touched the ticked and probably stashed it some where obvious. But where was the question. I took a small break (had a beer, 1/2 a pack of smokes) and just thought... "If I was a Burning Man ticket, where would I be?"

I figured, ok, It is not in my special important papers stash. Where else do I put important stuff??? Wait, my mirror on my dresser. Nope, not there. Hmm, on the dresser, nope. oh wait, there is something on the floor behind my dresser under an old pair of dress shoes! Could it be? After dragging my dresser away from the wall and all the stuff falling everywhere, vola, a courier envelope from BMORG. Could it be? ? ? YAY, holly fucking hell, IT IS. Found my ticket!!

Now, from the moment I realized my ticket was missing till I found it was about 4 hours. . . (my kids thought I had lost it completely, I ransacked my entire house!)

I then promply stashed my ticket in my wallet, which I checked every hour for the entire trip down to BRC... It took 2 more hours to repack my car. Ended up leaving the next morning, refreshed and stress free. Still arrived in BRC at Midnight on the Monday AM opening

From that moment on, I realized Will Call is a less stressful option for me. Sure, you have to wait in line, but you KNOW where your Fu_k__g ticket is.

That was 4 years ago, now Will Call is truly my friend.

** You will find your ticket, it is stashed somewhere. Look behind and underneath everything! At least you have a few weeks to find it. **

Keep faith, don't stop looking!

Love Rice

[Bay Bridge Sue]

I put mine in my passport case as soon as I get it, to make SURE I have it no matter what.

Even when it looked like I wasn't gonna make it this year.... that's where it went. So when I get to the gate this year, I know where it is, without a doubt.

Because if I lose my ticket, I've lost my passport, and THAT would be a fracking disaster!

Good luck... breathe deeply... you did NOT throw it away... it has to be there.

Somewhere. How about taped to the visor of your car?

(This is *also* a hint)

[Savannah]

Stuff that might help you find it:

* Would you have hidden it to prevent it being stolen by roommates' friends-of-friends or other likely traffic, or was your motivation to simply put it somewhere out of the way? If #1, you probably went to more trouble to hide it. If #2, the hiding spot will be more mundane, like a desk drawer (pull the drawers all the way out if you can--sometimes when you stick an item in one drawer, it falls into the next one or all the way to the bottom!)

* Was there some item you were guaranteed to take with you this year that you would have put it with?
* Did you leave it in the white envelope in which it came?
* Was it shipped to your home, or shipped to work? (I kept mine at work once for months--just because.)
* Do you have more than one car, or more than one messenger bag, etc? Did you switch to using the other since you bought the ticket?
* Do you remember the approximate date of when your ticket arrived? Maybe some project you were working on during that week has the ticket near it or under it.

Don't forget to check your bureau drawer under the clothes, between nightstand and bed, under the bed/mattress/couch, in the foyer--if you have one--with other mail . . .

Good luck.

[joshuaj]

WOOHOO!!! I found it!

Of course, I had placed it right where I thought I had, but it had slipped down behind the shelf. Even though I had checked for that, I somehow missed it the first time through.

Which is good, because I left both a phone and an email message with Burning Man ticketing, and in three days they haven't even bothered to get back to me. I'm sure they're busy right now, but seriously... how long does it take to pop off an email to me that says "sorry sucker, you're out of luck"?

[Bay Bridge Sue]

They ARE busy transitioning to playa, and likely aren't near the computer.

I'm glad you found it... see, the man **did** smile on you after all.

You can select your tribute, but perhaps a "thank you" written on the temple would suffice!

See you in the dust.

[Savannah]

WOOHOO!!! I found it!

Of course, I had placed it right where I thought I had, but it had slipped down behind the shelf. Even though I had checked for that, I somehow missed it the first time through.

Which is good, because I left both a phone and an email message with Burning Man ticketing, and in three days they haven't even bothered to get back to me. I'm sure they're busy right now, but seriously... how long does it take to pop off an email to me that says "sorry sucker, you're out of luck"?

Joshua, the volume of complaints over simply having had the nerve to sell out of tickets is probably staggering, and their staffing levels are probably modest. They've never sold out of tickets before.

"I lost my ticket" is also pretty low on the ticket triage--I'm guessing. Because 1) there's nothing they could have done for you, and 2) in a day or two you were likely to either find the ticket, get advice on eplaya, or use your Radical Self-Reliance to come across the section of the website that says "we cannot replace lost tickets". All of which you did.

Things that probably receive priority with the ticket people? Mistakes at their end.

Congratulations on finding your ticket. I hope you keep that in perspective . . . 'cause those without tickets would be happy to take it off your hands.

[NellieX]

I'm glad to see a happy ending to this story! Have fun at BM!

[jkisha]

I'm glad to see a happy ending to this story! Have fun at BM!

Me too!

[delle]

I put mine in my passport case as soon as I get it, to make SURE I have it no matter what.

Even when it looked like I wasn't gonna make it this year.... that's where it went. So when I get to the gate this year, I know where it is, without a doubt.

Because if I lose my ticket, I've lost my passport, and THAT would be a fracking disaster!

Good luck... breathe deeply... you did NOT throw it away... it has to be there.

Somewhere. How about taped to the visor of your car?

(This is *also* a hint)

I just spent 4 days looking for my passport.

Finally found it somewhere "safe" where I'd tucked it because it was out in the open and someone I didn't know very well was in the house.... Brilliant! LOVE IT when I do that!!!! The ONLY reason I found it was because I had a fleeting memory of having made this wonderful move... but to where????

(my cell phone has been in a "safe place" for over 6 months now!)

I now have my passport in the envelope with my tickets (à la BBS) and have been able to fight the urge to move them to a safer place thus far. Hopefully this trend will continue!

[Savannah]

I just spent 4 days looking for my passport.

Finally found it somewhere "safe" where I'd tucked it because it was out in the open and someone I didn't know very well was in the house.... Brilliant! LOVE IT when I do that!!!! The ONLY reason I found it was because I had a fleeting memory of having made this wonderful move... but to where????

(my cell phone has been in a "safe place" for over 6 months now!)

I now have my passport in the envelope with my tickets (à la BBS) and have been able to fight the urge to move them to a safer place thus far. Hopefully this trend will continue!

One of the guys here set a calendar alert to alert him/email him his ticket hiding place a day or so before he leaves, in case he forgets it. I don't know what app he's using, but I thought this was a great idea (I'm the type to hide my passport, etc, too).

If I employ this trick, I'll use iCalendar's "Alarm Message with Sound" or it's email reminder function (or both).

[CircleScott]

If this is the JoshuaJ I think it is, then technically speaking I found the ticket(s). Whoo hoo! Love ya, puppy!

[Shambala]

WOOHOO!!! I found it!

Of course, I had placed it right where I thought I had, but it had slipped down behind the shelf. Even though I had checked for that, I somehow missed it the first time through.

Which is good, because I left both a phone and an email message with Burning Man ticketing, and in three days they haven't even bothered to get back to me. I'm sure they're busy right now, but seriously... how long does it take to pop off an email to me that says "sorry sucker, you're out of luck"?

Joshua, I'm glad you found your tickets. There was quite a bit of support here to help you through your life changing crisis. It turns out that everyone was right, and that they were just misplaced.

A simple "thank you everyone for the help" is all that was needed to keep you from looking like an entitled, spoiled little brat. Instead you bitch and whine that your phone call was not returned quickly enough to your liking. What else are you expecting everyone to do for you here? It's time to put your big boy pants on and take care of your own things and stop acting like a baby.

[Savannah]

Agreed. He really should be focused on his good fortune (which was distinctly connected to getting off his can, and trying harder).

[Bob]

Hey, what about *my* feelings?

[capjbadger]

Hey, what about *my* feelings?

It was behind the shelf, not in a couch. Quit acting the victim.

-Badger