Lack of "Respect"

A few weeks ago I won tickets to see a show at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, Respect, on opening weekend. My choices were for Friday night, the 19th, any of the 2 Saturday shows or Sunday. I decided on the Friday night show since that was the easiest to arrange.
I got some friends together and made plans for a girls' night out. Some arranging had to be done (me, getting somebody to cover my afternoon shift for me and taking vacation time to cover the lost hours and a friend having her hubby rearrange his work schedule so that he could be home with the kiddos) but we got it worked out and were all excited to head out to see the show.

We drive the hour - in rush hour traffic - to the Center, walk in the rain from parking to the will call window and stand in line in the humidity only to find out the tickets for me were pulled for the wrong day!! The guy had pulled tickets for me for yesterday's afternoon show! Unfortunately they told me there was nothing they could do because they were comp tickets and, even if they could, the show was pretty much sold out so it would be difficult to even find us seats. I would have to contact the person who I won the tickets from the next day - which really didn't do us any good for that night...

We did make the best of it and still had our girls' night - hanging out at Outback eating a bloomin' onion, dessert and just talking - but it was still a disappointment.

Lastnight, with hubby's help, I composed an email to the person who gave me the tickets and copied the Executive VP of marketing and the head of promotions. Within the half hour, I got an email back from the VP asking me to call him on his cell ASAP.
Long story short, he was very sorry it happened and to make it up to me he told me to pick ANY date the show is playing and, as long as it wasn't sold out, he would personally make sure to get me good seats and have them at the will call for me. And he would also personally confirm to make sure it was correct.
He thanked me for sending the email and letting them know what happened. Most people wouldn't and would instead just stew about it and bad mouth them.

I was mighty upset and angry Friday night, but I think TBPAC has redeemed themselves. Not just because of the free tickets, but because the VP himself made a point to talk to me and sort things out and offered to fix the problem personally and return the good will that was taken away.

I think TBPAC offers great shows and programs and I really didn't want to feel poorly about them. Because of their customer service, I will certainly continue to support them and what they do.