Laurie Terranova remembers it well: Game 4 at AT&T Park, the Giants playing the Phillies for the National League title.
"I was watching all the games on TV and the more they won, the more excited I got," Terranova said.
The Giants were one victory from the World Series. Fans were going nuts and Terranova was one of them, jumping up and down at home.
"I said I got to be there tomorrow night because they could clinch the National League championship and I wanted to just be there when they won it," Terranova said.
Even before the game ended, Terranova was online searching for tickets. Up popped the website ticketliquidator.com, and it had plenty of seats. She snapped up two tickets at $140 each, and then dreamed of the next day.
"I was so excited; I went to bed that night with them winning, knowing I was going to go to the game," Terranova said.
Terranova woke up raring to go, but then, the crushing blow.
"When I went to the site, I got a message that said, 'sorry, somebody purchased the tickets a couple seconds before you,'" she said. "My heart just sank. How could that happen? I have a confirmation, how could they say I don't have them?"
Terranova was devastated. She did not have tickets after all. Her seats had been sold to someone else.
Terranova called ticketliquidator.com, which referred her to the actual ticket seller, an outfit called eticketcentral.com. That company told Terranova she could still buy tickets, but now they'd cost $200 more for worse seats.
"I didn't think it was fair there were people out there saying you have tickets and then pulling them back and saying 'no the only way you're getting them is if you pay more money,'" Terranova said.
Terranova said it was gouging, so she watched the game at home. She also contacted 7 On Your Side.
7 On Your Side contacted ticketliquidator.com, which said it's only an online marketplace, like eBay for ticket sellers. Also, the website warns that orders are not guaranteed.
However, Terranova had relied on a ticketliquidator.com receipt saying her order was being processed.
The seller, eticketcentral.com, says another customer bought Terranova's tickets just seconds before she did. Whoever clicks first gets the tickets, and when there's high demand, prices go up.
The Giants have nothing to do with secondary ticket sellers, but 7 On Your Side told them about Terranova.
"It's hard to hear stories like that, and we heard it after the games had passed and we offered her a chance to come to another game," Giants Vice President for Ticket Sales Russ Stanley said.
The Giants gave Terranova two tickets to a game of her choice this season. She'll be going out to see the Giants play the A's on May 20.
"Nothing could replace the experience of being there, but if they want to give me tickets to a game I'll be glad to go to a game," Terranova said.
To avoid uncertainty, the Giants advise fans to order tickets through their website or at Stub Hub, the team's official secondary market site.
