How Quest for ‘Hamilton' Tickets Almost Broke the Bank for Suburban Family

Their passion for “Hamilton” took them on a trip, with some very unexpected—and expensive—twists and turns. NBC5 Responds helps unwind an $11,000 musical mess

Rarely does a day go by without the music of “Hamilton” playing at the Ansah home in Downers Grove, but it was that passion for the hit musical that turned into a financial nightmare for the suburban family.

When the news broke that “Hamilton” was headed to a stage in Chicago, Diane Ansah said she knew she had to get her two teenage daughters there to see it. Emma, 15, and Sarah, 16, are dedicated fans who know the story- and every lyric in the show—by heart.

"Every day, all day long. If it's not blaring on someone's headphones, it's blaring on the speakers," mom Diane Ansah told NBC5 Responds.

The family’s first plan for getting tickets was foiled as soon as they drove by the ticket line the night before tickets went on sale. More than 100 people had already camped out—more than the Ansahs were prepared to wait behind. So they devised a multi-gadget Plan B: to fire up every phone and laptop the next morning as soon as tickets dropped.

"And when 10 o'clock came, you know, they get in,” Diane Ansah told NBC5. “And on her screen….hers was spinning, his was spinning."

The screens they saw will look familiar to anyone who has hunted hot tickets: the slow-churning icon that means maybe you are in, maybe you are not. In the midst of the hunt, Diane Ansah had to drive Sarah to her job. When she returned—excitement was in the air.

“Emma was asking me questions about where we could sit…I could tell she was having some success!” Diane Ansah said.

But then, a look in her inbox changed everything. Multiple confirmations from Ticketmaster were loading. And loading. And loading—to the tune of 57 tickets purchased.

"I looked at my bank account and I wasn't sure I was reading it right,” Diane Ansah told NBC5 Responds. “I'm still in shock. It was $11,116.74."

Somehow, while scores of fans across the city got shut out—Emma got way in. Fifty-seven tickets in several batches, just minutes apart.

"Eighteen times. I never, I mean for something that wasn't supposed to be able to be gotten through once. I never imagined," Diane Ansah said.

She spent the next few days trying to unravel the mess, but says Ticketmaster would not budge, neither letting her return nor re-sell, due to anti-scalping rules. 

Unlike Alexander Hamilton’s own life, the Ansah’s story has a happy ending. After the family shared their dilemma, NBC5 Responds contacted Ticketmaster to ask what options the family could exercise. The options were to either to re-sell tickets to friends and family, or return the dozens of mistaken purchases. Ticketmaster agreed to let Diane Ansah keep one batch of tickets and return the rest—just enough to get them in to the show, and out of the financial mess.

“I called NBC5 that night. I just felt it was my last-ditch effort,” Ansah said.

Her hunch paid off, and now she says the trip to see the show in December—with just her six tickets- will be an outing she and her girls remember forever.

As for how Emma was able to purchase so many tickets so quickly—Ticketmaster would not offer comment, except to say it was happy to help clear up the problem. A spokesperson said that, in general terms, the company takes some time to verify that a customer has not exceeded the allowable ticket purchase limit before enabling the function that allows them to re-sell tickets.

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