The Internet has brought ease to the transaction process for millions of people across the globe, but not baseball fans trying to buy Chicago Cubs tickets the day they go on sale. They have Major League Baseball’s ticket provider tickets.com to thank for that, but tickets.com would like to focus on the positive.

“Just like the previous years, nearly every Cubs home game is sold out halfway through the day,” said Lee Franklin, tickets.com CEO. “We almost do everything we can to make sure each fan gets at least one upper deck ticket to a midweek Brewers-Cubs game and I feel that shows how much we care about the fans.”

Year after year, Cubs fans find themselves in what Webster’s Dictionary terms “Virtual Waiting Room Hell,” referring to the holding area for fans attempting to buy tickets online. After hours in the auto-refreshing page, most customers never get through to a ticket-buying screen. Those who do, often find the system crashes on them, only to kick them back to the virtual waiting room.

Still, tickets.com insists they’re doing better.

“We’re seeing a strong improving trend of customer satisfaction,” said Franklin. “Last year 98 percent of our Cubs customers expressed ‘Supreme Dissatisfaction.’ This year that number dropped to 97.5 percent. That’s what you call results.”

heckler editorial staff