This has been something that I have watched from the sidelines for a while wondering how bad it was going to get before people revolted. When I was at the John Legend show, I was standing outside the venue talking to the USCD representative when I started to hear the people behind me discuss their tickets witht he box office manager. It seems that they had bought tickets off a scalper and the venue was not going to honor the tickets. What the man couldn’t figure out was why the venue thought the tickets were bought from a scapler. He purchased them through the official tickemaster web site. Or did he?
He had actually bought the tickets from TicketsNow. But the TicketsNow website is linked directly from the Ticketmaster site and nowhere does it say that the tickets won’t be honored.
Below is a screen capture for an upcomming Robin Williams show at RIMAC. I asked for 2 tickets. There are no more Ticketmaster tickerts but as you can see there are plenty at TicketsNow, and it looks like Ticketmaster is legitimizing the sale.
Well, it turns out that I am not the only one who is wondering what the connection between the two is.
PASCRELL SEEKS INVESTIGATION INTO TICKETMASTER BUSINESS PRACTICE WITH SUBSIDIARY, TICKETNOWPress release:
WASHINGTON– U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-08) today requested that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division investigate Ticketmaster’s relationship with its subsidiary company, TicketsNow, following the company’s handling of ticket sales for the Bruce Springsteen tour that became available on Monday February 2.
Dear Chairman Kovacic:
I am writing today to direct your attention to a potential conflict of interest regarding Ticketmaster and its affiliate company, TicketsNow. This issue has been brought to my attention through constituent complaints and press reports regarding the online sale of Bruce Springsteen concerts tickets at the IZOD Center in New Jersey and other locations all across the country.
As you know, Ticketmaster is a large ticket sales and distribution company that often serves as a venue’s sole ticketing agent. A large percentage of their sales are made online through Ticketmaster.com. In a recent effort expand its business Ticketmaster acquired TicketsNow, a website which specializes in the secondary, resale market for tickets.
When tickets for Bruce Springsteen’s new tour went on sale exclusively through Ticketmaster at 9:00 a.m. on Monday, February 2, 2009, scores of fans in New Jersey were met with technical difficulty on Ticketmaster.com that impaired them from making a purchase. Thousands of others who were fortunate enough to get beyond the technical problems were informed that the shows were sold out.
Conspicuously placed on the same screen that informed fans of ticket unavailability was an alternative purchasing option from TicketsNow.com. It offered the same tickets at a value marked up hundreds of dollars beyond their original face value.
I am troubled by how quickly tickets priced exponentially higher became available on the secondary market to thousands of rejected fans, many who also endured unfortunate technical problems on Ticketmaster.com.
I am concerned that the business affiliation between Ticketmaster and TicketsNow may represent a conflict of interest that is detrimental to the average fan. There is a significant potential for abuse when one company is able to monopolize the primary market for a product and also directly manipulate, and profit from, the secondary market.
Additionally, the speed with which tickets were made available on Ticketmaster’s official resale affiliate site raises questions about whether TicketsNow brokers were given preferential treatment instead of competing on a level playing field with average consumers to purchase the tickets.
With so many families struggling in this economy, I am outraged by how expensive tickets to ball games, concerts and other shows have become. I understand the economic principles that have driven up the cost of entertainment, but will not tolerate unjust business practices that put regular Americans at a disadvantage.
I respectfully request that your office investigate the relationship between Ticketmaster and TicketsNow to ensure that the procedure for purchasing tickets remains fair to the average consumer. If you require any additional information or have any questions, please contact Arthur Mandel on my staff at (202) 225-5751. I look forward to the favor of your reply.
Sincerely,
Bill Pascrell, Jr.
Member of Congress
If you notice, Ticketmaster took the link away on Tuesday.
If they were doing nothing wrong, why take the link off the original site?
Same stuff going on here in Boston. I want Lady Gaga tickets which were $20 on ticketmaster. But not are available. They are however available on ticketsnow.com for $60 – $100 and more. This is outrageous, and yes ticketmaster redirected me to ticketsnow.
Roger
I am working with a NY LawFfirm now. We are putting together a Class Action Law Suit.
My story is from Jan 31 2009 when I logged onto Ticketmaster at 9:59am for Jimmy Buffett at DTE Aug 13 2009 and I unknowingly was redirected to TicketsNow to complete my purchase that I still thought was Ticketmaster. After a few minutes and receiving confirmation of my order I realized someting was wrong. I paid $877.XX for 2 Seats. My timestamp on my purchase was 10:02AM. Two minutes after tickets went on sale. Tickets now policy is they will not sell any tickets that are not in their hand (I have the email from their customer service agent). Also the seats they sold me do not exist. My row goes up to 50 and they sold me 99 & 100. I called DTE today to confirm that yes those seats do not exist.
My husband and I are not seeking a proffit. My husband is looking for the difference to be refuned which equals about $600. I myself am a little more vivilant in getting this to come to a stop to protect others. Our economy is in termoil, I know what the mistake did to our family emotionally and mentally. I do not want to see anyone experience this too.
I have my full story posted everywhere I can on the internet.
I am looking for Anyone or Anything you can give me to help stop this Fruad. It is greatly appreciated. Thanks for you time…
Diana Wenzel
Toledo OH
diana.wenzel@sbcglobal.net
I am going to cut this in it’s own separate post so that people can get a hold of you directly.
The same thing happened to me when I tried to purchase Fall Out Boy tickets for my daughter for the show in Chicago this May. I received an advanced sale alert from Live Nation with a code to enter to receive the pre-sale price. I thought I was on the Ticketmaster site, but ended up on TicketsNow, which you don’t know until the sale is final. I was charged $256 after handling charges and Fedex. When I received the tickets they were printed with the Ticketmaster logo and the price of $31 was on the ticket. The were print-outs not tickets, hopefully they’re real. $256 for $62 worth of tickets before they even went on sale! I went back on the site later using my presale code from Live Nation and was directed to Ticketmaster and the $31 tickets, that’s when I knew I was scammed. I filed a claim with the Better Business Bureau and the person who responded from TicketsNow was the same person who called my home from Ticketmaster. Hmmm, I didn’t even involved Ticketmaster in my claim to the BBB and when I called the TicketsNow customer service dept, they said they had no affiliation to Ticketmaster. I am still working with the BBB and included the article from the Chicago Tribune from last month regarding the Springstein ticket fiasco, where Ticketmaster admitted to the error, said it was a “computer glitch” and made refunds to consumers. So far TicketsNow has refused to give me a refund. I simply want the difference – not free tickets. First they said I could resell the tickets on their website, but they would charge me 50%. Then they said I could send the tickets back and they would credit me, but then I wouldn’t have the tickets at all and they would just turn around and sell them for more than they charged me since the show is now sold out. On the BBB site there are about 500 claims against this company. In reading the Chicago Trib article, it mentioned several Attorney Generals from other states getting involved in this scam – I think I should also involved the AG from Illinois. Anything you can do to help me get some of my money back would be GREATLY APPRECIATED. Thanks for your time, Stephanie
Hey there Stephanie.
I would suggest that you send an email to diana.wenzel@sbcglobal.net and tell her your story. She is the one who is trying to start a class action law suit.
I hope you get your money back.
Alan
I stand correct that I was purchasing and re-directed on Feb 1st 2009 for Jimmy Buffett in DTE.
Keep sending me your stories as I am very passionate about getting this stopped.
I purchased a ticket on 12/13/08 as christmas gifts for GREASE. I got a call in the first week of April and the folks at Tickets Now claim the seats were double booked and said they would offer me an upgrade. After several attempts, over several attempts over several days to say I wanted my original tickets I gave up and said ok. The play is tomorrow and I still have not recieved my tickets. They claim that they sent it but I still have no tickets. TicketsNow claims they cannot help me as they sent the tickets, but it is beginning to sound like a big scram. And after reading that I am not the only one, I am a bit upset that TicketMaster was involved in this.
After a few emails and telephone calls with TicketsNow, they offered to replace my tickets for a fee, but would get back to me in a few hours. At the end of the day, TicketsNow not only told me that they couldn’t replace my tickets, but they could sell me a new set of tickets and not charge me for the shipping.
What should have been $99.00 tickets, cost me well over $330.00 – What a scam!
I complained to the sales person and said I wanted their manager to call me, but I hate to say that no one has called me back yet.