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Ticket Brokers Pony Up Hannah Montana Tickets

Missouri suit nets free tickets for needy kids

By Lisa Wade McCormick
ConsumerAffairs.com

November 2, 2007

More than 90 needy children in the city now have the chance to attend the pop star’s upcoming concert under an agreement the state reached Wednesday with two ticket brokers.

Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon announced that 91 tickets to the teen idol’s December 3 concert in Kansas City will be divided among four local charities: Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Kansas City, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Kansas City, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and the Dream Factory of Greater Kansas City.

“These are charities that have a long track record of providing services to children in the Kansas City area,” Nixon said. “I am pleased that dozens more young Hannah Montana fans whom these organizations serve will have the chance to see this concert.”

Hannah Montana fans throughout the state -- and in many other cities across the country -- became outraged in September when they tried to buy tickets to the pop diva’s upcoming concert. They discovered the show was already sold out when they tried to buy tickets – at the designated times of sales.

Fans, however, said they immediately found scores of Hannah Montana tickets at various brokers – but at greatly inflated prices. Some tickets to the pop diva’s concerts sold for up to 20 times the face value.

Nixon’s office investigated those ticket sales and later sued three brokers for allegedly scalping Hannah Montana tickets: GoTickets Inc. and Tickets Now Entertainment Group Inc., both of Springfield, Illinois, and Ticket Solutions Inc. of Overland Park, Kansas.

The attorney general’s office also sent an investigative demand to a fourth ticket broker -- RazorGator, Inc. of Los Angeles -- to find out more about its selling practices.

Nixon, however, did not name RazorGator, Inc. in his lawsuit filed last month in Jackson County, Missouri, Circuit Court.

State files suit

In that lawsuit, Nixon alleged Ticket Solutions Inc., GoTickets Inc., and Tickets Now Entertainment Group violated Missouri consumer protection laws by selling tickets above face value -- which is prohibited under Kansas City’s scalping ordinance -- and representing they had tickets for specific seats when they did not.

“These companies are able to employ inappropriate means, using sophisticated software, to hoard all the tickets to high-demand events and then turn around and sell them at grossly inflated prices,” Nixon said when he sued the brokers. “It’s a blatant rip-off of consumers who attempt to purchase tickets in good faith through the proper means and are met with nothing but frustration.”

Under the latest “Hannah Montana” deal Nixon’s office struck, Ticket Solutions Inc. and RazorGator Inc. agreed to donate more than 90 tickets to Hannah Montana’s concert in Kansas City. Ticket Solutions donated 60 tickets and RazorGator donated 31 tickets to four local charities.

The agreement also required Ticket Solutions to changes the language on its Web site about the availability of tickets it advertises. Ticket Solutions and RazorGator further agreed to comply with ticket scalping ordinances in Kansas City and St. Louis.

Ticket scalping, however, will be legal in Missouri after November 28, 2007, under a measure recently approved the state legislature. Some legislators have said they may try to overturn that law in the next session, which convenes in January.

Meanwhile, the lawsuits against GoTickets Inc. and Tickets Now Entertainment Group Inc. are still pending.

No comment

ConsumerAffairs.com contacted all three ticket brokers named in Nixon’s lawsuits, but none returned our calls.

Wednesday’s agreement comes just weeks after Nixon’s office struck a deal with Ticketmaster to release an additional 1,000 tickets to Hannah Montana’s sold-out concert in Kansas City.

Nixon said he worked out this agreement to ensure fans had a chance to get Hannah Montana tickets – at a fair price. “We wanted to make sure that a lot of frustrated moms and dads, with their disappointed kids, had the opportunity to purchase tickets to these concerts at face value.”

Those tickets -- held by the artist’s promotion company -- went on sale on October 20 and immediately sold out.

One of the lucky fans who snatched-up two of those much-coveted tickets was Claire N. of Kansas City.

“I got them!” she screamed seconds after the tickets went on sale. “My daughter really wanted to go this show and she was upset when we couldn’t get tickets. I’m so happy that I got these…I’m ecstatic.”

Problems elsewhere

Consumers nationwide have shared horror stories with us about ticket scalpers gobbling up all the Hannah Montana tickets and selling them at inflated prices.

“I was on Ticketmaster 20 minutes before the Hannah Montana tickets went on sale at 10:00a.m.,” one parent from Nottingham, Maryland, wrote us. “They were sold out at 10:01! My friends were also on the Web site at the same time and had problems.

“Ten minutes later, the tickets were on eBay selling for triple the price. I am very upset that they allow people to sell these tickets online to make money, and my daughter, who is a true fan, can't go because I can't afford to spend $300 per ticket.”

Missouri isn’t the only state cracking down on brokers that allegedly scalp Hannah Montana concert tickets.

The Arkansas attorney general recently launched an investigation into the sale of these tickets to determine if some online brokers violated that state’s scalping laws.

“I have a young daughter, and I really wish I could fix this problem for all the parents with disappointed kids right now,” Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said. “However, what our investigation reveals thus far is that many of the tickets intended to be sold directly to Arkansas consumers were diverted to as yet unidentified bulk purchasers.”

McDaniel said he learned of allegations that at least one company is selling a software product that allows users to breach Ticketmaster’s online system. Users who have this software, he said, can “cut in line” ahead of legitimate customers and block access to tickets at the site.

Sales at the box office are also tied into the Ticketmaster system, McDaniel said, and it’s possible that users of this software were able to block the full number of tickets intended to be available at the box office.

McDaniel also warned consumers that some tickets offered for sale on the Internet could be bogus. Some online ticket sellers might not have the tickets they’re selling, he cautioned, while other might sell counterfeit tickets.

What to do

McDaniel offered the following tips to consumers buying tickets online:

• Know the company you’re dealing with. Web sites have certain guidelines that resellers must follow, but not all sites verify ticket authenticity before permitting users to post them for sale;

• Avoid paying the seller directly with cash or a check. Many auction sites use separate services to handle the payment, which usually requires the use of a credit card. If purchases are made through a separate service or with a credit card, the consumer is more likely to have some recourse to dispute the charge if the tickets turn out to be bogus;

• Research the seller and the Web site. Web sites that display the Better Business Bureau seal usually have a buyer protection program. Consumers should also find out if the seller has a history of satisfied customers.

“While there will always be issues relating to ticket availability where demand exceeds supply, the process must be fair to consumers,” Attorney General McDaniel said. “With these ticket sales, there is the additional problem that many are being offered on the Internet at prices far above the face value.

"In many instances, Arkansas law prohibits resale at prices over the face value plus a reasonable handling charge.”

McDaniel, however, said it’s sometimes difficult to enforce ticket scalping laws with Internet transactions because the sellers may be in another state or country.

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