February 24, 2009
The state of New Jersey has reached a settlement with Ticketmaster to resolve more than 2,000 complaints from consumers who say they were unfairly denied tickets to two concerns by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.
The complaints were filed with the State Division of Consumer Affairs in connection with the sale of tickets to concerts scheduled for May at the Izod Center in the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
The agreement also mandates reforms to Ticketmaster's business practices.
The settlement creates a random drawing for 1,000 consumers who filed complaints against Ticketmaster with the Division of Consumer Affairs as of February 17th, to purchase two tickets each to one of the two concerts scheduled for May 21st and May 23rd at the Izod Center.
In addition, those consumers who filed complaints with the state but are not chosen in the random drawing for the opportunity to purchase tickets to the May concerts will be given a $100 Ticketmaster gift certificate and will be given the opportunity to purchase two tickets to a future Springsteen concert in New Jersey prior to a general ticket sale.
For those consumers identified by the state and Ticketmaster whose credit cards were charged for ticket purchases but the transactions were never completed because of technical problems, Ticketmaster agreed to complete the transaction and provide consumers with the tickets.
For those consumers identified by the state and Ticketmaster who within the first five hours that tickets went on sale went from the No Tickets Found page of Ticketmaster s primary website to Ticketmaster s wholly-owned subsidiary TicketsNow.Com and purchased tickets at a higher price, Ticketmaster agreed to refund the difference between the purchase price and the face value of the tickets.
TicketsNow.com
The settlement, known formally as an Assurance of Voluntary Compliance, places a wall between Ticketmaster and its ticket re-selling subsidiary TicketsNow.com for at least a year for all shows and entertainment events Ticketmaster handles.
After the conclusion of the year, Ticketmaster will need prior approval from the New Jersey Attorney General for any links between its No Tickets Found Internet page to its TicketsNow re-sale website.
The connection between Ticketmaster and TicketsNow has produced a number of consumer complaints. Meleah, of Livington, New Jersey, says she was seeking tickets for the Jersey Boys on Broadway, when Ticketmaster's site referred her to Tickets Now.
I paid top dollar for tickets only to learn when they arrive that I was charged more then double face value, she told ConsumerAffairs.com. "I am reporting this only after hearing what ocurred with the Springsteen tickets on CNN News."
Ticketmaster agreed not to engage in paid Internet search advertising that would lead consumers searching for Ticketmaster on Internet search engines to its TicketsNow re-sale site.
In addition, the company confirmed and agreed that all tickets it receives for sale to the general public will be sold on its primary market website. It also agreed not to allow the sale or offer of sale of any tickets on the TicketsNow.com re-selling website until the initial sale begins on its primary website.
Equal chance
This settlement resolves a significant issue for thousands of loyal Springsteen fans in the Garden State who believe that Ticketmaster tilted the playing field against their efforts to purchase tickets to the May concerts, said Attorney General Anne Milgram. Everyone deserves an equal chance to buy tickets on a primary ticket selling website and shouldn t be steered to a re-selling website where the prices can be substantially higher.
The 2,000 tickets -- 1,000 tickets for each show -- are being made available for purchase through the random drawing by the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority. All Ticketmaster fees and service charges will be waived.
An investigation by the Attorney General and the Division of Consumer Affairs into Ticketmaster s sales practices began with the immediate uproar over the sale of Springsteen tickets when they were made available for sale on Feb. 2.
The Division of Consumer Affairs created a link on its website to receive complaints. As of Tuesday, Feb. 17, approximately 2,200 complaints were filed concerning the Springsteen concerts. Complaints filed by 5 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 17, will be covered by the agreement.
Consumers complained that sales were blocked on the Ticketmaster website and they were re-directed to the ticket re-selling website called TicketsNow.com where tickets were available at substantially higher prices.
