Ticketmaster Settles Deceptive Sales Practices Charges

A consumer searches for concert tickets on Ticketmaster's website, only to find the event is “sold out.” But they might then be invited to continue searching on the company's resale site, TicketsNow.

Maryland Attorney General Douglas Gansler says it happened plenty before a 2009 Bruce Springsteen concert at the Verizon Center, and that Ticketmaster failed to disclose that TicketsNow was a resale site where tickets were brokered at inflated prices.

Gansler says his Consumer Protection Division has entered into a settlement with Ticketmaster Entertainment, Inc., Ticketsnow.com, Inc. and TNOW Entertainment Group, Inc., settling charges stemming from complaints.

The Ticketmaster companies agreed to pay the State $10,000, which may be used to pay damages to consumers who purchased, but did not receive, tickets to the 2009 Bruce Springsteen Verizon Center concert if the consumers were not already fully compensated by Ticketmaster. The Ticketmaster companies will also pay the State costs in the amount of $25,000 as well as a $90,000 civil penalty.

Misled consumers

“Ticketmaster misled consumers when it offered tickets without informing them that they were being sold by brokers at inflated prices, and then, even at the inflated prices, it failed to provide the purchased tickets,” Gansler said. “Under this settlement, Ticketmaster must be more transparent when it steers consumers to its resale website so that consumers understand what they are purchasing.”

The Ticketmaster companies denied that they violated the Consumer Protection Act. But, under the terms of the settlement, the Ticketmaster companies agreed to inform consumers who opt to continue searching for tickets on the TicketsNow website after they are unable to purchase tickets on Ticketmaster's primary site, that they are being transferred to a resale website where tickets are being offered at prices that exceed their face value.

The settlement also requires the Ticketmaster companies to clearly describe the tickets that are being offered for resale, including, where applicable, that the tickets are not in hand, but rather, are being offered by a reseller who is speculating that it will be able to provide the tickets.

Speculative tickets

Speculative tickets must also be displayed differently on the TicketsNow website so that consumers can easily distinguish them from actual tickets. The settlement also requires the Ticketmaster companies to cease using deceptive guarantees, including a statement that tickets are “guaranteed” or “100% guaranteed,” unless Ticketmaster will guarantee to deliver the tickets.

Ticketmaster and its related companies settled similar charges with the State of New Jersey in 2009.